A Life Abroad

Exam Week: Studious Optimism

2013-05-22T11:08:00.003+01:00

« Ah ! L’égoïsme infini de l’adolescence, l’optimisme studieux » - Vingt Ans par Arthur Rimbaud

"Ah! The infinite egotism of adolescence, the studious optimism" - Twenty Years Old by Arthur Rimbaud
See evocative quote above. That is my life right now, both in a metaphorical and very literal sense.

Sorry it's been a while. A long while. Well, a whole week at least.

My very last exam was for Writing the Nineteenth Century, my French literature course, so I was up to my neck in Baudelaire, Rimbaud, Flaubert, and Zola quotes and readings. Surprise surprise, I've been locked away in my room for a large portion of the week. But as usual, I do try to find at least a few things to enjoy. There's only so much Flaubert I can take before I start to lose my grip on reality.

(Side note: Un Coeur Simple by Flaubert, excluding Truisme from first year, which gave me a visceral reaction of anger and disgust, is probably my least favourite French book. I think it's kind of boring and I don't really get the point of it.)

I think the studying might have paid off for this last exam, though. It felt better than the other two, at least. Who knows if that'll actually translate into a good mark or not. Probably not. I've decided to leave my optimism at the door for this one. "L'optimisme studieux" if you will.

Thursday night I had a pretty low-key evening out first at Rascals, then at the Whey Pat with some of the New Americans. I unfortunately forgot to get myself a plate of nachos though. That is a bit of a crime. Same goes for Friday, which was a quiet night at Drouthy Neebors, which I've really taken a shine to.

Saturday night was spent using a friend's blender to its full potential through milkshakes and pina coladas, which were absolutely divine I should add. We had some coffee as well, which kept me up until 4:30 in the morning, but at least I attempted to use the time productively through revision. We played cards mostly, which was great fun as it always is. I'm probably going to miss these quiet nights of card playing. No no no, I'm not going to think about missing things just yet!

Yesterday, the day of my last exam, was actually quite a jam-packed day of fun. I went to lunch at Janettas with Hannah and Alex, then went shopping at H&M where I got a really cute sundress that I can't wait to wear. After that, we wandered about town in the gorgeous sunshine. Met up with Ruari and the other Hannah before wandering over to Mitchells for some coffee. It was an all-around excellent day, even considering that I had to wake up at 7:30 to sit an exam. It was just too beautiful for me to feel anything but happy.

I can say that the playlist is only getting better and better as time goes by. Seriously, Julia and I should go into DJing or something.

Also, yet again I am going to recommend something that Zac Little creates and say that everyone should go watch his humoristic advice videos called No Church In The Wild (yes, most likely named after but of no relation to that No Church In The Wild). I just started catching up on it and realised that the entire world needs to know how amazing they are, along with the rest of his videos. They make for great procrastination.

I've also been using my time unwisely by catching up on The Daily Show. I go through very strange phases of watching The Daily Show and The Colbert Report religiously, then forgetting about their existences for months on end. I've now watched the last two months' episodes, which I feel is probably sufficient for getting me back in the groove for when I return home. Plus I'm halfway through Season 4 of Mad Men. SO MUCH MAD MEN.

Today I already know there's going to be some awesome shit going down, so I can't wait to write about it in the next post. Also, there's going to be a Semester In Review and a Year In Review soon, although they might be combined into one post this time. Plus there'll definitely be some great things happening before I leave. I cannot wait. Oh dear, this is gonna be bittersweet...

Until then.

Exam Week: Mad Pancakes

2013-05-15T21:03:00.000+01:00

This week has been a bit of a stressful one for me, as you can imagine. I suppose the good news is that I've gotten two out of three of my exams out of the way. We're getting so close to the end.

I'm not going to talk about how the exams went. They went. That's about all that matters at this point! I'm so close to freedom!

The other good part about this week is that I've just started getting into Mad Men, which I had always been meaning to watch but had put off for years and years. I always make the best choices of shows to get addicted to while studying for exams. Last semester it was Downton Abbey. It's not the best thing for productivity, though. I've loved Mad Men so far. It's great. I'm only at the very end of season 2 at the moment, but I bet it can only get better from here. I might have to buy myself some Mad Man style dresses for the summer...

Saturday night was the last time I remember doing anything majorly fun. We went to The Grill House for dinner, whose chimichangas are always the best treat even if deliciously unhealthy. After a wonderful Mexican (or at the very least Scottish interpretation of Mexican) meal, we went to Drouthy Neebors and finally the Vic for relaxing and conversation.

The rest of the week has been revising like a madwoman, so there's not much there to discuss. I did watch a lot of really good French movies, though, including Prete-moi Ta Main, Ils Se Mariere Et Eurent Beaucoup D'enfants, Un Heureux Evenement, and Les Emotifs Anonymes, which were all pretty good. I recommend all of them, although I suppose if you want to keep any sense of optimism about marriage or having a baby, don't watch those middle two. They're not depressing per se, but they're a bit...unenthusiastic.

To celebrate getting through the majority of my exams, I made myself some white chocolate and raspberry pancakes. They were so delicious! I thought I might have ruined them when I forgot to mix the dry and wet ingredients separately, but they taste good enough. They're exactly what I needed. Plus I need to start cooking more. I got so lazy on the cooking front this semester! Hopefully over the summer I'll do a lot more cooking.

My next exam is next Tuesday, which feels like a million years away even though it really isn't. I'll probably be locked in my room in the meantime. Maybe some more movies and Mad Men in the future. Well, definitely more Mad Men.

I'm really starting to look forward to the summer. This semester has been absolutely amazing, but I think it's ending at a time where I'd like it to end. I'm going to miss everyone, of course, but a change in scenery would be nice. Who knows how this summer is going to be like. I'm getting nervous about it, but I've been nervous every single time I've left St Andrews and every single time I've come back. There's no use in letting the nervousness get to me this time around.

I'm sure things will be much more interesting after my final exam. In the meantime, do something fun for me. Make some pancakes.

Until next time.

Revision Week: What Is The Sun?

2013-05-11T11:47:00.001+01:00

So I've been spending most of my free time these days cooped up in my room, trying to study like a madman. What makes this even more tragic is that this has been the first week with excellent sunny days. Of course it would be. What luck I have.

In my discovery of new procrastination techniques, I've learned that it is possible to create a collaborative playlist in Spotify, which is the best idea I've ever heard. My friend Julia and I have been creating one with random music for each other and it might be one of the best things I've ever made in my life. I put it on in the background while I'm studying and it's great entertainment. If you want to listen in on its creation, here it is. Put it on shuffle and prepare to be blown away.

There has obviously been very little that has been happening as I continue to panic and fret, but it's not all bad. For starters, we had an absolutely excellent potluck dinner on Monday night. All the food was just excellent and I applaud everyone for the effort they put into it. I made scones from the recipe I learned at the BakeSoc baking class all those weeks ago, which are so easy to make that I should probably make them every day. We also had people bring everything from quinoa to ice cream pie. It was all so delicious. Nothing could really ever top that.

I've also met up with Hannah and Alex for coffee at Beanscene for a bit, which consisted mostly of us all lamenting how terrible revising is and worrying where our lives were all going. You know, all the cheery stuff. It was still a nice break, though. Plus on Thursday we went to the last Whey Pat pub quiz of the year, yet lost pretty painfully. It was worth it though to see the quizmaster one last time and eat nachos. After our loss, we made our way to Aikman's for curly fries and card games.

I've found myself being really, really tired most days and I'm really not sure why. I've had to take naps the last two days, something that not only do I never do on a regular basis, I absolutely despise doing most any other time. And yet during revision week, somehow I've come to accept it. It's probably my body's own means of procrastinating even further. Procrastination always brings back the most discovery for me, so I've spent a lot of my time listening to every single Let's Play by Yahtzee Crowshaw (of Zero Punctuation fame) at least five times each and listening to Lemon Demon with serious commitment for the first time since high school (hey remember that time I met Neil Cicierega?). Plus I've been catching up on this ongoing series of Doctor Who which I've failed to keep up with for some reason. It's been pretty good so far. I'm not really complaining, but I know I will be if I fail my exams, so I should probably be a bit more productive with my time.

I am a fan of graffiti.

I've been trying my best to immerse myself in French in preparation for my French language test, but this has proved to be more difficult than it'll probably be worth. I honestly have no idea how this exam is going to go. Latin is on Wednesday and that also seems like a bit of a mystery to me, but at least it's a mystery that is in English.

I can't believe how quickly time is passing. My first exam is on Monday. My second is on Wednesday. It'll be next to no time before I have to start packing up this room and getting on a plane back home. I just can't believe it. After doing this same thing twice already, practically three times, I am still shocked at how quickly a year goes by. Where the hell are they all going? To what distant land does time slip away?

I'll have to disappear again until I take my first two exams. Hopefully I will survive. Hopefully.

Until next time.

Revision Week: Whey Pat Appreciation Society

2013-05-06T13:32:00.002+01:00

So it's revision week, which means it's that time of year again: when life is strange enough that I begin to question my own sanity.

The last weekend spoiled me too much. Obviously nothing was really going to top going to Amsterdam to see a king inaugurated and running into the sea at sunrise. Nevertheless, there has definitely been some fun to break the monotony of exam preparation.

Thursday was the weekly Whey Pat pub quiz. I don't think I'll shock anyone when I say that we lost, although we did put up a good fight. We didn't even win the prize for worst drawing, which was probably a bigger let-down than not winning the game. However, to nurse our bruised egos, we went over to Aikman's and played cards while snacking on possibly the best curly fries I've ever tasted.

Friday, after picking up our May Ball wristbands, we spent quite an extended afternoon at Beanscene having a leisurely lunch. I always forget how much I love Beanscene. I am constantly surprised every single time I go there. I should live my life in Beanscene. Their soup and toastie deal was excellent.

Saturday night was oddly similar to Thursday, except instead of doing the pub quiz at the Whey Pat, they had some live music from an old-ish seemingly local band called Skinny Jim. The music was a little bit too loud for conversation, but they were surprisingly good and played pretty much every song that could possibly remind me of my dad. They did play Boulevard of Broken Dreams, though, which was definitely the highlight for all of us at the table who were in middle school/high school when Green Day made their comeback. Nothing beats being the youngest people in the room listening to a live band while devouring nachos. After the band left and we regained some of our hearing, we went to Aikman's until it closed.

The next day, it was quite lovely weather, so we went into town to get wraps from Butler's, a place I always vaguely remember but never remember to venture into. Their wraps were so good! The menu was so extensive and it was just so delicious. We ate on the grass by the library until the sun disappeared behind the clouds. Sat in the library cafe for a bit until we went home to prepare for the evening...

Then came the big event: May Ball. This is supposedly the highlight of the St Andrews event calendar, and tickets are more coveted than Empire chips after a Bop. You may remember we had to queue for three hours for them. I would say that it was fun, but it was a bit overpriced considering it was the same location as DRA Ball, which was free, and a lot like Bigtop Ball in the music, at least for the middle part. Apparently the main act was a guy called Mylo, but although some of his stuff was good, it did get a bit tiring after a while. The other acts were great, though.

I'd say the biggest plus for May Ball was that it did have carnival rides, which was a great addition. I would have to say that the bumper cars were my favourite. I also did go on a ride called La Bamba, which in my past I would have never gone on because I hate rides that go fast and high up. I thought it was very fun though! I might have to start giving more rides a chance.

Now I'm beginning to feel guilty for not doing much revising. I should be getting back to that then...

This next week I feel is going to be kind of rough. My first exam is next Monday (that gave me the chills just typing that...), so I'll be trying to stay hard at work. The key word is 'trying'.

Until next time, appreciate a good plate of nachos or a greasy, crunchy wrap. Or get dressed up all fancy. Or both.

Amsterdam and May Dip: Well Now That We're All Together...

2013-05-02T14:20:00.001+01:00

I really cannot believe that the last few days happened. I've seen and experienced so much in two different countries in quick succession. It's been an amazing experience.

I woke up at (or, more accurately, stayed up until) 4:30 AM on Saturday to take my cab to the airport so I could catch my flight to Amsterdam. I met up with my friends at the hotel at around 10:45, which was about a 5 minute train ride from the centre of the city. They had already been there for a night, which from what I've heard included some impromptu singing and Dutch Chinese food. After I dropped off my things, we rode into town to go to breakfast at a place called 'Pancakes!' which served the best sweet and savoury Dutch pancakes in the world (think crepes but a bit sweeter). After the delicious start, we wandered over to the Westerkirk and debated going into the Anne Frank House. We ultimately decided against it since the queue was so massive, but we did pass by it along the gorgeous canal. All the canals in Amsterdam are gorgeous. Also, side note, I seem to be visiting a lot of cities with canals this year.

The next stop was the Rijksmuseum, which houses all kinds of great works from artists including Rembrandt, Van Gogh, and Vermeer (my personal fave!). They also have interesting and beautiful trinkets like pieces of delftware and doll's houses. After a good two hours exploring, we went outside to see one of the famous I Amsterdam signs. I'm not sure how many there are, but did did see at least two. We climbed all over it and posed for pictures before making our way over to the Heineken Experience. This to me was probably the strangest tourist-y thing we did. It kind of felt like a low-key Disney Land for Heineken lovers. There was even a 'ride' in which they pretended to brew you like a beer. We had some beer tastings with our ticket in, which I would have enjoyed a bit more if I liked Heineken in the slightest, but alas.

From there, we had lunch at this brilliant take-away place called Wok To Walk that was essentially a 'make your own' noodle place with tons of delicious combinations of noodles, vegetables, and sauces. I couldn't have enjoyed my udon concoction more than I did. Next stop was Vondelpark, which we visited at least three times during our stay in Amsterdam. The first time, though, it was relatively empty and, to be quite honest, not that impressive. It did get better, though, and it is quite a nice stroll. We had a blast playing on the triple swingset and the teeter-totter as well as admiring all the water features.

[This part of the trip redacted for reasons that shall remain unexplained. Let's just say I'm scarred for life.]

Keukenhof

The next day, we got up to go to the Keukenhof tulip gardens, which strangely felt like the Six Flags of tulips. They were massive with tons of various displays of flowers of all sorts and colours with different greenhouses and food areas scattered throughout the park. The place was absolutely stunning, plus the weather was so sunny and (moderately) warm. I'm amazed at how perfect all the flowers could be. I don't think I saw a single wilted flower. For dinner we went to a random Italian restaurant for pizzas and long conversations about our future plans, or lack thereof. They did have the best sorbet I think I've ever had, though!

Monday, our other friend came with us for the day as we went to Pancakes! again, then took a canal cruise about the city for an hour. It wasn't really the most informative, but the views were lovely and it was a beautiful day. We walked past the palace, which seemed to be having some sort of event as a big crowd had gathered outside it, but we didn't see anything very interesting happen. We assumed it was some pre-Koninginnedag event, but we didn't stay long enough to figure it out. We next went to the bloemenmarkt to see all the tulip bulb vendors. I always forget how big plant bulbs can be. They had all kinds and shapes of flowers, even brightly-coloured cacti. From there we ventured to Vondelpark yet again where we did find more people about, but we were hungry, so we went in search of dinner.

We wanted to go to one Dutch place, but it was closed for the holiday, so we walked over to another place that we quickly found in a Google search. The owner/chef was quite a character and everyone else in the restaurant he said had been coming there for over twenty years. It was the best food I think we had on the whole trip. It was all traditional and hearty Dutch recipes, and it was all fantastic. I absolutely stuffed myself with gouda schnitzel, leeks, potatos, and stroopwafel. After dinner, we went to sit on the Museumplein, which was being set up for the next day's events, and had a kind of hilarious drunkard chat with us until we left. On the way back home, we ran into a lot of smaller parties in celebration of Koninginnenacht, the night before Koninginnedag. As if the Dutch needed any more reason to party. We didn't stay for any of them, though. Once we got back, we played cards late into the evening.

The best Dutch meal ever.

Tuesday was the start of a long and satisfying day. We woke up, put on our bright orange blow-up crowns, and marched into the city to celebrate Koninginnedag, or Queen's Day. The day traditionally was a celebration of Queen Beatrix's birthday, but this year, Beatrix abdicated at the age of 75 and allowed her son, Willem-Alexander, to take over. Thus the day was doubly important as it was the inauguration of the new king. The streets were cleared of cars and trams as everyone in Amsterdam paraded around in orange and cheered. We went to the palace, then walked over to the Museumplein where they were putting on a children's concert and selling amazing poffertjes (tiny pancakes with powdered sugar and butter). We watched the ceremony on giant screens in the park, then went to Vondelpark yet again for the free market. On Queen's Day, because it's the only day on which people can sell goods on the street without a permit, people sell all sorts of wares, games, and foods in the park for really cheap. We wandered around a bit until it was time for us to start heading back to the hotel. On the way back, we found a place that sold bitterballen, a Dutch pub food which we had been meaning to try for the whole trip which had yet to find. They were absolutely amazing! I wish we could have eaten two or three more platefuls, but we had a plane to catch.

Koninginnedag

We flew back to Edinburgh, then cabbed back to St Andrews. But, of course, the day was not over. It was time to start gearing up for May Dip! May Dip is one of the most fun St Andrews traditions in the year. You might remember last year's post on it. We stayed up all night in the flat, getting ourselves psyched up to jump into the freezing cold water of the North Sea on East Sands. We walked over to the beach around 4:30AM. As the sun rose, we all ran into the water wearing only bathing suits. The adrenaline was just as I had remembered it. It was so thrilling that most of us ran in twice! We went back home after taking some great pictures of the sunrise. We didn't get back to the flat until about 7AM, after which I showered and had some breakfast. I had been awake for literally over 24 hours. I was planning on going for longer, but I ended up taking a few naps throughout the day.

May Dip

I can't believe how lucky I have been this year to have these experiences. First Italy, now Amsterdam. And even though both trips were fantastic, there's always something great about the experiences that happen right at home. In both cases, it doesn't hurt that this whole semester has introduced me to great people to share all of them with.

It's exam revision time again, so we'll see how the posts will go. In the meantime, find great places and meet great people.

Until next time.

Week 11: Abomination

2013-04-26T22:39:00.001+01:00

Haha, oh boy guys.

So Wednesday night was more interesting than I thought it would be. It started with a viewing of Mean Girls in our cozy flat common room, which was much-needed after freaking out about my essay all week. Mean Girls is just a perfect movie. There's nothing more that needs to be said about it.

And then it got weirder.

St Andrews has been buzzing about a house party that was thrown on Queen's Gardens on Wednesday. Needless to say, I was there. Granted, so were 1000 other people, according to estimates from The Saint, so I shouldn't feel too special about it. But really, I was at the biggest house party St Andrews has ever seen! That's crazy surreal to me. Mostly because I've never been to such a big party before, but also because I would have never guessed that this insanity would take place in St Andrews. We weren't there for very long, but the 15 or so minutes we spent in that garden were so bizarre. From the mob of people, you'd think that we were in the centre of a protest. It was so packed that we didn't even get into the house part of the house party. I'm sure I'll remember this for years to come...

After that, we hung out in Aikman's for a while, then went to the Union where they were having some weird dating-auction-thing. Never quite figured out what that was all about. Then it was time to go eat some chips from Dervish and go get some sleep so we could process what had just happened.

My prize

I had my last two French classes of third year on Thursday, Writing The Nineteenth Century and Oral Class. I can't say that either was a very sad occasion, although I had great fun playing the Post-It note game in Oral where you have to guess who you are. In the evening we went down to the Whey Pat to play in the pub quiz again. We lost (again), but we won the prize for worst drawing (again). This time though, I was the one who won it: the sneaky quizmaster decided to give me the Hulk's villain, Abomination, to draw. He said he had to give me the prize mostly out of pity. I must have looked absolutely tragic and pale after drawing The Hulk and then dramatically giving up.

As for today, I finally turned in my Tacitus essay! Finally! I also had a translation test, which I was seriously dreading, but ended up being much easier than I thought it was going to be. We also had the weirdest weather in St Andrews as I was on my way to class: the ground looked like it was covered in Dippin' Dots, but it was drizzling as well as slightly sunny with this strange snow on the ground. Snow in April. What is the world coming to? Right after the test, my last class of third year, I got on the bus to Leuchars so I could go to Edinburgh for the night.

I met up with Hannah and Rachel and they took me to Nando's for the first time ever. It was such a strange experience. It was like a posh McDonalds, but with better food and real tables. I don't think we have anything like it in the US. They had really delicious sauce as well. I'm a fan of any type of food where you can ask for spicy sauces on a scale. And free refills!

Tomorrow I'll be in Amsterdam! I can't believe it! I'm leaving the Edinburgh flat at 4:30 in the morning, so that's gonna be rough, but omg Amsterdam! I'm so excited. I am going to take a million photos and then some. It's gonna be great. There's no doubt about that. We have a lot of really fun things planned already, so there's no way it won't be amazing.

I really cannot believe that classes are over. One more month and it'll all be over. I can't believe it. Third year is almost over. Wow. Time flies.

In the meantime, I'll try to keep myself awake for the taxi tomorrow morning. You, dear reader, should make yourself a cup of tea and reflect with me.

Until next time.

Week 11: No One Can Resist The End

2013-04-24T16:37:00.001+01:00

What up, readers?

Yeah, I know, I'm already back so soon. It's one of those weeks. Go read the first post of the week because like hell am I going to let my Spotify-embedding skills go unnoticed.

I'm not really sure what I'm even doing with my life right now.

This is the last week of classes. I can't even process this. Like, I am seriously close to the end of my third year.

Getting through my Tacitus' Agricola essay was rough (well, is rough more like it), so to make myself feel better I snuck in the phrase 'a pure paragon' for my own amusement. Am I the only one who gets that reference? Eh, probably. I suppose that's what I get for watching Beauty and the Beast twice a year. No one subjugates the Britons like Gaston!

But in all seriousness, it's almost done! It's at 2684 words out of 3000. SO CLOSE. I don't know why it's so painful trying to get to the end of it, but alas. I also have a translation test on Friday that is really worrying me, but I don't really know what I can do about it at this point. Just kind of take a leap of faith, I suppose. Translations are painful in the very depths of my soul. Gah.

I had Whey Pat nachos for dinner twice over the weekend. I'm probably not making the best choices while on my diet, am I? I can't help myself though. No one can resist the allure of Whey Pat nachos. Well, if all goes according to plan, maybe I'll have a nice beach body for May Dip. Few points: 1) nothing I ever do goes according to plan, and 2) only in St Andrews would you have to physically and mentally prepare yourself to jump into the freezing cold sea at sunrise in May.

I had my last Chinese class of the semester on Tuesday and I won runner-up in this writing competition thing, which is one of those things that sounds much more impressive than it actually is. I did win a small Chinese phrasebook, though, so that could come in handy one of these days.

Also, have I mentioned that my new favourite place is Taste? Because ever since I went there for the first time last week, I've just been craving their paninis. Yes, I know that the plural of the word is 'panini', not 'paninis', but I can't be arsed explaining this linguistical nonsense. The salami panini from Taste is the best thing in the world.

I've also gotten myself the DK Eyewitness Travel book for Amsterdam and flipping through it has already gotten me so excited for my trip. I still can't believe that this is how I get to celebrate the end of classes. I'll be heading to Edinburgh on Friday night and staying with Hannah and Rachel for the night so that I can get to the airport bright and early. That alone is actually quite exciting. I haven't been to the Edinburgh flat since November! I've been promised a trip to Nandos, so I'm going to be disappointed if that was all a lie.

Can I just quickly point out that the Daniel Radcliffe episode of Extras, the only one I've ever seen, is an amazing piece of television. Not sure what pushed me watch it again on Netflix, but it's just hilarious. "I've done it with a girl, intercourse-wise. Here's my mum, say they're your fags." Also, who doesn't like Warwick Davis?

I do want to point out that watching older British comedy shows has not stopped me from watching silly Korean dramedies. I just finished watching Flower Boy Ramen Shop (why do all Korean TV shows always have such dumb names?) and it was quite entertaining. Wow, just typing all this out fills me with shame. Am I the only one who is this sad?

Tonight I should be totally done with my essay, so my friends and I are celebrating with a viewing of Mean Girls. I'm definitely looking forward to that. Who doesn't love them some Mean Girls? Also, it depresses me somewhat that Mean Girls is almost a decade old, because that in turn makes me feel like an old lady. One day, I'm probably going to be teaching a class and say "And four for you, Glen Coco. You go, Glen Coco!" and no one will know what the hell I'm talking about. And then my soul will die a little bit.

I am not entirely sure what else is coming up in the near future, but I guess, with it being the future and all, I shall figure it out soon enough.

I really cannot wait for this week to end. And to think, my next post will be in Amsterdam! Then again, I did say that about Italy and then never got a chance to upload anything, so bear that in mind. But I will write about it eventually! Promise! Actually, brainstorming a bit, I think I might write a post on Friday and then save the Amsterdam post for later? Hmm...

In the meantime, I'm going to, I dunno, sleep my way through the rest of this week. Go do something a bit mind-numbing.

Until next time.

Week 11: The Pop Music Strikes Back

2013-04-22T20:28:00.000+01:00

It's been so long! I've missed you terribly, Pop Music Reviews! I knew we couldn't be apart for much longer.

Pompeii

No need for introductions, my friends. If you really want, here's the last two official ones, although I do write about music frequently. Let's dive right in.

Songs That Are Popular

Note that by popular, I mean they're at least on the UK charts. And by the UK charts, I more likely mean they're on the latest Now! CD. Or I've heard them on the radio at least three times. I don't know, it's probably not a great system. Also sorry if there's some big song in the US that I've remained blissfully unaware of. Cultural differences and all that.

Troublemaker by Olly Murs feat. Flo Rida

A song that sounds like if Maroon 5 had written Britney Spears' (You Drive Me) Crazy (Side note: watch for Sabrina The Teenage Witch in the background for extra 90s nostalgia). Seriously, when the chorus drops, just start singing Crazy over it. It's the musical equivalent of a shot-for-shot remake. And really, there's no way that Adam Levine's hands, or at least the hands of someone who works extensively with Maroon 5, haven't been all over this song. That's fine with me, though. Maroon 5 is one of my biggest guilty pleasures. Who doesn't like Maroon 5 from time to time?! Oh yeah, and I guess Olly Murs is good in the song too. Maybe. I don't know, I wasn't paying much attention to him.

My Songs Know What You Did In The Dark (Light Em Up) by Fall Out Boy

My dreams are now reality! Certainly we've invented time travel, because there's no way that there's a Fall Out Boy song on the charts and it ISN'T 2006! There's just too much about this song that bring me back to middle school: the emo-tastic-ness of Fall Out Boy, the nonsensical lyrics that are trying to pass themselves off as deep and complicated, the overly-long paragraph that is the title a la Panic! At The Disco. It's just too perfectly reminiscent of that tragic and bizarre time when hair straightening and arm cuffs were in style. Is this more than I bargained for yet? I've been dying to tell you...that yes, yes it is. Sorry, Fall Out Boy. I'll only listen to this as a guilty pleasure. Which is still, like, every day, but still. I'm listening to it with shame.

Pompeii by Bastille

OMG YES. I first heard this song extensively on the radio driving through Italy, so that might be part of why I love this song, but I think it's also just great on its own. I've already said this a million times, but I love all pop music of all types for various different reasons. Last year it was the wackiness of the pop chart. This year, I think it's going to be the perfect mix of 'hipsterification' that I've discussed before and the good ol' dance and club music. This comes straight from the hipsterification camp, and deliciously so. It's fun and new without being full of itself like some of the other hipster-y things on the charts. It's upbeat while still unique. Plus, y'know, British. That's always a plus. This is just a song to belt when you're alone and just want something that makes you feel awesomely powerful.

Stay by Rihanna feat. Mikky Ekko

I'm conflicted about this one...on the one hand, I want to give Rihanna props for branching out and doing a ballad that at least sounds heartfelt and sad. On the other hand...it's just so...boring. I don't know, maybe it could have done with a little more oomph in the accompaniment, but it sounds just so lifeless. And who the hell is Mikky Ekko? I first heard the song in The Panda while driving around Italy and I thought it must be this random Italian guy's song and Rihanna just loaned him her vocals to boost his popularity. But apparently it's really her song? And apparently he's from Louisiana? I dunno about this song, guys. I just don't know if I like it.

A Thousand Years by Christina Perri

Also known as "the end credit song for The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn: Part II". I hate myself for knowing that. Fuck this song and everything about it. Next.

Animal by Conor Maynard feat. Wiley

This is less a paragraph about this song and more a paragraph about Can't Say No. It came out, like, a year ago, but I can't hold in my love any longer. I don't know why I like Can't Say No, but I do. A whole lot more than I should. I guess this song is okay, too, but Can't Say No is my jam. I honestly couldn't tell you why, though, because it's not, like, a well-crafted gem of pop music. But it's delicious. Also, is Conor Maynard, like, 12 years old? I never noticed until now that he looks so baby-faced.

Suit & Tie by Justin Timberlake feat. Jay-Z

I remember hearing this song literally the day it was released. I put it on for the first 30 seconds and was absolutely horrified by how terribly slow it was! I almost threw my computer against a wall because I was disappointed that this was how Justin was going to come back into the pop sphere. Then I finally got past the horrible intro, which is about ten times slower than the rest of the song, and was of course in love with the song. It's a solid piece of pop gold to be added to JT's collection of hits. I can't say I liked Mirrors that much as a follow-up, though. Meh.

Just Give Me A Reason by P!nk feat. Nate Ruess

So you guys have already heard a million times how much I love the band 'fun.' I was basically obligated to like this song since the lead singer, Nate Ruess, is on the track. And I do. Oh god, can I marry Nate Ruess yet? My only criticism is why is this a P!nk song at all? This should belong to some other ballad-y artist as the female lead. Or hell, this should just be another 'fun.' song. I just find it baffling that M!ssundaztood herself would do something so tame. I mean, I was getting annoyed with all of her whiny 'girl power' ballads like Fucking Perfect and Blow Me (One Last Kiss), but at least they seemed like they had edge to them that was in the same vein as P!nk's personality. This (and Try, come to think of it, which I hate) just doesn't seem edgy enough for her persona at all. I want Miss "Nanananananana" back! Oh well, at least the music video is pretty, even if Nate Ruess looks like a third wheel in it.

Started From The Bottom by Drake

I can turn your boy into the man indeed. Yes, it's not good. It's not a good song. I can't admit that to myself, though. I can't make myself hate Drake. I just bought all of Thank Me Later, like, a month ago. I have to prove that somehow that was a good investment. And it was, of course. But, okay, maybe this isn't a great song. But it's catchy. Good enough (Side note: Over and Thank Me Now are amazing songs.)

Locked Out Of Heaven by Bruno Mars

I honestly thought this song would be gone by now, but thank god it had staying power! I'm actually delighted by this song. You know what I don't like, though? When I Was Your Man. I find it super boring. Is there, like, any accompaniment whatsoever in the song? Did Bruno sing it in his house in an hour and then not bother to add anything to it? I don't know, I love the spirit of the song and I think it's pretty, but when it comes up on my iPod I skip it every.single.time. I am never in the mood for it, because it is just too boring. But Locked Out Of Heaven? Always in the mood. Doesn't matter whether I'm glum or ecstatic, I am always in the mood to hear Locked Out Of Heaven. Eh eh eh eh eh eh eh eh OOMPH!

Suit & Tie

Songs That Should Be Popular

This section should probably be called 'Songs That Were Popular In Italy While I Was There That I Cannot Get Out Of My Head' since that's what most of these are, but I wanted to avoid the overly-long heading. Sorry a lot of these aren't on Spotify. Not sure why.

I See You by Jutty Ranx

THIS IS PERFECTION. Absolute pop perfection. You will not be able to get this song out of your mind. It's fun and cool to dance to without being overly stupid, but also not pretentious. It's great. Listen to it at all times. I know absolutely nothing about Jutty Ranx or this song other than that both exist, and I am so glad that they do. I'm going to say that this song is the embodiment of this year for me. We'll see how that statement holds up in a few months.

My Name Is Stain by Shaka Ponk

I don't know why I like this song that much. Maybe it's because I love the crazy voice of the woman, especially when she says "mix together". Maybe it's the grooviness. I don't know, but the lyrics are a bit of a bizarre look into the mind of someone who would go by the name of Shaka Ponk. I think there's something really cool about this song, something that has a bit of an "I don't give a fuck" attitude to it, but I can't put my finger on what it is. Also, the music video is hyponotising.

I Love It by Icona Pop

I got this feeling on the spring day when I heard this song for first time. I kind of wanted to hate it, but something wasn't gonna let me. I went back and listened to it again and it was surprisingly good. I kind of wanted to hate it, but now...I DON'T CARE! I LOVE IT! I DON'T CARE! I DON'T CARE! I LOVE IT! I DON'T CARE...But seriously, it's just impossible to hate this song. It just gets sucked into your soul. What can I say? You're from the seventies, but I'm a nineties bitch!

Clarity by Zedd feat. Foxes

The lyrics are garbage. They just are. There's no way you can listen to this song while paying close attention. "If our love is tragedy, why are you my remedy?" Is there such thing as a remedy to a tragedy? I mean, they could have gone with the other cliche of love as an illness and the lover as the remedy, but, uh, no. They didn't. Anyway, it's just a song that's there. But it's a soothing sort of there. It's good. I'm kind of harsh on it, but it, like, sits well in your soul. It just rests there and gives you something to dance to in your mind.

Designer Drug by Mayer Hawthorne

My friend Julia (of Julia Out Of Context fame) recommended that I listen to some Mayer Hawthorne a few weeks ago and I now own two albums worth of his stuff. He's deliciously good. He's got an old-school vibe while not being too bizarrely out of place. Kind of a crooner. But anyway, his newest song, Designer Drug, is one of my favourites of his. It's probably not the best song ever lyrically. I mean, Ke$ha already did the 'your love is my drug' metaphor already and it was awesome! But nevertheless, the song is excellent and it's a great song to bop around to in your room while getting ready (or is that just something I do?)

I Look To You by Miami Heat feat. Kimbra

There's something just so excellent about this song that lets you sink your teeth into it. It's a great dance song. Plus I cannot love Kimbra enough. You probably know her as 'the girl on the Gotye song'. I know her also as 'the girl who had the music video with the creepy girls' and 'the girl who had the music video with the pretty dress', both of which are excellent songs by the way. Add this to the list of great Kimbra oeuvres. This song is groovy and dance-able without being too in your face. I love it.

Carried Away by Passion Pit

My friend really loves the music video to this. I...guess I do? But not for the same reasons. Anyway, the moral of the story is that this is quite a catchy and funky little tune and I think everyone should just let it invade their heart like it did for me. Again, I'm a sucker for this catchy hipster nonsense! Why can't I escape it?!

And that concludes our magical journey. I hope you are now an educated pop consumer. Enjoy your new musical life!

(Also, 175 posts on the blog. Still goin' strong.)

Week 10: This Ice Cream Is Bananas

2013-04-20T17:47:00.001+01:00

Oh what a busy life I lead! Oh what joy!

I'm not really sure what to feel any more. It's the end of Week 10 and I just don't know how to process that it's nearly the end. So I've decided not to process it at all.

Not much happened on the Wednesday that went on for too long other than what I've already told you, but I do want to mention that in the end I was awake for 19 hours straight. 19 hours! It's certainly not a record for me (I believe that prize might have to go to my birthday weekend in second year), but I do think that deserves some kind of honourable mention just for sheer ridiculousness.

Thursday night we very nearly won the Whey Pat's pub quiz on our first try. We kicked some serious ass! We only lost on the very last tiebreaker question. Not all was lost, though: one of our teammates won a seriously bizarre chalk picture of a pomeranian for worst drawing in the Pictionary round. That to me is victory enough!

Friday was a long and wonderful day. I had my first ever lunch from Taste with Hannah and Alex in the sunshine. I think I've instantly fallen in love with the place. It's got a bit of a reputation for hipster-ness, which is probably why. I'm a sucker for that aesthetic, even though it's probably so stereotypically hipster that no real hipster would ever dare admit to liking it. We all had a panini on The Scores facing the sea with the most wonderful clear blue sky.

We then went to the car and drove to a park to walk Hannah's dog a little bit out of town that we hadn't visited together since first year. I never remember its name, but it's absolutely massive. Long-time readers might remember it vaguely from the last group of pictures here. Brought back a lot of wonderful memories. We jumped on trampolines and I even got a chance to climb a tree (and almost die in the process, but that's another story for another day).

Then I had to go to Latin class, but after that, they picked me up again and we got ice cream from the famous Janetta's and I had the best banana and banoffee ice cream in the universe. We ate it while looking out towards the Pier, gorgeous as always.

In the evening, we went on a DRA-organised trip to a club in Dundee called Fat Sams. I have never really been to Dundee before, so I was interested in how it compared to St Andrews nightlife. I thought the club was really cool! I think everyone had a really good time, all things considered. I'm not sure I can really say much else about it without it being embarrassing, though! It was a long and fun-filled evening, and I'd love to do something similar again in the future.

I still have this 3000-word essay to write for next Friday and it's making me slowly lose my sanity. I'm only at 913 words. So much streeeeess. On the bright side, after I turn in this essay and do my translation test on Friday, I will be absolutely done with coursework for the semester. And not only that, I'll be done with classes altogether! And after I'm done with classes, it's off to Amsterdam for four days and three nights! I cannot wait!

One of the friends who is going on the trip suggested that we listen to songs with Amsterdam in the title for some inspiration. So far, we've only come up with the songs by Coldplay, Imagine Dragons, Guster, and, my contribution, Peter Bjorn And John. There must be more out there though, right? Can anyone think of other songs that have Amsterdam in the name, or are at the very least about Amsterdam? Just curious.

(Also that reminds me that the music post I said I might do might be coming soon. Maybe.)

I can't believe we're going into the last week of classes. I know I said I'm not going to process it, but there's already this rip in my soul like a rip in a stocking that I'm afraid is just going to get bigger and bigger as we approach the end. I don't want to say goodbye. I don't want to plunge into the unknown.

Unfortunately I think this means that my weekend is mostly going to consist of me sitting in my room, tired and attempting to hammer out at least 2000 words of my essay so I can get it out of the way. I have been so unproductive so far though! This worries me to no end!

Ugh, I don't even know what to feel any more, but I want the next month to be one of the best months of my life. I'm going to try my darndest. Right after I finish all my coursework.

Until then, I hope you guys are having a great time, even if there's work standing in the way of the one thing you really want.

I will try to do the same, even if it kills me.

Week 10: Centre Of The Circus

2013-04-17T18:22:00.000+01:00

Wow, so there's a lot to unpack here.

First things first, I give sincere condolences to anyone who was affected or knows anyone affected by the Boston Marathon Explosions on Monday. From what I've heard, all my friends and family are safe and sound. I hope the same is true for everyone else.

Alright, I'll try to carry on as normal.

Bigtop Ball was obviously a highlight of the weekend for multiple reasons. One might say it was the lovely circus tents; perhaps the great tunes; perhaps the candy floss. However, I think my favourite of them all is that it brought my new favourite triptych into the world, which I will cherish forever and ever.

Seriously, it's perfect. It could be an advert.

There are a lot of other pictures that I like much better from the evening (especially of myself), but they're all from other friends. Of course, though, I am not a fan of infringing their copyrights, so too bad. The ball itself was certainly an experience. Any event in which a live band sings The Bad Touch is already amazing in my opinion. Plus brownies and excellent costumes let everyone have a good time. Tophats galore! So, in short, Bigtop was interesting. That's probably the best way to put it. I can't put my finger on it, but something tells me that it certainly won't fade from my mind...Oh well, a half-bucket of candy floss, a Hawaiian pizza and a few bruises later...

The next day, I had a lovely dinner with my besties Alex and Hannah (and her dog Bracken!) at Pizza Express, which is one of those restaurants whose name makes it sound much shittier than it actually is. Who can resist garlic bread, margherita pizza, and chocolate cake for 13 pounds?! Then went back to the flat for tea and some reminiscing through picture (you know, my favourite activity in the universe).

Monday was a bit of a packed day, since I had three classes instead of two (the extra was a rescheduled Latin class). While waiting for class, though, I did come to learn that Costa Coffee has wifi, which would have been an excellent thing to realise earlier on in my student career. I've been trying to get a start on my 3000 word paper on Tacitus' Agricola, which is duenextfridayohgod. Sorry, I just had a mini panic attack writing that sentence. Like, practically none of it is done at this point. Oh dear.

I also went to the last ballroom dance class of the semester, which was lots of fun, although quite tiring! We did a sort of mini-competition for Quickstep to see who could continue to dance for the longest period of time, and my partner's and my sheer endurance won! I was quite pleased. We also did a very complicated start to a Paso Doble routine that was difficult, but ultimately so fun. I really want to keep up ballroom next year!

So Tuesday, as usual, was a pretty boring day for me. I had Chinese class, which involved doing some writing competition thing. I am about 100% sure I've lost, but at least I have some peace of mind that I've learned at least 5 sentences in Chinese over the course of a year. I spent the rest of the day working, but I should have gone to bed earlier because...

Oh boy, this is going to be the longest day of my life. I have lived three lives in the time I've been awake today. I woke up at 5:30AM. Yeah, you heard me. I woke up at 5:30 so that we could get to The Scores around 6:45 so we could wait in the queue for May Ball tickets. Tickets went on sale at at 9 and the queue was already fairly long when we arrived. The waiting for the first hour or so wasn't too bad, but then it started to rain, which made life just a little bit more miserable as we waited. Once we finally, finally got tickets, we stopped by Mitchell's mostly to get out of the rain. Then I ran off to class, hit the library, and now I'm here. Oof.

So all in all, a pretty busy week for me. It's had a lot of twists and turns, I'd say. Not entirely sure where the end of the week is headed, but I'm excited to find out. I also have kind of been working on a bonus post, so maybe that'll show its head in the near future. Maybe? Who knows. We'll see.

So after all that, I still have about a million hours left in the day and I really need to use it to work. And once I realise that I'm not going to get much accomplished, I'm sure I can find some more things on Netflix to watch.

Until next time, have a really long day, because I don't want to be the only one who had to spent 20 hours in a day awake this week.

I'm gonna go and find something useful to do with my life.

Week 9: The 90s Are Back

2013-04-13T17:41:00.000+01:00

Oh man, this is such a great end to the week! A very jam-packed weekend indeed!

So yesterday was an excellent day all around as we spent the afternoon hunting around charity shops for costumes. What sort of costumes, you ask? Why, 80s and 90s outfits of course! We found the most deliciously retro attire so as to prepare ourselves for the 80s/90s Bop. I was decked out in a very brightly-patterned romper, some canary-yellow tights, and a neon-orange Tupac-style bandana, and I would say my outfit was probably the most wearable and everyday of them all.

I was so happy to co-DJ the starting party in our kitchen with my flatmate. We got to break out our 80s and 90s playlists and compare what music is nostalgic to Europeans vs what's nostalgic for Americans/Brits. It seems that the 90s were filled with Europop and dance music on the continent! No wonder Europeans remember the Vengaboys so fondly!

The Bop itself was such a blast, playing a great selection of music. There is nothing better than Spice Girls, Madonna, Backstreet Boys, and the Macarena at the Union. I danced so hard I'm sure I went breathless! My only complaint is that it's so hard to request songs in Venue 1!

Today was the Kate Kennedy Procession in town, which was absolutely lovely and got my love of St Andrews History all worked up and filled me with childish glee. I've ragged on Kate Kennedy before, but y'know what, I don't care. All the costumes were wonderful and it was such gorgeous weather outside. I thought it was a great way to celebrate the university and the town in a way that's fun while also quite informative (okay, that sentence was a bit too nerdy even for me). I wish I could have gotten a bit closer for some better photos, but you know me. I'm just silly in that regard.

Tonight is going to be Bigtop Ball, and I am too excited for words. I've been gearing up for Bigtop Ball for a whole week and I absolutely cannot wait. The ball, if the name doesn't give it away, is circus-themed, so there will be tons of entertainment and old-fashioned harlequin decoration abound. Plus the dress code is "black tie with a circus twist", so I'm excited to see what everyone will be wearing. I want to take as many pictures as humanly possible tonight. It gonna be so good. It has to be good.

Oh, we also now officially have a place to stay in Amsterdam at the end of the month. I can't believe I'm actually going to visit Amsterdam! It's been one of the places I've been meaning to go for so long. I visit Schipol Airport at least twice a year, it's about time I get out of the terminal and see what the Netherlands really has to offer. I want to see absolutely everything there. And after Amsterdam is May Dip, which was absolutely brilliant last year. This semester is really going to end well. I can feel it.

In the meantime, I still have quite a bit of work that needs to get done, including a 3,000 word paper that's due in two weeks time that I should probably be starting one of these days. That seems like ages away, but I know in my heart of hearts that it isn't, and thus I shouldn't procrastinate. How is it even possible that time can be moving so quickly and so slowly all at once? It's a question to which I've never in all twenty of my years ever found the answer!

Until I figure it out, I'm going to freak out about Bigtop Ball, try to do work and fail miserably in the attempt, and daydream wildly.

And you, my dear reader, I suggest should do the same.

Week 9: Caledonia

2013-04-10T16:40:00.000+01:00

I can't explain what it is, but it feels like there's this emptiness this week. I can't explain it. I just feel kind of...meh. But oh well, onward march! (Or, er, April. Oh, puns!)

I feel like my time has mostly been spent in my room doing work. I do have two pieces of coursework to do before exams, but I can't say I've really been on the ball doing them. I just want to go out and do fun things. Oh well. Work hard, play hard, as Wiz Khalifa once said.

Obviously I haven't just been sitting in my room, though. Last Saturday night, I went to dinner with Hannah, Alex, and Tim at The Grill House, which is one of those places that everyone knows about but no one thinks to go to ordinarily. The last time I went was literally October 2011. I don't understand why, though. My chimichanga was lovely! It was a very nice catch-up dinner filled mostly of teasing each other and talking about what the future had in store for us. Oh future, why do I have to constantly be planning for you? I have no idea what I want the future to hold.

Monday, as well as getting a 16.5 on my Rimbaud essay (OMG!), I bought tickets to Bigtop Ball for me and my friends. It's this upcoming Saturday and I am excited a million times over. Who doesn't love a good ball? Dressing up and dancing awaits me! I also went to ballroom dance in the evening and worked on Viennese Waltzing, which is as fun as it is terrifying. My feet are still kind of sore from all the spinning.

Tuesday was just boring. Kind of unproductive other than going to Chinese class. I suppose I'm kind of getting better at Chinese, which is good news. I still really need to practice characters, though. I'm slowly learning how to speak pretty well, but my writing can be a bit lacking. That's not even considering that my characters look like they were written by a child...

And as for today, well, I can't say it's been riveting. Went to my Latin class, where we're reading Tacitus' Agricola, which at this point is mostly fun for his descriptions of Britain. For example, he describes "the inhabitants of Caledonia" (that's Scotland) as having "red-gold hair and massive limbs". And, of course, proving that the stereotype is as old as Rome, Tacitus remarks that "the climate is miserable, with frequent rains and mists." Hah!

Also, I went to have coffee with Other Hannah, which was awesome. It'd been so long since I'd seen her! Plus no one else ever seems to want to go to Beanscene with me. What's wrong with Beanscene, guys? And I got back my Holga pictures! I kind of goofed on some of the redscale ones (ISO 100. I gotta be careful with that next time!), but I think I got some pretty great ones! I can't wait until I get back a roll one of these days where I look at it and just think "wow, this roll is close to perfection". That might be years and years down the line, but I think I'm making progress. That's always a good sign!

Oh, also, I'm officially going to Amsterdam at the end of the month! I cannot wait! And we just realised that we'll be there during Koninginnedag. Kind of makes finding accommodation a bit more of a challenge, but I think this trip is going to be absolutely amazing. Once-in-a-lifetime opportunity!

I'm really excited to see what happens this weekend. Bigtop Ball, of course, but we might also go to the Bop on Friday, which this week is themed 80s/90s. Who doesn't want to rock some 90s fashion?

Siena

It baffles me that it's already Week 9. Absolutely baffles me. I don't want this semester to end. I don't know what I'm going to do when it does. Probably cry.

So yeah, lots for me to think about. Maybe this week isn't as meh as I previously described it. Hmm.

And although I said I don't know what the future has in store, I have enough hints that the near future is going to be excellent. I really cannot wait to see how it all turns out. Whole new experiences. Who wouldn't be excited for that?

So until next time, have some new experiences. Go dancing. Take pictures that won't turn out nice. Have some food you haven't had in a long time. Party hard. Escape.

And I will carry on.

Week 8: Korean Dramas

2013-04-06T14:26:00.001+01:00

Yeah, this is how you make jelly in the UK.
With a brick of jelly.

Sorry that the schedule keeps being off, but I just figured that having a post on Wednesday wouldn't be worth it at all. Things should be back to normal next week, though.

This week has been tough. Well, not really tough. Just exhausting. Not because I've been doing any hard work or anything. Just because I'm lazy and don't want to put in a lot of effort into anything. Go figure. I think I'll start from yesterday and work my way back, because that's way more fun.

Yesterday was another Lizard night. I can't say it was as awesome as the first night, but it was still a blast. I forgot to take any pictures though, so sadly no cross-process collage. Damn. I'm dumb.

I spent the afternoon before the Lizard making jelly (Jello for all you Americans out there). I'm not really going to explain why, but I mean, it's jelly and it's a Lizard night, do the maths yourself. I think it came out pretty good if I do say so myself. I remember making jelly for The Americans last year, and this year I made it for the New Americans. Is my life in some sort of time loop? Will I be forever making jelly for Americans in second semester? You can see pictures of the big pot of jelly here from last year.

Everyone came over to the flat, then it was off to the Lizard for some dancing to Thrift Shop (which they played twice: well done, DJ) and Taylor Swift. You know I can't resist the chance to scream I Knew You Were Trouble at the top of my lungs. After the Lizard, we went to Dervish, which was the first time I had ever gone when it was late at night. Man, it gets super crowded in there, but I have to say, I do think the chips are a little bit better than Empire! Then once we got our food, we went back to the flat and watched a million clips of Whose Line Is It Anyway? Brilliant show. I almost forgot how brilliant.

Yeah, I know this is from Trequanda, but I dropped the ball
on picture taking this week.

Thursday we had a night at the Whey Pat. Although I had had so much delicious food in Italy, I had quite missed those nachoes! They were in the middle of doing a pub quiz when we arrived, so we came up with random answers without the stress of wondering whether or not they were right. I think we want to get there early enough so we can actually play next time, though.

Wednesday, I met up with Alex and Hannah for lunch at Northpoint! Awesome as always. Can't get enough of them lattes and BLT rolls. We really need to stop meeting there during the busiest time, though. Sometimes you cam barely hear over the chatter of the crowd!

Tuesday was uneventful. Really. Chinese class. That was about it.

Monday was perhaps the worst day ever, as I was super stressed about handing in my essay that was due at 5PM that day. And, of course, with my luck, my computer's keyboard decided this was the perfect time to start acting up, occasionally not allowing me to use such important keys such as the space bar and the enter key for long stretches of time. I think I've figured out what the problem is and how to fix it, but it's still incredibly annoying and almost caused me to lose my mind. Not to mention I felt totally unprepared for classes after such a long break of faffing about essentially. Yeah, Monday wasn't great. But it's over and the week got better from there.

So instead of caring about anything, I've been spending all my time watching random Korean television programs on Netflix. Yeah. I'm a bit embarrassed by this fact. Well, a lot embarrassed. But I guess I'm gonna talk about it anyway? Some of my regular readers (hah, as if those exist) may remember Winter Break when I binge-watched Operation Proposal and somehow enjoyed every crazy, overly-romantic, and long-winded moment of it. Well instead of trying to find one series in the sea of Korean dramedies on offer on Netflix, I decided I would watch at least the first episode of every one of them.

And you know what I realised? The first episodes of Korean dramedies usually don't give you a sense at all of what the fuck the show is actually about. Especially the shows that are geared towards an older audience, which probably feel the need to 'pace' themselves before getting to the weird twist of the show, like "the two main characters are in an arranged marriage!" or "the two main characters switch bodies!" or whatever. Strangely, the only one which didn't feel the need to pace itself more was My Girlfriend Is A Nine-Tailed Fox, which I think would need a little bit more setup, considering I have to start understanding what the hell a 'nine-tailed fox' actually is. There are very few shows that I watched which I think I'll like as much as Operation Proposal, sadly.

Of all the ones I watched (and there were A LOT of them), the only ones I kept watching were Boys Over Flowers (which is an incredibly dumb show, but I just couldn't resist it) and Playful Kiss (which is also dumb, but I think it knows that it's dumb more than the others do.

Wow, three paragraphs on Korean dramedies. I should probably stop. That's too embarrassing.

Okay, I'm gonna admit that this post is disjointed and crap. I'll do better next time, guys. I have to relearn how to blog correctly.

Until then, I hope your life is dramatic.

Italy: Doing It Live

2013-04-01T20:37:00.000+01:00

So I grossly overestimated how much access to 'teh internetz' I would have while in Italy. Wifi was scarce, crap, and heavily protected wherever we went. Which is why you're getting this now. Super late. This is probably the biggest gap in between posts since first year. I apologise, but I was just having way too much fun to even begin to figure out how to write posts without constant internet access. To make up for it, I'll try to make this super long and detailed. Let's get started.

I cannot even begin to describe every wonderful thing I've seen while here. I've been all over the place. Everywhere.

I spent the first three days in Rome with Meghan and saw absolutely everything possible, from the Colosseum to the Vatican and everything in between. When I first got off the metro and climbed to the surface to see the Colosseum, the first thing I heard that Gangnam Style echoing through the streets. No joke. It was the marathon that day or something, so I heard Psy playing through the most famous amphitheater ever. We had pretty jam-packed days full of sightseeing and pizza. It's amazing how much there is to see in the smallest places. It seemed like every time you turned a corner, you stumbled upon a new old and beautiful thing. The Trevi Fountain totally sprang up on me because it was in such a compact and inconspicuous place. Our time in the evenings was spent watching MTV Italia and Italian-dubbed episodes of Three's Company.

Rome

After our time in Rome, we picked up our friend Harrison at the airport and got our rental car so we could drive up to our new place in Tuscany. The car we used was a Fiat Panda, which I think is my new favourite car in the universe, perhaps only because it's one of the only cars I can now identify on sight. This is probably tragic, but some of my favourite parts of this trip was driving around in The Panda and listening to Italian pop music, which was a great mixture of Italians singing in English and Thrift Shop by Macklemore. I need to go track down all my new jams so I can relive my life cruisin' in The Panda.

Vatican City

It's in a tiny village called Trequanda which looks so gorgeous and picturesque that I'm surprised no one has ever shot a movie here. It took us absolutely ages to find the house though, what with all the tiny streets and lack of internet access to locate it. We finally got to it, though, after asking for some directions to it at a pizza restaurant in town after dinner, and it became a great HQ for all of our travelling needs. Plus the cafe in the centre of town was pretty much the only place we could find that had wifi that we could use consistently.

We took a day trip to Florence which proved once and for all that Italy is a wonderful place. The city was just so big and bustling, but still so old and seeped in history. All the architecture was to die for. We went to the Duomo (I've noticed all big towns have their own kickass duomo, so we were duomo-ing it up heavily), then to the Uffici Museum where we saw Botticelli (including The Birth of Venus) and, my personal fave, Caravaggio.

Firenze

The next day was pretty packed, with us going to Siena in the early day, where we went to a museum with lots of amazing frescoes and a pretty sweet town square. We then drove to Pisa to see the leaning tower, of course, as well as the cathedral that's conveniently right next to it. Both were pretty awesome. It's hard to picture just how leaning the tower is until it's right in front of you. Although it was rainy and gross, climbing to the top of the tower and laughing for no reason to us through the day. After all that, we drove all the way to Lucca to eat dinner. It would have probably been a cool town to visit more in depth, but at the very least my tagliatelle was delicious.

Siena/Pisa

The next day was probably the sunshiniest day of all, which sadly was the day that Meghan left. We drove to this smaller town called San Gimignano, which is probably one of my favourite towns from the whole trip. It was the most beautiful kind of rustic, with gorgeous views and the best colour scheme of all the towns with a rich sand colour. After that we drove a long time to Piambino, which I cannot say is as lovely as San Gimignano, sadly, but it was nice nonetheless. It's right across from the island Elba, famous for housing Napoleon during his (first) exile. We almost starved there, though, since restaurants don't open for dinner before 7 and we didn't eat a substantial enough lunch to tide us over. We had to drive all the way back to Trequanda having only eaten one pizza slice each from a random cafe right after it opened. We survived, though, obviously.

San Gimignano/Piombino

The next day we went into Umbria via a stop in Arezzo, which isn't as remarkable as I would have liked, although it is very big. Some parts of it were very pretty, although it seemed like it was a bit more modern than some of the other places we visited. After that we went to Perugia, which we wandered around in a less-pretty part of for a good while before we found the gorgeous part. However, by that point, we wanted to be on our way to the next point, so we just picked up what I'd say is probably the best gelato I had on the trip (banana, kiwi, and 'bacio' flavours!) and headed out. The next stop was Assisi, which we got to right as the sun was setting. Assisi was probably my other favourite town of the trip. I wish we had gone there during the day once, as it is filled with basilicas that are apparently supposed to be amazing, but we couldn't go into any of them since we arrived after closing time. We had a nice walk through town, all the way up to the top where there is apparently a castle (which we also couldn't get into, obviously), then had dinner in a great restaurant. I should probably note that all the restaurants we went to were great. I don't think there's any bad restaurants in Italy. They all look so old and seeped with history.

Arezzo/Pelagia/Assisi

And then, of course, we went to Venice. Oh god, Venice is amazing. Gorgeous. It's just amazing that Venice, like, exists. That's most of the marvel, I think. I don't even think I can arrange words into sentences which would make my experience of Venice make sense. The only disappointing thing, and this goes for a lot of the sights in Italy actually, is that there were a few things that were being renovated which made pictures a little sad. I don't know why that was. Perhaps because it's the off season? But it doesn't matter. Venice is still amazing. A lot of our day in Venice was just wandering the streets, staring at buildings and thinking 'how does this even exist'. The town is full of tiny winding streets that somehow, after ages of winding, lead to huge things. And those things just sneak up on you. And it's wonderful. I'm failing to make a point here. Anyway, go to Venice. It's wonderful.

Venezia

Then the day after that we chilled back in Trequanda while we waited for my mum to arrive at the house. I suppose I should stress that Trequanda itself is amazing. The views from the flat were divine. Once she arrived, we had a delicious dinner at another restaurant in town that had the best authentically Tuscan food ever.

The rest of the trip was just me and my mum, which was nice as is always the case when you see your mum. It wasn't as boom-boom-boom in terms of sightseeing as it was when it was just me and my mates, but it was a great chance to be more relaxed. For this week of the trip, I had to say goodbye to The Panda and say hello to the famous (or perhaps infamous) Smart Car.

On our first day we wandered about Montepulciano and Pienza, both pretty small places which some pretty delicious food in both. I can't say that either were very remarkable otherwise, although there was a very gorgeous countryside view from Pienza. The next day, we went to Sansepulcro to see frescoes painted by Piero della Francesca along with some other things painted by people such as Della Robia. We also went to Arezzo (again for me) to see more of them in churches and museums before going back to Trequanda for pizza.

Pienza

The next day was spent in Montalcino, where we saw the San Antimo Abbey. Apparently they have Gregorian chanting there sometimes, but we didn't get a chance to hear any. Just one lone clarinet player, sadly. It was still absolutely gorgeous, even though it wasn't as decked-out and bedazzled as some of the other churches and duomos we saw. After that, we went on a tour of a winery called Poggio Antico, which was incredibly interesting and made winemaking sound incredibly complicated, moreso than I could have ever imagined. Sadly I'm not a big wine drinker, though, so the nuances and the tasting at the end were kind of lost on me.

Montalcino

The next day we went to Firenze (Florence) to see some churches, including one which houses my new favourite fresco ever which depicts a line of personified sciences and liberal arts with a person who practiced those arts underneath them. It's not often you see churches with paintings of Geometry, Grammar, Rhetoric, and Contemplation anymore. I just found the choices for who was the best at each to be fascinating. Then we wandered about for a while and eating lunch before we went to the other museum there which houses the Statue of David and other cool works of art. I have to say that the wait for David was totally worth it. It's so huge! I knew it was going to be big, but it's almost insane how huge the statue is.

The day after we took the train to Venezia (Venice) again to wander about the city. I can't say that it was as fun as the last time as it was super rainy when we went, but c'mon, it's Venice. It's always a treat to be there. We spent most of our time in this great restaurant for lunch that had a great atmosphere and this amazing fish stew. Plus I realised that even though I had just been there a few days before, we had wandered for most of the day in a part that I had never even been to before, proving just how big Venice is. There's always something new to discover there.

The day after that was kind of a lazy day, although we did go to this great restaurant in Sinalunga that was almost comically Italian in its décor. It's everything that you would have stereotypically put in an Italian restaurant, from the red checked tablecloths to the candles in wine bottles and walls cluttered with landscapes, but somehow it worked and didn't feel cheesy. I think it was a good meal to end our trip on, really. Something simple and really Italian.

I just cannot believe that I did all that over break and it's all over now. It was a life-changing event and I will never forget it. It's going to be so hard adjusting to being back in St Andrews, but that's just how it is.

Until next time, appreciate Italy.

(Edit: If you haven't gotten enough pictures and want to see all of them, then click here, here, here, here, here, here, and here.)

Week 7: Same Girl (Feat. Usher) by R Kelly

2013-03-14T17:31:00.000Z

So I know what I said. But things have just happened. I need to talk about this.

I just rediscovered the masterpiece that is Same Girl Feat. Usher by R Kelly.

I just cannot...words do not describe how amazing this song is.

Some of you might know already that Trapped In The Closest is one of my biggest guilty pleasures of all time. I watched the original when I was a kid. I watched all the new episodes. I can quote whole sections of Trapped In The Closet if prompted (although because it's considered socially awkward to bust out into song, I reserve this talent for very specific friends). It is perhaps the greatest opera (or should I say "Hip-Hopera"?) ever written. And as someone who once took an Opera class for a full semester, my expertise allows me to make such sweeping statements.

However, I think Same Girl is on some other plane of amazing in terms of operatic storytelling technique.

The first thing to note is that R Kelly naturally injects way too much story into his songs. Just look at how many very specific details are mentioned in a song as silly as Ignition (Remix) (the fact that the lobby has to be cleared by 4AM), I'm A Flirt Remix ("I don't understand when a nigga bring his girlfriend to the club/Freaking all on the floor with his girlfriend in the club/And wonder why all these playas trying to holler at her" Is this something that happens?), or (obviously) Trapped In The Closet ("It's Rosie the Nosey Neighbor!"). I think this is simply because he is a product of his time, namely the mid '00s, where these oddly-specific narrative songs were popular. Consider the other man on this track: Usher's Confessions Part II was all I ever heard at 6th grade recess. So obviously Same Girl was destined to be peppered with strange levels of detail. What the song is, though, is a full-on narrative which no sane person could ever relate to.

I won't bother to explain what the story of Same Girl is, because it will become apparent literally from the first couple lines. Instead, here's the music video, which is a whole other beast entirely, but we'll cross that bridge when we get to it.

First, the first verse:

[R. Kelly]
Yo Ush..
[Usher]
What up Kells
[R. Kelly]
Wanna introduce you to this girl. Think I really love this girl
[Usher]
Yeah...
[R. Kelly]
Man she's so fine
[Usher]
Straight up dawg...
[R. Kelly]
She stands about 5'4", Coca Cola, red bone
[Usher]
Damn...

So from the song alone, we get Kelly going to Usher (in the music video it's clearer that this is a phone conversation) to talk about this girl that he apparently is in love with. It's a bit of a weird way to start a conversation, really, but I suppose love makes you dumb. The first thing he does is begin to describe how amazingly hot she is by saying she's a "Coca Cola red bone", which sounds like a delicious meal but in fact just means that she's curvy and light-skinned. Also, 5'4"? Damn, R Kelly, she's tiny! From this very vague description, though, Usher is already sensing trouble.

[R. Kelly]
She drives a black Durango
License plate say Angel (What?)
Tattoo on her ankle
Plus she's making pesos
Gotta crib on Peachtree (Peachtree?)
Right on 17th street
And I call her TeTe

R Kelly is now giving us a less vague but otherwise bizarre description of the love of his life. To add to his character portrait of a smaller-than-average black woman, we now know a) the kind of car she drives b) her body modifications c) that she's got money and d) her address. These I would think are strange things to tell your friend if you're really in love with a woman. You'd think he'd stick to the clichéd "she makes me smile all the time", but if he did there would be no story to this song, and goddamn do we need a story in an R Kelly song. The only personal detail we get is that she goes by TeTe, which I'm not sure whether it's her name or some nickname (although we'll see later why this complicates matters).

[Usher]
Wait a minute hold on dawg...
Do she got a kid? (Yep)
She love some waffle house? (Yep)
Do she got a beauty mark on the left side of her mouth? (Man..)
Went to Georgia Tech? (Yup) Works for TBS? (Yup)
Man I can't believe this shit. Damn

Okay, here's where the song begins to veer from strange to baffling. So because Kelly gave such a strangely specific description of this woman, Usher is now coming to the realisation that he may in fact know this woman. So what does he do? He gives us even more bizarre descriptions of this woman, including that she loves Waffle House. Is that such a big part of her character? Is she so obsessed with Waffle House that this detail would come in handy? "Is she the one wearing the big Waffle House teeshirt?" Why is this the second detail he brings up? Before her alma mater, before her place of work (which is TBS? Seriously?). But anyway, the pieces are coming together.

[R. Kelly]
Tell me what's wrong dawg, what the hell you damnin' 'bout?
I'm your homie so just say what's on your mind
[Usher]
Man, I didn't know that you were talkin' 'bout her
[R. Kelly]
So man you telling me you know her?
[Usher]
Do I know her? Like a pastor know his word

So Kelly is totally damn clueless as to what's going on, but we've got a few bars before the climactic chorus hits, so Usher gives us this weirdly poetic simile about how well he knows this girl. Like a pastor knows his word? Pastors don't have sex with their Bibles. Usually.

[Both]
We messing with the same girl, the same girl
[R. Kelly]
How could the love of my life
And my potential wife be the
[Both]
Same girl, same girl
[Usher]
Man I can't believe that
We've been messing with the
[Both]
Same girl, the same girl
[R. Kelly]
Thought she's someone I could trust
But she's been doubling up with us
[Both]
U, K, man we been messing with same girl

Wait, R Kelly. Potential wife? This phrase seems really damn odd to me. So she's not your fiancée, or "future wife" as Tommy Wiseau would say. Not your wife. She's just your girlfriend, right? Potential wife. That's an awfully loaded word for that kind of relationship. You don't sound like you were that committed to this woman. Hell, somehow you seem to know both too much and not enough about her at the same time.

[Usher]
See I met her at this party in Atlanta!
[R. Kelly]
Well I met her at this party in Chicago!

Woahwoahwoah. I'm gonna stop you right there. You're going to tell me that this woman just happens to be in these two far-away cities often enough for both R Kelly and Usher to have pretty close relationships with her. What are the odds of her not only meeting both of these high-profile celebrities but not even noticing that they're friends who talk to each other constantly? I mean, Usher is literally the first person R Kelly calls when he thinks he's falling in luuuuuhve. Maybe she has to commute because TBS headquarters is in Atlanta? But then why does she have a house there? Does she have a house in Chicago too?

[Usher]
She came right up to me, giving me conversation
I said "do you gotta a man?"
She said "no" with no hesitation
[R. Kelly]
Well, it must be a music thing
Cause she said the same to me
At party all in my face
While I'm laughing and buying her drinks

Well duh, Usher, if she really is messing around with every R&B singer popular in 2004, she isn't gonna come out and say she's committed, now is she? I also love that R Kelly even postulates that this is her plan because she's got a "music thing". Maybe she's just a fan of the D? Why does it HAVE to be musicians?

[Usher]
She whispered in my ear and said "can you take me home?"
[R. Kelly]
Me too! Man she was in the Chi singing that same song
[Usher]
Is that true?
[R. Kelly]
And I thought it was true confessions when she said "I love you"
[Usher]
Man I thought her body was calling when she said "I want you"
Look I even got some pictures on my phone
[R. Kelly]
Look at there. There she is with some boy shorts on

Guys, none of these details prove anything. Every girl on the planet uses these seduction techniques. You two just fell for them, obviously. I also love the strange contrast between R Kelly's emphasis on love and Usher's emphasis on getting himself laid, which is a bit insane considering that both of their relationships seem to have begun with a one-night stand after a party. Does R Kelly believe all the women he fucks are his 'potential wife'? That would be a funny glimpse into his hopelessly romantic mind. Also, question for all the men: is showing semi-naked pictures of your favourite booty call to your best friend weird? I could probably understand forwarding the picture, but actually showing it to them while you're in the same room seems like everyone would get turned on too fast.

[Usher]
Said she got me on a ring tone
[R. Kelly]
Are you talking about the pink phone?
[Usher]
Uh uh the blue one
[R. Kelly]
Man she told me that was turned off
[Usher]
It's obvious that she's been playing us, playing us
[R. Kelly]
Cause constantly she's been lying to us, lying to us

Okay, so really guys. This girl has two phones. That didn't raise any red flags? Is she so committed to fucking around that she needs two cell phones? This must be a very expensive ruse. And what kind of weird-ass detail is this to add to the song? To illustrate how crazy she? Also, I love how Usher is all like "But I had a special ringtone! I thought that meant something!"

[Usher]
Don't like the way that she's been going 'bout, going 'bout
Kells what you think that we should do about it, about it?
[R. Kelly]
Call her up at her home
She won't know that I'm on the phone
[Usher]
Yeah man that's the way
[R. Kelly]
Homie we about to bust this trick
Ask her to meet up with you and I'm going to show up too
[Usher]
And she won't know what to do
[R. Kelly]
We'll be standing there singing

Oh god, so now we get to the scheming. I love hearing Usher and R Kelly scheming about how to get back at this woman. This sounds like something I used to do in middle school where my friend Nat would call up this boy we both liked on a three-way call and then she would talk to him while I sat on the other end silently so he wouldn't know I was there. Actually, come to think of it, that's definitely the same trick they pulled in Mean Girls. But anyway. They'll call her up together and then invite her out. Why do they both need to be present for that phone call? Whatever. And then they'll meet up with her and SING. Yes, the lyrics are "we'll be standing there singing" and then the two go straight into the chorus again. So you mean to tell me that this whole song was written so that they could mockingly sing it to her when she arrived for their date? That's insane. Like, certainly R Kelly has some mental disorder where he is incapable of expressing himself clearly outside of song.

Also, although the chorus is more or less the same each time it is uttered safe for a few weird word tweaks (Rap Genius doesn't even rewrite them at this point even though I think they missed SUCH an important part), this time around we get a glimpse into Usher's psyche:

[Both]
The same girl, the same girl
[Usher]
She’s was the apple of my eye and your potential wife
[Both]
The same girl, the same girl
[R Kelly]
I can’t believe that we been messin’ with the same girl
[Both]
The same girl, the same girl
[R Kelly]
She’s gon’ be lookin’ so stupid when see us together
[Both]
U, K, man we’ve been messin’ with the same girl

"And your potential wife"? Usher basically stepped away from any accusation of commitment there. "Woah, man, I just wanted to fuck her. She was YOUR potential wife." Usher is still only thinking about the poontang. Also, just the sheer amount of glee that R Kelly has when he thinks about how embarrassed she'll be is as hilarious as it is sadistic and twisted.

And finally, the song ends with perhaps one of the worst endings ever:

[R Kelly]
See, she was taken flights, movin’ back and forth
(The same girl, the same girl)
I would pick her up at the airport
Man, I really can’t believe it
(The same girl, the same girl)
I can’t believe it, no
(The same girl, the same girl)

THAT'S YOUR TAKE-AWAY, R KELLY? THAT YOU WASTED ALL THAT TIME PICKING HER UP AT THE AIRPORT? What about all that betrayal of trust, losing the love of your life, your potential wife, etc? The damn airplane flights are the least of your concern.

The music video for this saga makes the story go from just weird to absolutely incomprehensible. I mean, we could sit here forever dissecting the crazy directorial choices such as the random conversations they are having that are shameless plugs for their projects before the song starts; having Kelly and Usher bond over basketball, cigars and whiskey, driving sports cars and other manly activities; the fact that R Kelly seems to live in the most boring yet expensive man cave ever; the craziness of the mid-00s' concept of extravagance, such as clubs that are entirely lit in blue or parties where everyone is wearing white; or why the two bros keep dancing in front of an entirely white wall. These are almost ripples in the pond water though, considering what we discover with The Reveal.

The end of the music video reveals that this Same Girl is, in fact, a set of twins. Yes. Let that sink in for a moment.

This is the most nonsensical Shyamalanian twist ending in the history of twist endings. Let's unpack this.

The song gives no hint that there could be two girls in all of this, and why would it? What twins went to school together, work at the same place, LIVE IN THE SAME HOUSE, drive the same car, have the same tattoo, and woo men the same way? AND HAVE THE SAME NAME? Or at the very least have the same nickname, which is crazy no matter how you slice it. Plus you'd think the 'two phones' line would insinuate that they were different people, but if that were the case, then why do both of them know about both phones? That would mean that both women have a blue phone and a pink phone to themselves. Four phones in total.

Also, neither Usher or Kelly, despite knowing the smallest details about these women, knew that their girlfriend had a twin sister? That never came up in conversation? Kells, this woman is your potential wife! How have you not talked about your families yet?

This song needs to come out of the shadows and become a cult classic like it's older brother Trapped In The Closet. It's just too fantastic and bizarre and amazing. Please make that happen, Internet.

Also, Flight of the Conchords did what is clearly a parody of this song that you can enjoy here:

Okay, I promise next post I'll be in Italy. Allons-y!

Week 7: Rimbaud E Un Uomo

2013-03-13T22:03:00.000Z

Hey world. I'm so ready to be done with university work. The next post is going to be coming to you from Italy. Let's do this.

On Monday, there was more snow in St Andrews! I didn't think I'd ever see it twice in one semester. I don't think I ever showed you all the pictures of St Andrews in the snow from last time it snowed, so here's a chance to see some. The day before was perhaps some of the weirdest weather that St Andrews has ever seen: on-again off-again hail in the sun. Which sadly meant that the big Strip The Willow that I mentioned last post was canceled, but at least I got to go have lunch at Mitchell's with friends. Success!

I got back my second roll of Holga pictures I shot in St Andrews, which came out much much better than the first. I think I'm finally getting the hang of this film thing. Some of the photos came out so well. You can see a few of them here and all my Holga photos here. Sigh. It's probably less to do with any skill I'd possess and more to do with the fact that I didn't screw up as much by overlapping the pictures and taking pictures of really dumb things. Hey guys, what if I actually...started to get better? Crazy, huh? I vow to shoot at least two rolls in Italy. I have to promise that to myself at least. I've just bought some 'fun' film (red-tinted. Too hipster?), so it's happening. Well, unless the film doesn't arrive in time. Fingers crossed.

So my Rimbaud paper is technically finished. Technically meaning that it has the right number of words. As for if it actually says anything, I can't say. I'm not sure if I cited the text enough or if I spoke too generally. But then again the French in this essay is probably much better than the others I've written thanks to the proofreading skills of my fantastic French friend who has to put up with me making the same high school-level mistakes every other sentence. So maybe better French will mean better marks? I honestly have no idea if this is any good. This could be either the best or worst French essay I've ever written. I can't even reread it because I'm so worred about it. Is that bad? This uncertainty is a bit worrisome, but then again, it's so close to break. Three more days!

Oh god, three more days! I haven't even begun to start packing, getting organised, making sure I have everything. The only thing I've even attempted to do has been learning Italian with this little thing I was introduced to called Duolingo. It's a really interesting way to crash-course languages. I'm surprised at how much I'm remembering, although I'm not sure if the vocabulary I have so far is very helpful. I can now say that I am a woman (sono una donna) and that I am eating an apple (mangio una mela), along with other combinations of person, gender, and food. I tried the French course and although I did in the end manage to skip to level 11 through the special tests, it's actually quite pathetic how many attempts it took to get there. Maybe I do need to start relearning the basics...

But yes, along with Italian (and Chinese), now I've gotta relearn the language that makes up half of my degree. Academic excellence, people!

Yes, so today marks the beginning of the end. I'm a bit stressed out because there's still things that need to be done, but I'm ready to just let go of it all.

To get that stress out of my mind, I watched a rugby game for the first time. I actually have learned that I love watching rugby! One of the New Americans (who is one of the few who isn't American, actually) played and we embarrassed her by cheering her on at any possible moment. I was surprised at how well I could follow without knowing more than two rules of the game. Plus it's pretty action-packed and the pace is varied enough that it never gets dull. This must be why Brits just roll their eyes at American Football. I found watching this amateur rugby match so much more fun than the two times I've watched college football in the states. TAKE THAT, STATES!

Yes, I know both pictures feature the Glasgow team. Sorry. Go Saints!

I just...I can't even sit still. I have a million and one things to do. They're all really simple and easy and I should even be worried about them, but they still exist, y'know? So maybe I should be off doing that. Like printing out my paper. And doing my reading. And planning for my next paper. And planning Italy.

Seriously, next post, I'll be in Italy. Fucking ITALY! GAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!

Until next time, get excited about something!

Week 6: And So This Is What The Night Is

2013-03-10T12:37:00.000Z

This week has been the biggest mix of fun and stressful. So much to be done! Nights out! Papers! Planning Italy! Tea! Coffee! Gah! Hence why this is late. I'm sorry, that's just how it's gotta be.

As I begin to stress beaucoup about my Rimbaud paper (which is technically halfway done going by word count alone), I begin to get excited about break and how satisfying it will be. I just want to be in Italy already! Away from all the stress of papers. Which isn't quite accurate, because I have a paper due the Monday after we get back from break. Which means that I'd better write it during the break...somehow.

But of course, my stress for work this semester somehow doesn't keep me from doing fun things, shockingly enough. In all honesty, that's perhaps a bad sign. But still, lots of new memories. And cross-process. Oh dear, the cross-process...

Thursday was a standard Whey Pat evening with an adventurous twist. After the Whey Pat, we hung out at The Rule for a while before going to Empire for some cheesy chips. Cheesy chips make everything delightful. Then after that, in a move of spontaneity, we walked over to Castle Sands to watch the turbulent sea in the dark. It was cold and windy, but it felt refreshing, so we walked down to the Pier and did an unofficial Pier Walk, even with the rough sea and the harsh winds. Probably a bit dangerous at night, especially along the really high-up and really narrow bits, but no one died thankfully!

Friday was the real fun. The New Americans all went to The Lizard. Anyone who knows anything about St Andrews is already laughing. The Lizard doesn't have the greatest reputation in terms of classiness. I've kind of avoided it for the past two and a half years for this very reason. After spending a night dancing there, I can confirm that its bad reputation is thoroughly deserved, but we all had an absolute blast. It seems that another future visit is in the stars.

So obviously Saturday was a quiet one. I went to coffee with Hannah, Rachel, and Alex in the afternoon to catch up and had truly the most amazing breakfast burrito ever. In the evening, I sewed the pocket of my friend's trousers back on after it ripped at The Lizard (yeah, it was that kind of night) and then we met up with friends to make buckeyes and watch Take Me Out again.

Today I really should be working, which I will do. But also I'm going to be participating in St Andrews' attempt to break the record for most people doing Strip The Willow in one place for the Guinness Book of World Records. It's not as suggestive as the name sounds! Strip The Willow is the most awesome ceilidh dance of them all, and really awesome to see when people are doing it right. It's typical to end a ceilidh with a big long Strip The Willow to tire everyone out. Now that I think about it, one of the things I'm really gonna miss about Scotland when I leave for good is that I won't be able to go to ceilidhs. I better enjoy it while I can!

Only one more week to go before March Break! Once this Rimbaud paper is handed in and all that's left to do is pack everything up, I'm gonna be so relieved. There's no way this holiday isn't going to be fantastic.

Until next time, go let out your stress in big and stupid ways.

Peace.

Week 6: Boring and Interesting

2013-03-06T15:15:00.000Z

Back to normal, I suppose. But even in the mundane, there's the possibility of sneaking in something a little more interesting.

Sunday

The Boring: Doing work for school, watching Top Gear.

The Interesting: Making egg-lemon soup again!

You might remember that I made egg-lemon soup all the way back in first semester. It is the best soup known to mankind. No joke. Every time I mention it to someone who's not in the know, they look at me like I have six heads because they expect it's going to have scrambled eggs in it or something. It doesn't. The egg mixture is just there to thicken it up. What really matters is the chicken broth, the rice, and the tons and tons of lemon juice that make it so amazing. I cannot stress how glorious this soup really is.

Monday

The Boring: Classes, homework.

The Interesting: Ballroom dance lessons.

I've been keeping my promise! I've been going to ballroom! I can't believe I was so stupid as to avoid going for two and a half years even when I was signed up for the mailing list. This week I stayed for both the Beginner and Intermediate classes, which was an excellent challenge. This was supposed to be the 'fun week' after everyone came back from competition, so we did Viennese Waltz, Samba, and Slow Foxtrot. Although Viennese and Foxtrot were exceptionally difficult and at times confusing, the experience was more than satisfying when we (kind of) figured out what we were doing.

Tuesday

The Boring: Going to the library, Chinese lessons, doing Livy translations.

The Interesting: Walking along the coastal path, then buying tickets to Italy (!!)

I woke up at 11:30 because I am lazy and there was already a message from one of the New Americans (I suppose that's what I'm going to call them now to distinguish from last year's The Americans. I miss calling my friend by their group names.) asking if anyone wanted to walk along the coastal path. And since I had never tried walking it before, I decided I'd go for it, so I got up and met up with two of the New Americans at Starbucks. Then we made our way to the path, which goes from East Sands all the way to the Fairmont, but we didn't get that far. It was a lovely walk, plus the views of the town were amazing and unlike any I had seen before. We would love to walk back up it again, and perhaps go the whole way.

Then in the evening, in very exciting news, I finally booked tickets to fly to Italy during the upcoming March Break! I'm so glad that I've finally got proof that I'm doing something over the break. You have no idea how much I am looking forward to this trip. I've never been to Italy before, which is a bit ridiculous considering I'm a Latin student who's always had the desire to go. It's gonna be excellent. And it's so soon! I leave in 10 days! I really just want to spend all my time planning the trip, looking up things to see in Tuscany, trying to decide what cities to visit, but alas there's so much that needs to get done before I even think about my Italian vacation.

Today

We're not sure how he got up there.

The Boring: Discussing Sophonisba in Livy's Ab Urbe Condita (well, not too boring), freaking out about my Rimbaud paper that is due in a week which I haven't begun in earnest yet.

The Interesting: ???

Okay, so yeah. Today might not be so fun. I've really got to start writing this paper, and I honestly have no idea where I'm going to start. It has to be in French and that unnecessary hurdle makes having any thoughts next to impossible. I might have to write the whole essay in English and then translate it into French. Is that cheating? Well, no, but it's still a bit pathetic.

I'm really not sure what's going on for this week. I'm hoping we all find something excellent to do, as I'm not willing to give up a week to averageness. Cool things must be happening!

Until I figure out what fun things are in store, I'll get back to writing that dreaded paper and listening to French rapper Dry's Tot ou Tard (SERIOUSLY GO LISTEN). I also need to go get myself a coffee. I've discovered that I'm more addicted than previously thought. It's a bit of a scary realisation. Luckily, according to CGP Grey, it's a pretty kickass addiction to have.

Until next time.

Week 5: Geekiness

2013-03-02T16:53:00.000Z

Oooooh maaaaaaan.

This end of the week has been too full-on HAM to even put into words. I'm going to have to turn on a lot of cross-process for this one.

We'll start off with Wednesday, which was pretty tame, but still excellent. For Alex's birthday, we went to the best restaurant in town, Nahm-Jim's (a favourite), for some amazing Japanese food. Sushi and Sashimi Bento Box, as per usual. Looks a little something like this. Delicious. I really need to branch out, though. After that, we went back to my flat to have a cup of tea and watch In The Loop, which is amazing. Go watch it. If my soul were a person, it would be Peter Capaldi as Malcolm Tucker from The Thick of It/In The Loop.

So no we're getting to the heavy use of cross-process...

Thursday and Friday were bonkers.

Where to even start. So Thursday was the Harry Potter Pub Quidditch night out, which I cannot even put into words. Is supermetabulous a word? 'Cause it was that. I'm so glad that my Slytherin tie has come in handy at least once in my three years at St Andrews! It was some really good fun and I met some lovely new people. Plus there's nothing better than traversing the town with people wearing house scarves and wands! Probably could have kept it a little bit less cross-process, but it was still awesome and I don't think I would have had it any other way.

This is as much cross-processing as Picasa allows.

And then there was Friday. Oooooh man. Friday was Geek Bop.

Geek Bop was probably the most satisfying experience of my whole university career. So many geeky people all in one place! Amazing costumes! Nerdy music! The only place I've ever been where there were at least 15 people dressed as the tenth or eleventh Doctor. Eleventh doctor in all pink was kind of what I was going for. I think I can say for certain now that these guys are my people. The only run-on with a bad sort of folk was when some girls tried to steal my friend's Ash Ketchum hat. They're on his shit-list now.

I guess you could say he's...gotta catch'em all. YEAAAAAAAAAAAAAH.

But for realz, Geek Bop was heaven on earth. I saw a man dressed an an impeccable Bilbo Baggins and he could dance like no one's business. This is where great things happen.

We also ended the night by somehow procuring two huge loaves of bread from the Toastie Bar people when we got there too late. We also got some pizzas and enjoyed them back at the flat. Greasy, delicious pizzas from Empire. Nothing better than that. I went to bed at 5AM last night (or I suppose it was this morning). Wonderful, wonderful night all around.

I don't even want to think about having to go back to doing work. Today I'm going to spend my time working hard, then probably give up on that rather quickly. I have a translation that's due for Monday My flatmate came back from a BakeSoc event with a whole box full of muffins. My day has already been made.

I cannot believe it's already the end of Week 5. Time is racing by. There's so much to do and altogether too little time to do it. I don't even want to begin trying to understand how I'll cope with this beautiful year ending.

But that's a way's away. For now, I have to try to focus. On what, I'm not quite sure yet. But focus. And now.

Until next time.

Week 5: Space Jam

2013-02-27T16:47:00.000Z

Hello, my lovely readers.

Out every night. That's living the true St Andrews life.

Saturday, we went to get some as-always amazing nachos from the Whey Pat. God, I crave them every time I write about them. After chillin' in there for a bit, we moseyed on over to the Vic for a change of pace and an increase in drink prices. It was still a lovely night out.

So Monday night I went back to ballroom dance. Well at least I can say that I kept my word somewhat! Tango and Cha Cha this week. What dramatic dances...

Tuesday was a long day in town. First I hung out with Hannah while we had coffee and sandwiches at Beanscene, then did some shopping and other promenading about town. Then I went to the library to wait for my Chinese class and found a book on Rimbaud, because Rimbaud is The Man. Then because the library is so busy, I took it to Costa Coffee for an excellent pot of tea. I've forgotten my love for Costa Coffee! I need to go more often. Then I went to Chinese class for two hours, went back to the library, and waiting for another two hours reading the Rimbaud book.

Because when I think 'Rimbaud',
I think 'basic math problems'

And THEN, I went to SciFi and Fantasy and watched a Futurama episode and, for the first time ever, watched Space Jam. OMG. Space Jam. I cannot believe I never saw this as a child. It's pure, concentrated 90s insanity. How was this missing in my life before this? After that, we went to Aikman's for a casual chat with some friends who were already there.

As for tonight, it's my friend Alex's birthday! Who knows, anything could happen! Then again, it'll probably be dinner, a movie, and casual chatting. Close enough!

I only just realised that I still have a digital subscription to Time Magazine on my Nook. HAH! I was a naive woman who once thought she'd have time to do work AND read a weekly news magazine. I mean, my subscription to Vogue was probably clever enough; that's monthly. But Time? Oh girl, you cray.

This week is a breather for me. Kind of. No super-big assignment due until the end of Week 7. Then again, that next big assignment is a 2,500 word essay about Rimbaud (well, or Baudelaire, but it's probably going to be Rimbaud) in French. Yes. In French. Oh dear...

I also have a translation to do for French Language, due next Monday, but luckily they've decided we get to do them at home and hand them in instead of doing in-class tests, which were the worst. Well, I last sememster the translation I did got a great mark, but the 'resume objectif' in class was terrible. And now both are in French. So yeah, I'm glad I get to do them at home.

I've also discovered the best sandwich ever: Pesto Chicken Sandwiches. It's the first thing in a long time that has required actual cooking and preparating. I've had at least three already. The only changes I made to this recipe was that I used random spices instead of Italian Seasoning, Gruyere instead of Fontina, and using mayonaise that is garlic-flavoured. Amazing stuff. Eat them all the time. Day and night. You will not regret it.

As for the rest of the week, all the rest of my nights should be booked as well. What a lucky girl I am. I've already discussed tonight's birthday plans. As for Thursday, I think I'm going to the Harry Potter Society's pub crawl, which sounds like a blast. And Friday is Geek Bop! That'll be awesome. No question. My costume is going to suck, though. Oh well.

So I suppose until then we shall have to part ways, dear reader. Enjoy yourselves.

Until next time.

Week 4: Ball Beauty Tips

2013-02-23T14:13:00.000Z

So I finished the paper. Thank god. I almost had a fit of hysteria.

Wednesday night, I got a little stroll to myself. The streets feel so empty at 8 o'clock on a Wednesday night in Week 4! First I quickly stopped at the Photography Society exhibition mostly just to see if I had any pictures up. I can happily report that two of them were there. Hooray! I then went to SciFa to watch half of Neverending Story and all of The Pagemaster, which I forgot how much I loved as a child. Oh god, listening to Patrick Stewart and Whoopi Goldberg as anthropomorphic books flirt with each other is delightful.

Thursday was more editing of the paper, which I'm still not sure about, but who cares at this point. It's well-structured, and that's enough for me.

Friday was my first class on Livy, which was excellent, but who cares. What really matters is DRA BALL! Oh god, I so needed DRA Ball. I thought it was 'pretty terrif'! I got to wear my full-length dress that I haven't been able to wear since Masquerade Ball 2011 and wear matte lipstick for the first time ever. Everyone else looked so nice too! And there was delicious Janetta's ice cream. I ate my ice cream so fast I can barely remember the part in between getting a full ice cream and eating the tip of the cone. There was lots of good dancing to be had and the venue was HUGE.

So all in all, yes. Just...yes. DRA Ball gets a 'yes'. Now we've got to figure out what the next big thing is going to be. Any ideas, St Andrews people? Any bops? Balls?

As for the rest of the weekend, I'm not sure what's going on. Maybe just more work, sadly. Oh well, more Rimbaud and 'resume analytique' for me!

I've been kind of addicted to The Beauty Department this week. Seriously, whenever you need some inspiration with what to do next, just spend an hour flipping through and you're bound to find something to try. I've been trying so many hair and makeup styles from it as of late. I think my new favourite has to be this bun, which is great for my hair because I have such fine hair that normal buns look underwhelming to say the least. I was going to do this one for the ball, but no one had a curling iron. I settled for straightening my hair and doing this classic.

Also, I've discovered the magic of lip liner. Who knew it made such a difference? Twenty years of my life have been spent in the cave. I've finally exited the cave and seen the sun. Okay, the Allegory of the Cave might be a bit much. But still! Go use some damn lip liner. And while you're at it, get a clear gloss. I just got my first one too. Yeah, if you haven't noticed, I went on a bit of a makeup splurge on Thursday... Worth it.

So I know no one ever answers my questions that I ask into the void (despite me knowing for a fact that at least 30 people read these a week...), but how was everyone's week? This one has been tiring, but satisfying. Next week should be a little less tiring, but the work is going to pick up in a few. I guess I do have March Break to look forward to. Not that I have any plans yet... Ugh, I should probably get on that.

Until next time, go get dressed up, read some poetry, and feel good.

Week 4: Sallust

2013-02-20T16:37:00.000Z

Thanks Mum, it's starting to look awesome!

And this is the part where my sanity begins to slip.

Oh god, were is my paper? Shouldn't it be done by now? Where is it in my brain? Please, I need this to happen and happen well! Arg, Sallust, why do you have to have so many quirky stylistic choices which have to be analysed in great detail? 1515 out of 2000 words and counting!

I get it, Sallust. You're a super interesting writer. You're very quirky in your writing of history. You're very moralistic. I love that you started Bellum Catilinae as if it was a straightforward morality play and then ended it abruptly with the Romans examining the dead bodies of the slain conspirators and realising that some of them are their friends. That's dark, man. Super dark. I really dig it.

So I want you to know that, from the bottom of my heart, my anger is not directed at you. It's directed at this goddamn commentary I have to write about 8 sentences. EIGHT. Eight sentences. And I have to look for chiasmus and alliteration and all that. Ugh. I'm not good at this.

As you can see, I've been a bit preoccupied with this sense of crazy dread that I won't finish this Latin commentary that is due on Friday. Ugh. I suppose that doesn't mean that I haven't had any fun, though.

On Monday, I went to ballroom dance class. Oh boy. I used to dance in high school. A friend wanted to go, so I thought I'd tag along because I missed ballroom all these years. It's the first time I had ever gone in St Andrews, so I didn't know what to expect. I ended up really enjoying it! I thought I would be rubbish after three years of no dance, but apparently you never forget what you learned. The only question now is whether I'd be able to get any better, or whether I've fossilized at this lame level. I know I should never make sweeping declarations (like Marshall) in front of the internet in case I end up not doing what I intended to do, but I think I'm going to go every week, just to see if I can get better. Might keep me in shape!

Tuesday was Chinese class and DocSoc, which is a bit of a weird double-feature, but at least it gave me an excuse to go to the library in between. Not that I got much work done at the library, mind you, but it certainly made me FEEL productive, and that's all that really matters to fix my stress. I forgot how much the Shakespeare Code Doctor Who episode is so good, but so silly. I guess Doctor Who is always good and silly, but maybe it was more silly back in the day than I remembered it being. Oh well, at least I got to hear Shakespeare say "hey nonny nonny!" in a suggestive manner.

I'm not really sure what I'm going to be doing today. Probably just freaking out about my essay. And eating. I've been super lazy about groceries, so I'm going to make the most of my new food in the flat. I've got me enough bagels and cream cheese to last me at least two weeks. I think there may be something going on tonight, but I'm not sure what. We'll play it by ear.

I just want this week to be over so I can celebrate with the good ol' DRA Ball on Friday, which I expect is going to be thoroughly amazing. I'm so excited for it! It'll probably be much better than New Hall Ball last year. Not that that's much of an accomplishment, but still, it is something.

In the meantime, though, you can enjoy all these pictures I promised you last time that are from at least a month ago. Stupid slowness of film... I'm still quite proud of them, though. Well, not proud. They're...okay.

Also, shoutout to Rimbaud. I didn't enjoy reading Baudelaire these past few weeks as much as I thought I would (I think I would have preferred reading Fleurs du Mal rather than the prose poems). But Rimbaud, I'm really diggin' him. I'm diggin' his teenage excellence. He wrote everything between the ages of 16 and 21! Brilliant kid. My professor doesn't think he's all that great, but, y'know, agree to disagree here. Keep on shining, Rimbaud.

Until all the fun stuff starts happening, I guess I'll just lock myself in my room and pull out all my hair while I finish off this essay. So that should be fun!

You, dear readers, need to git gone! You're distracting me! I haven't got the time to be dilly-dallying!

Until next time.

Week 3: ChokaBlok Rave

2013-02-17T13:29:00.003Z

This one's going to be a picture-heavy post. Gird your loins.

But I mean, what else would you be expecting from me? If you weren't expecting terrible writing and lots of picture, you've gotten to the wrong part of the internet.

So last post, I said that I thought that there would be plans for the end of the week. Of course it would be, seeing how my life goes these days, that the plans I expected to happen did not, and those I had no idea about were the most interesting.

It's amazing that Valentine's Day has come and passed. It seemed like it was being built up for weeks and weeks here at St Andrews. We like to consider ourselves the 'university of love'. It's probably all hype, though.

On Wednesday night, I baked red velvet cupcakes with Hannah at BakeSoc, like I said I would. God, I don't even know how I'm going to fit all these pictures in. You guys are already missing out on some of the snow pictures. But anyway, I have heard that the cupcakes tasted delicious. I never got to try them because I offered them to everyone for 'Galentine's Day', our girls-only meetup for Valentine's Day. I might have to bake another batch just to get a taste. Plus maybe this time they come out red!

Valentine's Day, I went to a rave. Yup. That happened. I can't say it's the most romantic Valentine's Day I've ever had, but it certainly was something. I've never been to a rave before. I didn't have very much in terms of 'ravewear'. I wore heels; apparently this is a faux pas? I think this was probably a decent practice rave, though, considering there was pretty much no one there when we got there. We did turn it into an excellent photoshoot, though. Learned a lot about light exposure! Maybe I should get into the rave scene just for the lightdrawings? Well, I now own membership to RaveSoc, so...

I miss you, cousins.

Speaking of photography, I got two rolls back from development. The black and white one didn't end up too bad, despite some overlap yet again. I don't know how I keep doing that. Some of them are some real favourites of mine, though. It's usually easier to hide the flaws with black and white anyway. The colour roll...ugh. I need to get better at this. I am gonna make sure that this roll I'm shooting now is perfect. PERFECT. Or just terrible. Who knows. Maybe this time I can at the very least avoid all the friggin' overlapping! You'll have to see the other pictures next post, because I'm running out of room for all these more recent ones. I'm keeping you in suspense!

Also, the reason why this post is late is because I went to Edinburgh yesterday! Of course. I think I've gone to Edinburgh a million times already, but it's always a new experience. Never dull! We got so much accomplished: the castle (sort of), the Royal Mile, St. Giles, the National Museum, Greyfriar's Bobby, and some nice windowshopping. Plus I finally bothered to figure out what that dark tower thing is in the centre of town: The Scott Monument. It was also the first time I'd ever gone the entire way by bus. It wasn't as terrible as I thought it would be, but the bus back did start to feel like a trek as it approached the 2 hour mark.

After we got back, I introduced the group to the Whey Pat (you know of it) and we got the famous nachos. I burned my mouth eating them because I honestly couldn't stop myself from shoving them into my face. We then bought big tubs of ice cream and watched our new favourite show on the planet, Take Me Out. Oh god, Take Me Out is a work of pure genius. All of it. Every version. It is a programme which is universal. Watch it and enjoy your life. Also, ChokaBlok is not good ice cream! Don't buy it! Stick to Phish Food.

Anyway, this next week is either going to be amazing or exceptionally stressful. I still haven't made much progress on my Latin essay due on Friday. Does anyone want to write an essay on Sallustian style for me? It would be much appreciated That's not even counting any of the other things I have to do. I have a French assignment due tomorrow that I haven't even gotten halfway through. How do all these Americans have so much fun while still getting work done? Are they in for a wake-up call? I'm panicking a little. Well, a lot. So much to do!

But while I have that mild panic, try to live your life a little better than I do. Start work early, get it done, but find the time for a rave and some nachos.

Until next time, dear readers.

Week 3: Happy Valentine's Shame

2013-02-13T13:55:00.000Z

So the rest of the weekend was interesting. Good and less good. Then good. That's all.

I will say though, I need to stop watching Beauty and the Beast with other people around. I keep looking like a crazy person when I quote songs, dialogue, and sound effects, as well as dropping random trivia. The reactions I've gotten while doing it have ranged from bemused to shocked to freaked out to questioning my sanity. Luckily though, one person I was watching it with knew almost all of the dialogue too. And the other one, well, he put up with it. Good enough.

I'm now getting to the 'oh shit' point in the first month where I realise that I need to do some research and writing for realz this time or else, I dunno, fail. It's not like I've been slacking off these past few weeks, either. I've been doing all the preparation for class (okay, except maaaaaybe not the translations for Latin because they take me years to finish, but other than that, everything). It just feels like there's so much shit to do.

It doesn't help that there seems to be so many things going on these days. I can barely keep track of my schedule. Is my brain so fried that I can't remember basic things? This is a bad sign. Hopefully things will get less hectic next week, although my first marked piece of coursework is due next week. Eep. Actually, that's a lie. It's just the first piece of handed-in coursework. The first in general will be my Oral presentation. But still. A big fucking deal, as Joe Biden would say.

Today, it's snowing! And I think you all know how much I love snow. Love it. I want to take so many pictures of it. Marry it. Have babies with it. Okay, this went to kind of a weird place. Hopefully more pictures to come, but for the meantime I'm just gonna enjoy how wonderful this is.

Also, another absent-minded professor moment. The fire alarm went off, and we started to evacuate. He told us 'don't take anything!'. Then he proceeded to take all his Sallust books. Which he immediately regretted when he brought them out into the snow. So awkward and so wonderful. God, this professor is my spirit animal.

He also just told me that I don't have to be original while writing my commentary that's due next Friday. Thank god, the pressure's off! I don't have to think, I just have to regurgitate all the information. University, everybody! I still have to start writing that, though. Ugh. I don't have the tiiiiime. It's 2000 words and due next Friday. I would have usually been halfway done with it by now. But now I just can't be arsed. It'll get done. I promise. I just need some good motivation.

So tonight, I'm going to BakeSoc to make red velvet cupcakes for Valentine's Day. Yes, dear readers, I am indeed single! This is going to be a strange V-Day indeed. Oh well, more cupcakes for me. Plus this Valentine's Day should have enough going on that it won't be too much of a disappointment. I think we've also been scheming up some good plans for this weekend. Hopefully they should all come to fruition and everything will be awesome!

I can't wait for more fun things to happen. This semester is already surpassing last semester in the fun department. What else could be around the corner?

Prep yourself for Valentine's Day, my Life Abroad-ers. Whenever the fickle nature of love surrounding this holiday comes to mind, I always remember to think of all the ups and downs of Catullus, otherwise known as My Homeboy. The best love poet (and hate poet) ever. Repeat after me: "Vivamus, mea Lesbia, atque amemus!" The next poem to quote, of course, when your love goes totally sour after your date at Beanscene should be "odi et amo", but we'll cross that bridge once we get to it.

Have a great week, my loves.

Week 2: Disney

2013-02-09T18:32:00.004Z

So I'm in my room, doing my work, not bothering anyone. It's a pretty boring, average day. Maybe too boring. I couldn't sleep last night. Woke up at 6:45 and stayed up.

So here's the question for a boring Saturday: after all the awesome stuff I've done since coming back to St Andrews: ceilidhs, nights out, going to societies and whatnot, does it stop?

Thank god it doesn't!

Click to enlarge, bitches.

I know I said last Saturday was the best night ever. We'll, it's now been surpassed by Friday night, which was the Disney Bop! I went to the Disney Bop last year (I only vaguely hinted about it here), but this time it was ten million times more fun!

The best night in such a long time. So many costumes! I dressed up as Cinderella, minus the blonde hair and glass footwear. In our group, we had an Ursula, a Madam Mim, a Belle, a Queen of Hearts, a Genie, and a Prince Eric. I also bumped into the twins Hannah and Rachel and their friends, dressed as Toy Story cowboys/cowgirls. We all had a great time jammin' to the classics. There's nothing like listening to Just Can't Wait To Be King right after Rihanna's S&M. And finally I have good pictures to cross process because oh god there have been so many nights that needed cross-processing and now I have a chance. And, of course, because it's me, there are so many photos! I wish I could include every single one, because every single one brings me so much goddamn joy.

Speaking of cross process and photography (nice segue, Katie), I just sent in my Holga film that I was freaking out about last time. I guess I'll assess the damage when I get the photos back.

So maybe my reaction to my fun and interesting life was a bit of an exaggeration. This week was certainly busy, but probably not fun in the conventional sense. Thursday was such a long day for me, for example. I was in town from 11 to 4 (and keep in mind the half hour walk to and from town), then I had to go back for my Chinese class. I was actually supposed to have my Chinese class on Tuesday, but I forgot like the dumbass that I am. I'm so glad to be starting it up again!

And to be honest, that's the perfect summation of my life: massive lull, massive amounts of work, then massive amounts of fun. I suppose it could be worse. And today, as you can imagine, is part of that lull. Just working, reading Baudelaire, doing translations.

I don't quite know where this next week is headed, but I'm hoping it's good and nice and beautiful. That's all I ever really hope for.

And because it's been friggin' ages since the last one (Week 4 of first semester!), a journal entry:

Best Friend

I think my problem is connection. All my life, I've wanted a Best Friend. A person who knew everything about me, shared secrets with me, laughed with me, never let me down. And on top of all that, I wanted someone who never disappeared, never faded out of my life, never forgot to write. It's never happened. I've never found that person. And it's hard, going to school in one country and living in another. If you even get the chance to know them for ever just more than a semester, you still know you'll be leaving again. I am a nomad trying to set up a permanent base. If I ever want a Best Friend, the person I've always wanted, then I need to work and work hard to make it happen. I've learned that Best Friends do not come into this world fully formed -- so much time and effort must be made. More than just talking. More than just bonding. More than just sharing a common past. There's something more to be added into the recipe. It's not even similar interests, or similar personality, or even liking the other person. It is that effort and persistence. And now I know what I want.... I want to put in the effort to forge that kind of bond. I don't want to keep squandering these opportunities with half-heartedness, treating them as passing wind on the journey. This time there will be true connection, deep understanding, and life-long relations. And maybe, just maybe, one of them is the Best Friend I never had. And I have the choice to let them be forgotten, lingering only in memory, or let them be active, and be active in return so that I may live happy.

I suppose this is the unofficial sequel to this blog post. It only took me a year and a half to figure it out. I'm glad this blog is starting to depict some growth.

Enjoy yourselves, readers. Until next time.