vive la france!
28/July/2005 10:13 AM

I have to keep this short because I'm running a little late this morning.

Got an email from Prof. Nieland yesterday in response to a note I sent him earlier. It sounds like I did pretty well on those last three papers I turned in! Yay!

This afternoon I'm heading out on the town with Stef and her family to be big time tourists. We're going to see Tower Bridge, the Crown Jewels, Buckingham Palace, and the London Eye. It should be a lot of fun, and I'm hoping that I get plenty of chances to get some good filler footage for my documentary project while we're out and about.

Tomorrow morning we're all heading to Waterloo station (I think) at 9:00 to catch the chunnel train bound for Paris. Yep, we're finally getting out of the country for the first time on the trip, and we're all getting really excited about heading to France. I've heard less than favorable comments about how inhospitable the French can be, but I'm hoping that Stef's seven years or so in French class will finally come in handy. I'm sure we'll look and sound like stupid Americans no matter what, but at least I'll know how to order a meal and ask for the restroom.

My dad and Dan are both having birthdays this weekend, and I would like to wish both of them a very happy birthday! I'm sorry I can't be there with you guys, but since you're both getting so old, you probably won't remember that I was ever gone by this time next year anyway (I keed, I keed).

Have a great weekend everyone, and Vive le France!

springtime for hitler
27/July/2005 10:13 AM

I'll try to keep this one short, but we know that's not very likely.

It's been a surprisingly busy week, considering that my class load is practically non-existant. I talked with my roommate Eric on Tuesday morning about how the ENG 331 class was going so far, and he told me that Professor Roof (who will be running things for the last three weeks) was upset that I wasn't sitting in on her class, even though I'm not enrolled in it. Well, I kinda flipped out about that, but after finally talking to her yesterday morning, we ironed everything out. She really doesn't care whether I go to that class or not, because she realizes that there's really no point. Also, since that class meets four days a week instead of three, she told me that we're shaking up the schedule for my ENG 431A class. Basically she wants me to check in with her on Tuesdays and Wednesdays at 1:00 to let her know how things are going with my film project. From the way she described things, it's basically supposed to be about 10-15 minutes, and there really isn't any rigid timeframe for when she wants it done since she understands that students need time to do editing. So, that made me feel better about everything. At this point I'm still not 100% sure what I'll do, but it will probably be some sort of autobiographical reflection on the trip, and all the craziness that's been going on. I don't know for sure yet though.

Anyway, I went with Stefy up to Leicster Square this morning before class at 1 to pick up tickets for The Producers tonight. None of us except Stef had seen the show before, and we figured that it was a safe enough pick that everyone would enjoy. Part of the plan was that we wanted to keep it a secret though, since this was supposed to be a thank-you to the Spiros for taking us to Paris this upcoming weekend. Anyway, fast-forward to later in the day, and we finally met up with Tim, Teri, and Justin at their hotel at around 5 for dinner.

Certain people were running a little late getting downstairs -- I'm not naming names here, but you might be able to guess who the two culprits were -- but we had plenty of time to spare before the doors opened at 7. In fact, it turned out that the theater is literally around the corner from the hotel, so we barely had to do any walking to get there. Anyway, once we were all gathered together we set out for dinner, and finally settled on a nice little Italian restaurant. Everyone seemed to really enjoy their meals, and we had a great time just sitting around and chatting about our days.

After dinner we made the short jaunt over to the theater, and when we got there I think Tim and Teri were genuinely surprised and excited about the show (we'd spilled the beans to Justin yesterday). The theater it's in is VERY old, and very elegant compared to the other two we've been to so far, but that just meant that there was a lot of cool stuff to look at before the show.

The show itself was absolutely hysterical, and I think everyone really enjoyed themselves. I don't think there were any big names in the cast or anything -- at least none that we recognized -- but all of the performers did an amazing job. The guy playing the Nathan Lane character was especially good, and reminded me a LOT of Mel Brooks. Of course, my favorite song from the show was "Springtime for Hitler," and I've had it stuck in my head ever since. Suffice it to say, the show was a blast, and I think it's definitely going to be on my list of favorite things we've done from the trip. And now, I'll leave you with some lyrics from "Springtime for Hitler"...

Heil myself
Heil to me
I'm the kraut
Who's out to change our history
Heil myself
Raise your hand
There's no greater
Dictator in the land!
Everything I do, I do for you!

holiday in bognor
25/July/2005 12:03 PM

Well, Stefy and I had an absolutely amazing time with Ken and Margaret in Bognor Regis this weekend. You can see the pictures here. On Thursday they picked us up from the train station at around six, and then we took a short car tour of the town on our way to the Wedd's bungalow. We made a quick stop by their daughter Sharon and her husband Paul's flat for a quick visit while we were out. I met them and their two kids at Joan's house when they were visiting the states a couple years back, so it was nice to see them again. It was a quick visit though, and we pretty much just went back to Ken and Margaret's for a night of chatting outside.

I forgot how much Margaret can talk and talk, but Stefy and I enjoyed hearing her stories. I'll admit that her and Ken's VERY conservative political rants got old pretty fast, but I just kept nodding along, hoping that the subject would change. It was really nice to sleep in a real bed that first night though. The shower I took in a REAL bathroom the next morning was even better. Margaret whipped up a quick breakfast for Stefy and I before we headed out to Arundel Castle for the day on Friday. Neither of us had ever really been to a castle before, so we thought it was pretty awesome. Ken and Margaret of course had been there a million times with other guests of theirs, so they just kinda hung out while we wandered around and took a million pictures of everything.

After touring the castle we were pretty pooped, so Ken and Margaret just drove us back to their house to relax for the afternoon. Since we left the city before catching all of the news from Thursday's 'incidents,' we thought it would be smart to turn on the TV and see what was going on. I guess if nothing else it was good to hear that things were moving along with the investigation (although, in hindsight maybe they were moving TOO fast, since the cops mistakenly shot a man to death on the tube who had nothing to do with the attacks). Anyway, it made us feel a little better about heading back to London, and after talking with Stef's dad on the phone again, it started to sound like the Spiro crew was still coming to the UK on Monday after all.

The rest of our Friday was pretty lazy. Margaret made an absolutely AMAZING supper for us that included lamb chops, roasted potatoes, green beans, and carrots. My mouth starts watering just thinking about it. She also had a steamed custard pudding dessert ready for us after dinner. Mmmmm. I swear, it was the best meal I've had on the whole trip, hands down. That lady can cook! After dinner we all sat around and chatted some more, and then Stefy and I stayed up and watched Titanic on BBC after Ken and Margaret went to bed for the night.

Saturday was a nice, leisurely morning of breakfast and more chatting with Ken and Margaret. We were up and ready by about 11, and the Wedds drove us into a nearby town to check out its big outdoor market, and just do some poking around. The market was full of lots of touristy crap, but the shopping district was really cute. We sat out for some ice cream and coffee with Ken and Margaret while we listened to a charity choir singing in the street. It was a really nice way to spend our last afternoon with our English mates.

We got back to Ken and Margaret's bungalow by about 1:30, and had one last amazing meal before we left. Margaret whipped up a simple spaghetti dish, but it was delicious and really hit the spot. Paul and Sharon stopped by with their son Luke shortly before we left for the train station for another short visit. I was glad that we had some more time to talk with them before leaving. Paul is an especially cool guy, and it's always fun to listen to him talk a mile a minute about how much he loves the states. We took a few photos with the Wedd clan out in Margaret's garden before we had to leave to catch the 3:00 p.m. train. All in all, it was a really fun and relaxing weekend. I'm so glad that I finally got a chance to see Ken and Margaret here in England, and I think they were thrilled to have us as guests. I just hope it's not the last time I see them. They really are wonderful people, and Stefy and I are eternally grateful for everything they did for us while we were visiting.
This has been another really long post, so I'll keep it short from here. Suffice it to say, I spent the rest of the weekend just taking it easy around the dorm with Stef. We saw Wedding Crashers on Saturday night, and bought a couple movies to keep us busy on Sunday: About a Boy and 10 Things I Hate About You. It was a really great weekend.

Well, it's Monday morning now, and we're just waiting to hear from Stef's parents. They should've landed by now, and we're planning to meet up with them after they get settled into their hotel. It's looking like it could be a rainy week, but I hope that it clears up enough so we can go out and do some touristy things with the Spiro clan while they're in town. The next big exciting thing we have planned though is Paris on Friday, and it's supposed to be a sunny weekend. Très amusement!

Enjoy your week, everyone!