gothenburg & stockholm, sweden

hey this is gothenburg & stockholm sweden combined.
for the record, gothenburg was way more pretty than stockholm. but i think it's because that's the areas that our feet carried us to, so it might not be comparable. except some swedes told us too, that gothenburg was prettier than stockholm.
the first picture is of what i thought looked like a pretty amazing pop-eye boat. back to back with a mini captain hook ship in gothenburg, also in gothenburg was some pretty good cappuccino's that me and ben had at this hidden away coffee shop called "it" and the walls of "it" were made of stone and we drank our coffees in an outside hallway that had bar type seating against the wall.
the rest of the photos are from stockholm...
another cup of coffee at a hidden away place in the poshy soho area of stockholm. the place was hidden because inside it looked like grandma's attic. 3 levels of antique wallpaper, frilly aprons, old photographs & paintings, gilded mirrors, floral upholstered old furniture, & gaudy laced lampshades. perfect. everything was found, and it really felt like grandma's house.
gloves on a fence. that's for ben.
a palace looking place complete with swedish flag.
ben's american apparel pics... yeah man! tj's hand adorned with the tattoo yeah man!
bicycle pump in the middle of the square. with futuristic blinky lights. hah.
end of tour pic.
oh, and a cracker assortment i saw at the supermarket.
yeah, i know i'm not talking much about sweden, it really wasn't all i hoped it would be. ben & i went to the diesel store, and i saw a wicked looking urban outfitters. otherwise... meh. totally high class. the part of stockholm we ended up in.

copenhagen, denmark

the danes have been good to us today & yesterday.
yesterday ben & i walked around the city. there's tons of touristy things here and it's really funny. i see lots of american references and things around the towns & i like takin' pics of 'em. like clint eastwood in front of "rosie mcgees" western pop culture restaurant.
we stopped by "ripley's believe-it-or-not" and looked around. it was so creepy & weird. so we left. then we saw a few thrift shops & the MOST bicycles ever. we wondered about how they couldn't be stolen, because almost none of them were locked to a bike rack. just parked. but then today we realized that they just lock the back tire. so you can't move without breaking all the spokes.

we went to an all-you-can eat pizza place. italian food, indian music, french parisian posters on the walls, & 2 americans dining in denmark. really mixed culture.
apparently we were right next to the denmark "red light" district, but we didn't know it.
then we went to see the film "cloverfield" at the cinema for 80krones each.
oh, we also got some really good coffee downtown, they took euros there so i got to empty my pockets or foreign currency.
today we drove 2km further into town & ben and i walked around town some more, went to a music store and another thrift shop. we stopped in the skate park to watch some little kids skateboarding, that was cool. i saw other little kids chasing pigeons around in front of a fountain. amazing. i definitely got that on my camera.
an old woman stopped ben on the street for him to autograph a printed out copy of a band photo. it was really funny. but she knew immediately that he was from the band and we weren't even near the venue.

in the photos:
ben looking at bikes
more bikes
me drinking a german capri-sun
weird gargoyle
HUGE recycling bin
theater candy, that one picture is NOT set to b&w. they have really cool candy here. and tons of it.
{also in the theater was a billion chandeliers hanging from the ceiling by red ribbons}
funniest slogan i've seen in a while to be broadcast so big on a building
signs from "rosie mcgees"
station wagon mercedes. someday to be b&i's
capital, town square of copenhagen.. times square? ha. {complete with mostly american fast food light-up signs}

oh you. oh scandinavia.
tomorrow, sweden... my dreams come true.

germany #2

hey, this is hamburg.
ben & i got up early and walked around town. we saw some weird statues and then went down to the "red light district" area. it's just something you have to see when you're in hamburg. and it was crazy. well not so much during the day.
i've been taking videos of my walking around europe, just little bits & pieces... and i captured {on video} some bums sleeping on the sidewalk today. that was interesting. some other hobos left their mangy dogs on the street to beg. they looked sad. i wish i had some money to give them. but maybe they were just streetwalkers. or streetsleepers. hah. ben likes the beer in germany simply because the bottles have anchors on them. i think they're pretty too.
some of the pictures on here are of the dogs, astra beer, the marking of my friendship with jordan whelan. it was breakthrough.
graffiti. germany has the best muraled graffiti in the world probably. makes other gangs jealous.
"hella naturell" water, that struck me in a funny way.
coca-cola light, essentially diet coke. but they don't have diets in europe. just light people.
lady liberty=apparently sex in hamburg.
a crazy yellow bicycle that ben said he saw last time he was in hamburg, in november. in the same place.
ben & i in mirrors, of a strip-joint i think.
bullet for my valentine's "table of rock 'n roll sin" {there was a bowl of cereal with ash in it hah}
me, eating a hamburger in hamburg.
mike church, or still remains, singing karaoke in a local "metal bar"
cool looking cabaret advert
exit sign. nice.

weisbaden, germany

i really like a lot of the venues that i've gotten to see so far in europe. this one was in an old train station. in the middle of a railyard. i believe they had an artist collective come in & do graffiti on the outside walls of the venue. talented people. the photo in the upper right corner shows the different artist's work on the exterior a bit.
everything that i saw was really rusted & shabby but then brightly colored. there was an old church/factory that i liked a lot. ben tried a little to break in, but then we decided not to because there were probably heroine shooters in there. also, everywhere on the ground was trash. i felt really punk & metalcore. if i were to see a metal show, i'd want to see it here i think.

above, this is what i took pictures of:
cool bike
bottle of coca-cola. my favourite.
artist collective/advert {i don't remember the name of it}
just a little part of the colorful walls of the exterior of this place
rusted spray paint cans attached to the wall
bus in back
ben holding the coke
church/factory & sculptures of weird animals, i think
train passing, some kind of cotton blossoms
a wall with a painting of people in the 40s, {from a 3-walled structure covered in murals} -there were tons of murals.
art everywhere.

belgium

the trees here have nubs.

the show was probably one of the best still remains shows i've seen.
50 kids.
instead of it being awkward like i assumed it would be..tj invited everyone on stage & it turned out to be a huge party conveniently on steve's birthday/valentine's day.
it was partially about the music & partially about watching all of the girls & boys make out with each other.
the first girl invited on stage was i think 13 years old and she could definitely captivate her audience with the most scandalous dancing i've seen in a long time. gemma & i laughed really hard and then i ran on stage and kissed ben. probably one of my dreams for a long time. also, i pressed the highest note on his keyboard during a song. another one of my devious dreams.

i really liked tonight.

ps some of the cream-of-the-crop of belguim: breakfast park. b & i's future dream home, just needs some windows and cleaning up a bit, traffic signs to refreshment, disco ball, i thought the front of house was really cool inside..brightly painted still remains posters up. i stole one.

13 feb continued

Best Show to Date: Paris.

vive la paris!

13 feb
spent in paris. yeah!
now, is when i go through each picture and tell you what went on during them. great. eh? ok.
1. i flew air france {half hour flight} and took the subway {2 hours} to meet up with ben and still remains at Eurodisney. i couldn't understand how to navigate the subway, i had one switch to make and i couldn't read anything, {in french} luckily a man with great pantomiming skills helped me board the right train. hah
new additions to the band: Princess "Sleeping Beauty" Aurora & Prince "Charming" Charming.
it's funny because when i got off the train i went with ben to get something to eat and we went to a restaurant with Ol' Texas music playing. live band. oh the twang.
2. this morning, ben & i got up really early.. 9am ha. and walked around. we found these great statues... all over the place. and then we later found out we were in the Louvre park.
3. Still Remains on the marquee for the Olympia. you may remember this venue from such videos as sid vicious "my way" and many serge gainsbourg performances. founded by the same dude as the Moulin Rouge.
4. some jackasses in the park. i'm serious.
5. french sandwiches! baguettes! baguettes! baguettes!
6. Le Opera. beautiful. gold statues.
7. far away eiffel tower. too far to walk.
8. arches in from of the louvre. more gold statues. on top.
9. ben with the Louvre on a platter.
10. the moulin rouge. there was a really creepy bar across the street from it to the right and there were gross pictures of girls with.. well.. it was just disgusting. i threw up a bit. but inside the Moulin Rouge, was those crazy pictures, where if you look from one direction, everyone was posed in clothes and as you walked by, it changed to another picture where the same people were posed the same but naked. it was really funny.
11. a lady statue. she was pretty.
12. perfumes on the street next to a shop. unguarded. yesss.
13. map of where we are. the louvre.
14. inside the louvre. tons, and i mean TONS. of rock in there.
15. ben and i being risque in front of the moulin rouge. yeah.
16. nicely placed labyrinth. in paris, you have to walk through them all the time in order to cross the street. it's true.....JUST KIDDING. HAHhaha. gotcha.
17. ben very frenchly having a cappuccino across the street from the red windmill. haw haw haw.
18. street musician with a cat & birds, and a crank wound music box. perfect.

19. rent-a-bikes
20. us having beautiful coffee on our 2 year dating anniv. amazing.

currently listening:
"Paris Paris" by TTC
album: 3615 TTC
2006, french hip-hop

a bit of my journey

here are some photos of things from the past week n' a half.
1. brighton dome: marcroy & ben's fan pic.
2. marcroy taking us out for drinks after the show. perfect shirt.
3. j.w. of still remains snoozing in the original "tour van"
4. english countryside {not worth a second photo}
5. london on wednesday. a man looking at a statue of horses. i thought this was particularly good because i happened to be looking at the same horses and taking a picture of them at the same exact time as this man.
6. simply the best beverage of the UK. once you've had it, no other soda will satisfy.
7. still remains in glasgow. and.. security guards. sorry there's not more crowd... wait for it...
8. ben & i had coffee and "bacon sandwiches" in manchester. his coffee had lots of grounds in it, so he was unsettled.
9. manchester's statue of queen elizabeth. with pigeon crap all over it. i laughed and stomped around it for like 10 minutes in sarcasm for no apparent reason. felt proud and exited the park.
10. ben's wishlist. topshop fur-hooded coat. ￡20. also sporting the lanyard.
11. "the nottingham eye"? yes that's robin hood's hood. town. err.
12. i saw buckingham palace at night. this was one of the best shots i got, it's small so it's not so blurred. ha. {a continuation of the wednesday trip with lori church around london, i navigated the underground and i'm really proud of myself for not getting lost}
13. i like gold: the gates of the palace.
14. glasgow. the site that the film "trainspotting" was made about. grrreat. all the windows were broken & at night i dared all the bravest scots to enter but they said homeless people lived there and they were really scared they'd step on a needle.
15. mom, that's for you. women are better drivers. "bargain rates for women drivers. special bargains because you: cause fewer accidents, make fewer claims, have fewer convictions" that's from scotland too. but it's an advert for all of UK. ha.
16. piccadilly circus. times square basically. this is what you see as soon as you exit the underground {the tube}
17. glasgow. circle pit. i'm glad i was in the balcony. that looks painful.
18. ben on the plastic ivories.
19. empty stage; waiting kids. wolverhampton stage. best venue ever {hot tub & huge tv in dressing room} pyrotechnics on that stage later that night. when they tested the technics, b & i thought a gun was going off. whoa!
20. stilly show crowd. i really like masses of people. i took like 25 pictures of this stuff. yes! it was really fun. i'm sick. i want to go back on the road. i like not knowing where i'll be when i leave the bus. small world.

ps if you want to comment on this {kyndraaaa} click on the time i posted it and then you can comment hehe}

{token fan pic}

ooookkkkk. so i haven't written on here in a while. seriously. but today i'm in nottingham. the land of the good archer who stole from the rich to give to the poor. this week i've been in manchester, london, glasgow, and places in between. with ben. and still remains. and wow. its so funny how invisible i feel when ben is spotted by any fan as soon as he leaves the bus. they look right through me to him. and ignore me as i try to stand in the way of obnoxious flirting. ha. while ben is totally oblivious.
but. here's my week on tour in a nutshell {i'll write about brixton academy in london after tomorrow. sold out show. 5000!}
anyway.
so still remains played in brighton on wednesday. the van they rented was too heavy with all the gear, and people crammed in like sardines. i was told that i couldn't come along for the UK journey. ben was mad. but it all was cleared up when they opted for a bus for about the same price as all of the issues with the van would cost {with hotels etc} so i could go! we went to newport, wales the next day and i sold 1310pounds in merch. hoorah! i'm amazing. just kidding.
wow this is a pretty lame entry,
then we went to wolverhampton and i got to show ben topshop. and i think he liked it a lot. they played a show in a really nice venue with showers and a hot tub in the dressing room. yessss.
then glasgow, scotland at a not-so-nice venue but it still had showers so i was clean once again. and lori, mike's wife, came and we hung out in the balcony. i was recruited for a couple of night to film sleepless nights alone every night for a band video but i think they stopped wanting to do it. heh.
i got to see some abandoned apartment buildings in glasgow, right behind the venue that the movie trainspotting was set at. the real drug trafficking buildings that the movie was about, not the actual set.
ben and i went for japanese food that was really good and cheap, and we went and bought bread and jam for toast all week. cheap meals, yessss. we also got some medicine because i got a wicked flu. yuck. everyone in the band has/had it.
then we went to manchester and ben & i went for breakfast to get some coffee {hard to find here} and bacon sandwiches {which their bacon is really more like ham} and it was really good. then we took a taxi to a music store to get some things for the show. and came back. tons of fans in between to talk to ben as i awkwardly stood by waiting for them to be done. i stood in the crowd for that show and got so hot. seriously. by the end of the show when stilly did their signing, i noticed it was raining inside the building. all of the perspiration condensed and was dripping back down on to my clothes. so i left and waited in the dressing room.
then yesterday, we were in london, and still remains had to do a recording with xfm radio, so lori & i took the underground {tube} into the center of london and went to picadilly circus to shop at some posh stores. carnaby street and i got slippers for me & ben. and on our way back to the bus, we stopped to see buckingham palace and got a snack at a pub.
when we got back the band went grocery shopping and got a lot of food to last the entire week. half is gone today. hah
today we're in nottingham, and i hope to see a castle tonight.. maybe even sherwood forest.
ben & i went to get more meds and coffee at cafe nero. i still think its weird that it costs more to stay in the restaurant to eat/drink than to take out. it cost 10p more for each of our americanos today because we stayed in the shop to drink them. weird.
ben talks really fast and people can't understand him. i can't even sometimes.
"veni?"
"what?"
"vinu?"
"musiveni?"
"what?"
"music venue?" holy crap. say a complete sentence, you.

whew this weekend

this weekend was crazy. and pretty good. friday night was totally chill and i stayed home to try and find my camera... which is still hopelessly lost in aurelia's room i think. the more i try & fail to find it, the more stupid i feel and want to find it more so i can have a good laugh. aurelia's been letting me borrow her camera here & there so i've been getting a few "camera" things done with hers, she's so nice. also on friday night i watched the movie "candy" with heath ledger, bless his soul.. and it was good. i miss ben. it was also friday that reminded me that i'll see him very soon and that makes me miss him more.
saturday was BEAUTIFUL. 50 degrees fahrenheit, blue skies, & sun. i went for a walk to Hove, of Brighton & Hove.. the twin cities of england. hove is like st. paul... in a sense that that's where the nicer yet more normal places to go are. and where the semi-established people live who can afford houses that look a lot like brighton's but apparently are nicer. heh.
i walked around and listened to wilco... taking pictures of buildings because they never cease to amaze me... using aurelia's camera. ugh. {its a nice camera, but seriously, where is mine? sheesh} and went down some alleys only to end up in the parking lot of tesco... the equivalent of a walmartish piggly wiggly. so i thought to myself "why not get some generic brand groceries that will cost 10x cheaper here than paying for really nice ones at waitrose?"... waitrose is a lot like lunds.. so i did and for only 10quid i got groceries to last me 2 weeks. yes!
then today i got up at noon {bless weekend's soul} and packed up my things, took them to my new house and went back to aurelia's because the girl, emily, wasn't done moving out yet and it was crazy running around their house all day. so yeah, plus aurelia has internet and it seems to be the only place that has adequate internet capabilities in order to get me online, to you know, check facebook, vid chat, etc. things the modern girl must do it seems. also this wonderful beauty. my blog. hah.

tonight i went to a pub for someone's birthday whom i didn't know. tonight as well...{it is 10:45pm here} at midnight i think aurelia, holly, me and martin are going for a bike ride. we're gonna TAKE THE TOWN BY STORRRRMMMM!!! woot.

post #2.

this is me at topshop trying on a nautical outfit. heh.

martin at burger king the other night. they had marylin monroe & elvis inside. it was hilarious.
a wine glass at "the fish bowl." in europe there's a set measurement of wine per glass. strict!
ps that wine was terrible.
i took a classic telephone booth pose in the laines. yessss. that's for the all the folks back home.

21 january

these are some of my favorite things that were "polaroid worthy" while i've been here...
there's a chandelier/lighting shop on the corner of aurelia's street. i have a passion for chandeliers.. and so just another reason why i'm friends with aurelia. hah. on the way to school i see the houses above. this is the second picture of these i've put on here. but they are double worthy. they are brown, but have a tint of gold which makes them glamorous to me. less drab i guess.

the clock tower with a picture of the prince of wales on it. it's in the middle of the major shopping area of town. i ask myself daily, "what time is it?" and this tower confirms that it's shopping time. all the time. ha.
i also walk past this on my way to school.
the last photo is of george & aurelia. i think they're trying to figure out how to recreate a sample photo on ray's camera of a woman cheesily kissing the tip of her boyfriend's nose. it was hilarious. and what was more hilarious is that the "recreation" photo was never taken i think, because she couldn't keep a straight face the entire time. oh my.

today i went out with ally and bummed around town. we went to topshop and tried on outfits i couldn't afford, but liked. that's something i recently confessed to myself and a few others around me. i have a little, perhaps shallow, "wishlist" in which i try on clothes i can't afford and when i like an outfit, i take a picture of it in the dressing room. well i guess i confessed this to whoever reads this too. heh.
its fun though.
ally & i posted a letter to scott for his 21st on wednesday. we had a lot of fun looking at snooper paradise.. which is essentially an antique shop in the laines. but i like it there. and i think ally likes it better than the invention of sliced bread. well, i would too i guess. heh.
anyhoo, we went to wagamama's for some cheap thai food (?) and then got scott things, posted them, and got cookies and milk from Ben's Cookies. which is a pretty expensive cookie place, but i checked it off my list. my cookie was amazing. i feel like a real fatty talking about it, so i won't. but if you're curious enough to know.. email me and i'll reply with a comment about how fat you are for wanting to know. hah! take that! ..not the english pop group.

i got an american phone number last night. soo... if anyone wants the number, find out how to tell me. and i'll give it to you and we can be friends and it'll be really cheap for you to call.. and free for me. hehe!
ps. i added comment post options on here. so if you want to comment, the option is there.

tonight is "soup n' sew" night at holly's house. i'm going to make headbands out of lace.
pps. i'm not moving into my house until the 27th now. things are getting more expensive.

currently listening:
"breathe me" by sia {see below}
ben phillips "songs for the sad" mix
{that kid is rad & that's what makes the song not embarrassing to listen to. haha}

its grey out today.

valentine's shmalentine's

so.. yet another in a long series of disappointments for valentine's day history. every year i get my hopes up for that day. that day of romance.. that glorified day of love.
plans have been set in place for valentine's day in paris.
i made a mistake. of telling people i'm going to paris to be with my boyfriend on valentine's day. untrue.
cancelled.

let down #19.

my walk home {double post today}

i went to school today, and it was a good walk there this morning. sunny. {which is pretty seldom it seems}
there was a lecture this morning, on "critical & historical studies." that's the name of the class. i must admit, i was definitely lost throughout the entire lecture and so were many of the other kids in class. one girl drew a picture of a piece of meat with knives stuck in it and said that's how she felt during the class. hah.
i wrote in my journal about the other night and how shitty i felt. truly.
i won't write those things in here though, because aside from writing about that, it was a good day.
after class i bought paper for my "protest project" i'm working on, in which i'm drawing a lot of patterns and using stop motion animation. probably makes no sense. and it probably won't when i get done with the project too. haha
after i bought the paper, ally, and her friends cassidy & pat went to Kensington's, a coffee shop in the laines, for lunch. i got a pot of tea {i'd been to this cafe before, on the first day of school with my classmates whom i didn't know, and it was pretty weird} but this time i had much more fun. {these posts are lame, i know}.

some other kids showed up and it was really fun. chicken cruelty.
veal in england is raised fairly. they lead a good life, and if you don't eat them as veal, they get muscular and are killed anyway, so i learned we should eat them while they are young and happy. {otherwise they're shot for no purpose} hmph.

so... when i was done with my tea, i parted from them, and went on a stroll home. listening to the new kentucky quarter, pretty people to watch, camera in my pocket, and not a raindrop in sight. i was in no hurry, and i was quite groggy still from an early morning & a late last night, in london.
as i was walking past the mall downtown, an ambulance came by, sirens blaring, and everyone stopped to see where it would go. i walked past where the emergency was, and a little old lady had collapsed on the sidewalk near the supermarket. she was so tiny. it was sad, but i don't think she was really hurt. the paramedics were just asking her a few questions.
a few blocks more down the main street and i turned onto temple street towards aurelia's, when i decided to take pictures of the neighborhood. i need to remember more. each day.
as i was standing in the front of the house taking photos, a business truck-like vehicle was speeding up the road, but it stopped, so as not to get in the way of my picture. i looked at the driver and he motioned for me to take my photo, smiled and then drove away. i thought that was so nice. oh the english.

it basically made my day.
aurelia, her friend tom, and i watched "coffee & cigarettes" and had spaghetti bolognese tonight. don't ask me what that is. but it was very good.
tom is nice, i like the bikes here. tom & aurelia have nice bikes. easy books for kids.

foggy london town

i went to london yesterday with aurelia to meet her boyfriend george, as well as friends of theirs: sam and rob. plus, it was a trip to london! so i said "what the hay" when she asked me to go with! before we left, i had a class in the morning and i think i was the only one out of the entire household of girls who had to go to school on that extremely blustery, and rainy morning. it's a 15 minute walk to school and there was a wicked storm with winds of 70mph! i tried to use an umbrella... but it didn't work. right as i realized that the umbrella was probably going to get really damaged vs. do any good, i saw a broken inside out umbrella crushed on the sidewalk, so i went back home. then i got directions to the nearest bus and was 20min late to class. but it was o.k. with the teacher, given the circumstances outside.
anyway, after class, aurelia and i walked to the train station {after i changed into dry clothes} and then went to try to get me a "young persons" pass to make trips to london/gatwick airport cheaper if i visit multiple times. in order to do that, we had to find a passport/id photobooth. {sidenote: apparently they don't have any fun photobooths in most of europe, only ones that provide passport photos for the equivalent of $8, no fun} but the booths in the train station were out-of-order, as well as the one 3 blocks away in the drug store, so we finally found a mall, another block away with a booth that worked... which means i not only get a nice train i.d. but also a student i.d! which means discounts at topshop haha. so anyway, by 3pm we boarded a train to london, and 45minutes later we were in piccadilly/oxford circus, which is like the "times square" of london. {you can't tell in the photo, but there were huge light-up adverts for mcd's hah. we found a HUGE h&m and i got a waterproof jacket for ￡20 which i think is a good deal for another 2 months of wear in a city that rains everyday in winter. whoohoo! and then i wore my coat around town in the rain and we saw lots of shops for everything you could need.
{i liked the store with tons of material on skeins; amazing. worth a photo i admit}
we went to carnaby square and i was a tourist. i'm not ashamed.

we went to a shop called "muji" and i got a green marker from japan for 50p and she got a "suburbia in a bag" which was like wooden blocks but in the shape of houses, parking lots, trucks, etc. for a pound! wow.
we took the underground {the tube} to the station we thought was near the Tate Gallery. but it ended up like, 2 miles away. i was good though because i had my jamaican ginger beer and a good view of st pauls cathedral to look at. the tate was closed but we took pictures of ourselves running away from the giant spider statue outside the gallery. then walked the millenium bridge and i zipped up my chic black jacket, and had a cigarette. cheers to london. we decided to take the tube to camden {another part of the city} where "george & the boys" were at a pub, but when we got all the way to camden {it was pretty sketchy at night} we called george and they had gone to oxford circus! so we went back and met them at a pub called The Argyll Arms {pictures above} where aurelia and i realized we hadn't eaten yet {neither had george and rob} so we left.. although it was a really pretty bar, and we met a good friend there, william, he was rather pale.
anyway, we left to get indian food. my first in england. and we ate vegetarian all around, with a little red wine on the side. so much fun. it was truly a blast if i say so myself.
we hung out and walked around the town then all got on the tube again, said goodbye to the boys, and we took the train back to brighton. we got in at 1am...and slept soon after.

ps the guys were there for auditions for the mtv show "made" i'm not telling you whether they were serious or not...
pps i have a recent strange obsession with unique cakes. layered cakes especially. {click the cakes to see more}

ladies in the laines

the pavilion. {a palace in the middle of town}

at the end of the street is the Atlantic.. yeah. artsy shops.
below: ￡200 wedding cakes. {and my favourite chocolate object in the shop heh heh}
... and a slice that ally & i shared. so sweet. almost... too sweet. {later that day we enjoyed white wine & sex and the city} a real "ladies' day" if you ask me...







FIRST ENTRY IN BRIGHTON, UK
first day here.
here's my journey in a nutshell:
chicago o'hare..
parents leave before i even truly wake-up. mom cries. ben starts to cali.
{i wanted longer goodbyes with ben, full of kissing}
my purse straps break because of the weight of it in security. i immediately wish i would've left more in my checked luggage.

i sat in the terminal for 3 hours and burned cds for kyndra, mel & audre. it rained, and i believe it does that every time i say goodbye to ben. i listened to melancholy music to mourn the farewell, but was hopeful for what was going to happen.
{it still doesn't feel real}
finally take off in a puddle jumper plane. 4 seats in width. crazy flight, the girl next to me and i looked at magazines and tries to sleep but it didn't work {i think for either of us}.
{coach class can be awkward, especially with elbow placement} hah
get into NYC jfk airport. find out where to go to the next terminal for the flight. exchange currency. $460 = 205 quid

hungry. walked to the opposite corner of jfk down long corridors to terminal 4. heavy carry-ons. my purse i'm now carrying like a grocery bag. haha. i didn't buy food because i couldn't carry it with my luggage. i know why they call it "lug"gage now. hah.
got starbucks frappe. and watched "flags of our fathers" 2.5 hour wait.

this time it was a big plane. yesss. and a girl about the same age as me sat next to me but she wasn't talkative, which was fine, because before i started watching the film in the terminal, i took tylenol pm. so i was basically knocked out.
pillow.blanket.lotion.movie. provided by delta.
i slept. and then woke up to the question "chicken, or pasta?" i ate pasta and ordered a coke. perfect. totally groggy everything was a blur, but i hadn't eaten all day..
reached for the coke, and .. spilled it all over the girl next to me! before the liquid even hit her lap, i blurted out monotonely "oh my gosh i'm so sorry" in that low voice i use. i felt really bad though, i just could express it.
she said it was fine and cleaned it up. it just got on her blanket and she got another one. but i felt crappy about it and still had another 4 hours of the trip to go...! i fell asleep promptly after/maybe during eating.

landed an hour early at 6:35am. i was afraid rob's mum wasn't going to be there, but she was. got my luggage, and shoved my carry-ons inside. we got to the parking ramp and she told me to get in on the other side. i thought that was funny because i was going that direction anyway. rob's family just got back from california, where his sister attends berkley. so she knew all about my probable confusion of being here.

1/2 hour drive to brighton from gatwick, london. she took be into brighton and drove past varley dorms, where apparently i might be living, and then to grand prix, where i have classes.. and it's a definite bus ride. or a long steep bike journey. aurelia and ally are adamant about getting me into the phoenix dorms in the city and next door to where i'll have classes. i hope it works out.


i went to ally's which is BEAUTIFUL. so posh inside, the shower is amazing. but everything is definitely small. compact. european. we ate some breakfast and then went out on the town.
we went to "the lanes" which is a lot lot lot like uptown. except better. the north lanes are all indie shops with a brick pave narrow street down the middle. and the south lanes {by the beach} look the same outside, but are much more expensive and savvy i guess. then we went to O2 and i got a sim card with 100 free minutes to call internationally. for emergencies i guess. it's a prepaid phone so i'm just i guess trying it out. heh i still have to unlock my phone though which i guess can be "pretty dodgy" so i hear. but hopefully that'll happen wednesday.
{then i'll give you a call, ben}

we met up with aurelia then and went to the beach. there's tons of pubs down there, and a little carnival out on the end of a pier. i'd like to go out there, and then there's a burned pier next to it and it looks creepy. i guess when the tide goes out you can walk out to it and i'd like to do that:)
there's also an old palace called "the pavilion" in the center of town and i'd like to see that as well. but that costs money which i haven't got much of.
anyway, while talking on the pier, i was talking about ben visiting with his band at the end of the month, and this boy, marcroy {who is aurelia's friend} asked which band it was and once i said still remains, his eyebrows went up so i asked him if he knew who they were and he was like "whoaaa yeah!" so he and his gf might come out to the show too. then aurelia asked me where stilly was playing and i didn't know. someone mentioned the "conchord" so i said yeah probably. which apparently is huge. but then aurelia and her 'flatmates' looked up the show on myspace and found out its actually at a different place which is as big as the pavilion which is bigger than the conchord i guess.

they were really excited about the show. i joked about a bunch of people on the guest list, but i hope they don't remember. heh. anyway, after that ally & i took the {double-decker} bus back to her place for lunch, tv, journaling, and naps. then we went to dinner, with andy, ben, josh, aurelia, and aurelia's sister {alexa, i think}, at this cheap asian place called "wagamama" which is a chain i guess. it was cheap like £6.50 which is still pretty expensive for me. hah, but ally paid for me. and i thanked her a lot. "loads"= a lot, in british. ha then aurelia and her sister {who smokes her own "rollies" which are tobacco, dont' worry. i thought that was cool} left and now i'm back at ally's and it's 12:26am. tomorrow i have to leave by 8:30am to get to school and sort things out..i hope it all goes well. i have to shower. and sleep. i'm taking tylenol PM again tonight i think.

cheers. hah!