SURPRISE!

New Years in Wales! How freakin sweet does that sound?! I'm so excited. We got out of the car and were immediately greeted with all the "Oh my god!" and "I can't believe you're here" shouts of excitement. They guessed right. Musta been the "smile like sunshine" that tipped them off. (Actually, they said my facebook gave it away. Thanks Alizza) oh well.

It was so nice to see them all. Met up with Sophie & Jake who are still together after camp, Danielle Andre, and Tom David (security '08). Needless to say, the night was destined to be an absolute blasty blast.

Anyway, we got there and of course cracked open a few to celebrate this joyous occasion. After playing some catch-up, Marc tried teaching us a drinking game called Snaps. It was a bit complicated for our simple little heads, so then Kerry (Marc's cousin) tried teaching a game called Ping Pang Pong which I just couldn't get the hang of for the life of me even though the rules were simple: Going in a clockwise direction, one person starts off and says "Ping", the person to their left says "Pang", the next-left person says "Pong"  and has to look at somebody in the circle. Whoever they look at has to start it up again with "Ping" and then it repeats. Obviously if you fail to "ping", "pang" or "pong" on cue, you have to drink. Quite simple...for everyone else.

So me being the sly dog that I am, I change the direction of the game and suggest another game...with nothing in mind, Jake suggested the well-known card game of "Kings", "Ring of Fire", or "Circle of Death" (all the same game, different names). Sophie being the excellent host she is, gets the required deck of cards. Except these cards are special to say the least. Each card is a different sexual position. An interesting choice Sophie. I had trouble focusing on the game at hand with such vulgar images in front of my virgin eyes. But I obligingly played the game.

We didn't make it a full game before all our ADD kicked in after the double-double rule (courtesy of yours truly), Kerry's thumb rule, the classic "in my pants" rule, and some other rule which eludes me right now. I'm not sure how but then I noticed a tube (yes, a tube!) of Ham & Cheese. Silly Welsh. So Tom takes a bunch of pictures of him eating this amorphous ham and cheese...paste. I put a bit on my finger to try and needless to say, absolutely awful. As if I expected otherwise. I still blame it on the Welsh.

On the road...forever

Met up with Marc, Hannah, & Marc's cousin, Kerry (a dude), in the coffee shop. Had a bit of a chin wag for a little bit and now I'm in the car on the way to Cardiff. It's about a 2.5-3 hour drive. Marc is getting texts left and right from Sophie & Jake trying to figure out who is his "mystery guest" is (for those who don't know who that is, that's me). We're trying to give them dodgy answers but Jake is a smart one. Marc, being the genius he is, gave the clue that his guest is "5.5, brown eyes, and a smile like sunshine" ...i think the sunshine part was a giveaway. They guessed it was me, but he brushed it off. We'll see.

Even if they figure it out, it doesn't matter. It's going to be an effin awesome time. I haven't seen any of them since camp (with the exception of Jake Brown). I'll post some pictures of the aftermath after new years. For those who wish to give me a call, feel free, my number is still the same while in the UK but keep in mind that there is a 5 hr time difference (ahead of the US). So I may very well be passed the *#@)%$ out. If so, either post a comment on here, shoot me an email, or I'll phone you tomorrow. Miss you all.

BM: corn!

Patiently waiting

So its new year's eve and I'm still in London. I just got off the tube and am waiting in a coffee shop in Mordon waiting for Marc and Hanna to pick me up. They're running a bit late. Cafe mocha please!

I'm bored and killing time playing on my iPod touch. Luke said that he wants to go to the UK Apple store next weekend. Should be oodles of fun.

While I'm waiting for them, I might as well give you all the picture I promised before of Jenna in her prime with her ugly ass fake tan shite. (see below)

More to come soon.

movie time

So Luke and I just finished watching Cloverfield. never seen it before. it was pretty good. It was kinda Blair Witch meets Stargate Atlantis. Doesn't get much better for a low key night.

Snagged a solid picture of Jenna with her dirt-face-makeup-stuff on that is absolutely brilliant, I'll post it as soon as I get my hands on Luke's camera. so good!

I also spoke to Marc and him and I are going to be meeting up tomorrow at...uhh...well i don't remember the station to be honest, Luke does. good thing. alls i know is that I'm meeting him and Hanna Browne at 2 and then we're heading west to Cardiff for new years!!

not 100% sure what the game plan is after Cardiff. not really worried about it. Marc is probably going to head out after new years. i may either tag along, stay in Cardiff for a few days, or meet up with Jimbo (athletics '07). and then after all is said and done, come back to London and stay with Luke & mams for a day or two before i leave on the 9th. we'll see how it goes.

I'm gonna pass out for now. long day tomorrow. I'll try to write something before the party tomorrow but with all the "oh my god, i can't believe you're actually here" things, it'll be a stretch, maybe an inebriated post will be in order. 

comment and let me know what you think or if you have any suggestions as to what i should do on my adventures.

stay tuned

p.s. i think my power converter is either dying or broken...gotta pick up another one. it keeps turning off for awhile and then popping back on. its old and feels like a brick. rather play it safe than have it burn out my computer or something.

an interesting quip

this just in: jenna looks like an utter mess as she decided to put on fake tan shit to look good for new years tomorrow. kinda looks like she wrestled a pig in a pigpen...and the pig won. absolutely awful. i'll see if i can grab a picture...unlikely though. shes an odd one...and tone def.

also, i think luke and i are completely recovered from the curry, gonna lay low tonight so our bodies are in top form tomorrow. looks like its just gonna be a movie tonight. i'm okay with it.

Day 1, in the books.

So I wake up around noon from a fantastic night with john, gin, Luke, & Leonie (Luke & Jenna's 4th roommate). John is jumping on the bed like a little schoolgirl yelling for me to get up (apparently Luke and john spent a solid 10 min trying to get me up). i blame it on the jetlag, not the gin.

after tinkering around for a bit, John, Luke, & I head over to the tube and Luke and i part our ways with john. from there, Luke and i meet up with Jenna at her workplace and go to a nice place for lunch, called Alibi. Got a Lamb Burger. Interesting choice which turned out to be quite nice. Interesting thing to note: burgers are not eaten with the hands, just a fork and knife. kinda an interesting change from the barbaric trends of the US. (an not-so-interesting-sidenote: the curry from last night was fantastic, but has quite a post-bite to it where Luke and i were less than comfy) :P (another not-so-interesting-sidenote: apparently "yogurt" in england is spelt "yoghurt"...what the hell is that all about?)

From lunch, Luke and i said our goodbyes to Jenna and then decided to head to the south bank (central England) for some touristy shite. First, we went to see The Clink which was a really interesting and slightly disturbing museum on torture in England. really neat stuff. I'll try and post some pictures when i can (silly yank didn't think about bringing a camera). after the clink, we wandered around the south bank area, saw some really neat stuff. one thing that stood out was a giant WW II cruiser called the HMS Belfast that was docked and was all camo-coloUred. According to wikipedia, the "dazzle camo" or "razzle dazzle" color was actually pretty common. weird brits.

also saw the tower of london and a few other things in the area then went back to luke's place to chill a bit, order a pizza and more or less, lay low tonight in prep for tomorrow.

speaking of tomorrow, i don't think i mentioned my plans yet. this whole england trip is based around sneaking to cardiff with Marc Kirby (adventure '08) to surprise all the internationals who are partying there. should be wicked fun! so i'm meeting up with marc tomorrow around 2ish and then going to cardiff for the big surprise.

luke and i just ordered some pizza that is "quite nice" says mr. windsor. interesting enough, its papa johns. which is apparently significantly better  quality than its sibling chain in the US. anyway, that'll do it for now. leave comments!

Kaufy

Hellooo England!

So I'm in effin England! Holy Crap!! The motherland. The funky trendy people. The scarves. This is brilliant! It even smells cleaner than the States. I love it already. I pick up my bags and finally rid myself of the lovely girls from the plane (who spent 2/3 of it quoting Zoolander...which USED to be one of my favorite movies) "Cool story Hansel"

Anyway, so I walk out and feel like a freakin king cause the meeting area has a little walkway for the people getting off the plane to meet up with. Kinda celeb-style. I meet up with 2 tall & lanky blokes by the name of Lucas Windsor & John 'Loggy' Robb! Had a hearty welcome and after many manly hugs and giggles and "i can't *#)@$& believe you're actually here!", we make our way back toward luke's place. John has a craving for curry. curry it is. never really had curry so i'm game!

Luke lives in east london so we got on and off a bunch of subwa....errr...i mean "tubes" and after about 30ish min, we make it to luke's place, get a huge welcome from J. Duncan (Mams), find out than Lynn-Lynn is being a tool and is not going to be there while i'm here...so i get her room. John, Luke, & I go to a place called Tandori Nights for curry. Luke and I are getting the food, John is on drink duty. He comes back with a bunch of beers, wine, and a bottle o' gin. 

Back at luke's place we hang out and play some much needed catch-up and enjoy some Nan bread (a flat-bread of sorts) and curry which was absolutely fantastic! had some gin & tonic (to be honest, never had it before. newfound love), story time, and all that good stuff. 

Passed out late into the night in Lynn's old man crusted bed (Love you Lynn!!!)

The Plane

So after going through a long flight sitting next between 3 sophomore girls who go to NYU and were sitting diagonally from each other so i'm smack dab in the middle of the 3 and after asking if they'd like to switch with me so they can be closer they say no thanks and chatter and giggle like...i dont know. a giggler. Watched Iron Man, Get Smart (mel, you were right, not worth paying for but got a chuckle here and there), 2 hour nap, a meal that consisted of some form of beef, mashed potatoes, and veggies (which oddly enough, all 3 things tasted the exact same), apple juice, and a fair bit of wine. After all was said and done, I had 4 hours to go. Vunderbar!

The Flight

So i'm in the airport. I ended up not going to bed and just took an hour nap on Mike's bed (thanks mike!) then got up and sang some Rent (don't hate, appreciate). Got all my packing done thanks to my trusty sidekick McBride. Probably would still be packing if it weren't for him. 

So i'm in the airport and had to leave my house to get to my sister's bf's place in freehold. Had to leave at 4:30 a.m. to get there by 5, to have her drive me to the airport by 6 (flight is at 8:05). Fun! (NOT!) anyway, i got all sorts of little tips from my sister's bf who is from the UK and did some reading so I'm not a complete fish out of water while in england.

I just converted some US cash to pounds. All in all, not bad. $1.44 per pound...better than i expected. So now i've got some funky currency and then realize that i'm hungry and have to pay in USD. fantastic. so i get me a coffee and a bacon, egg, & cheese sangwich but i have to charge it. brilliant me. anyay, i best be off to the boarding area. later!

Operation Silly Yank

Here goes. So lets start off from the beginning (normally a good place to start). I am officially done with school. Like dunzo for good-zo. So methinks it would be a good time to go travel a little bit. I have traveled a fair bit but mainly to the Caribbean, Canada, and Israel. So this is the first time i've never really traveled by myself. Makes it more exciting. And what better way to document the story than by making a blog!

For the past few years I've made idle promises to visit place A and B for ages but never actually followed through...without much of a real reason other than I couldn't be bothered to actually make the plans. Now that I've got my edjamacation, I've got no excuse. I was talking to one of my friends from this past summer at summer camp, Danielle, and she was like "You should TOTALLY come to our new years party in Cardiff" (that's in whales for those who don't know...i didn't). So of course this gets me thinking...well...what if...

So i made the plans (major props to Lucas Windsor & Mams for taking up the reigns), talked to the right people, booked the ticket, grabbed me passport, and now I'm off to the motherland. Gonna meet Luke & a surprise person at the airport. My guess is its Loggy Rob (John Robb) which would be WICKED!

Stay tuned. More to come!