June 2013

I don't miss America that much....you know, have just balled my eyes out every night since I got back. That is also partly because I miss Andy such a lot (he is still in America for another four days). I miss America. I miss everyone. I miss the weather. And I miss living two seconds away from Andy. It is so hard to think he is so far away.

The last week of my stay in America was eventful. I went to the Zoo with Jess and Mikey and I went to Las Vegas with Jess and Andy.

The Zoo was...well disappointing. I couldn't believe how upset I was with it. San Diego Zoo is meant to be incredible. And I have been to lots of Zoos in my lifetime so it isn't like I am against them but I felt this one was just...inhumane. The animals were trapped in these tiny cages and it made me feel so uncomfortable. The tiger was pushed up against the glass with children banging their grubby little hands against the glass, the elephants were trapped in metal cages which meant they couldn't move and entwined their trunks with one another, the polar bear was stuck in San Diego temperatures and fed a diet of lettuce so he didn't get too much blubber and over roasted, the cheetah was trapped on a ledge in a teeny cage. It was just heart breaking. The animals looked so glum. It just ruined the situation for me. And then I had to pay for a taxi back as we had agreed to meet with our friends for Pho later on and we wouldn't have got back in time if we didn't. None of us had phones (my iphone had died) to text them to let them to know we would be late. And I appeared to be the only one who cared about this. I didn't want my friends just sitting there! For like hours not knowing where we were! So we taxied back and got there on time (Betty was already there).

Pho was fun with all amazing people. We all teased Laura saying English people said "Leons" not "Lions" and that we called Giraffes "Leaf Eaters". It was very funny and such a wonderful evening with people I cared about.

Las Vegas was AMAZING. Truly amazing. But boiling to a new degree. We kept diving into hotels as much as we could. We met some interesting folk on our way there, including a mad waiter at Dennys and a bunch of young people from Las Vegas in LA who proceeded to ask us all sorts of mad questions. There were nice, but just a teeny bit crazy. It is going to be weird not having random people starting conversations with you.

We arrived by Megabus and had some trouble walking to Las Vegas as there were a lot of grasshoppers and Jess developed a fear of them to the extent she had a panic attack as we were walking to Las Vegas. Andy and I had to walk in front of them whilst she held onto us and closed her eyes. We wondered into the MGM Grand around 8 in the morning and found the Fro Yo place I had gone on and on about when I had come to Las Vegas with Cathi. We ate cold Fro Yo whilst Jess rang Jed and her parents to try and calm herself down. It was at this point i found it would be funny to text my sister joking that Andy and I had got married in las Vegas, and she couldn't tell Mum and Dad. No one else believed she would believe me. But alas, she did. I hadn't even had three hours in Las Vegas yet! There was a chapel opposite the Fro Yo place and Andy and I joked we should take a picture outside of it.

That day we explored all the hotels. Saw a lot of brides getting married (In really short tacky dresses - so Las Vegas). I have never been in all of the hotels. Usually Las Vegas for me, is a beach holiday. They are all so amazing. We went on the New York New York ride which was amazing. The first people of the morning. It soared so high and tipped you round and round. It was so good. (Thanks Andy for paying for all of us). Then we went to Cesars Palace, The Venetian, Planet Hollywood, and a variety of shops. We went to a 'traditional english pub' for a drink. They put popcorn instead of the normal bread on our table....yeah really english pub. Got it right down.

Our hotel LV Hilton was quite far away. We walked there though and collapsed into bed for a nap (we coached it over night from LA to Las Vegas - using megabus - only Andy managed to sleep well) . Our non-smoking room smelt very smoky and the hotel charged for the coffee machines and for the water. but oh well. It had the monorail right there.

We went to see Evil Dead the musical. It was....AWFUL. I had been boasting so much about brilliant Las Vegas musicals and IT WAS AWFUL. The actors could not sing nor could they dance. They couldn't act. The first two rows would get splattered with blood, a girl got raped by a tree and everything was very very overly sexual. I wanted to leave. It was meant to be bad funny, like a spoof, but it was just plain awful. Andy, Jess and I just threw each other looks and when the guys behind started going "Oh yeah baby." when a girl on stage stripped to her underwear I just face palmed. IT WAS AWFUL. DO NOT GO.

The next day was equally as hot. We went and had ice cream at the Bellagio at this beautiful crepe place (well Andy and Jess had crepes). We saw the water show which was gorgeous and we went to see 'Circus Circus' because Jess insisted that we did. It was really scummy and very barren. SO DONT STAY THERE. At the same time Jess's grasshopper fear increased and she started screaming on the platforms even when the grasshopper was clearly dead. We went to a TV showing of a new show that evening for CBS. It was starring Anna Ferris. It was funny. I liked the experience of voting. We had a dial and had to spin it between 0 and 100 whether we liked it or not. Then we went to the Rainforest Cafe and i had an amazing meal called "Taste of the Sea' (something like that). Andy had it too. We then played in the shop :) It was so much fun. Then we got ice cream and Andy turned 21. HAPPY BIRTHDAY (FOR JUNE 9TH) we tried to find a place for a cocktail for him but they all seemed closed (weirdly) and Jess was stressing about finding a taxi back to the bus stop in time. So we got one back to the bus stop and got on a megabus back to LA. I knew it was a bit of a weird start your 21st Andy but I hope you liked it!

We got home and gave Andy his presents. A Squirrel onesie and a video I had made for him. He seemed to really like them and he has no qualms in telling people he doesn't want presents as he never usually likes them and will usually show people that by not wearing it once. So I was glad I picked well :D. We then attempted to go Shark diving and got directed to the wrong place so we got a drink instead (Him - a smoothie, Me - a diet coke - crazy 21st times), then we went and got ice cream :). That evening, we had Cafe V and then watched a film at Andys with a few others. Andy and I were the only ones to cry! It was sad!

So now I am home. The last few days I will detail later perhaps. But all you have to know is I loved San Diego. Thank you UCSD for giving me the best year of my life (even if I have also met the most evil person I know). I also met some amazing people and my first (and hopefully last) boyfriend :D who I love very much. Thank you so much. Everyone should do a year abroad just for the experience. It is amazing. Just go it :D x

I haven't been to SeaWorld that many times.....

Well lets just say I should have got an annual pass at the beginning of the year because even with my three visits that would have saved me money and got me some perks! So if you can - GO BUY IT! (And no, I am not an employee of SeaWorld). After a dreadfully bus journey where we encountered a man who tried to convince us we were from Germany and then told us it was his birthday so we should give him money. I found the trip rather amusing as the old man sitting next to me kept mumbling comments under his breath without a care in the world that I was overhearing them. He just wanted to voice his opinion, I guess. We got off and got a lift to the actual SeaWorld place from Old Town. It was Memorial Monday and the buses were being really lame.

We arrived in time for the Shamu show! It's so exciting! And so good! And even noticed different tricks they had taught the killer whales. They were so cute and adorable! I loved it. We then went and saw the seal show (which had a missing seal so one of them was doing double the tricks!!! No one else noticed they were the same!). We also went and saw the turtles, the sharks and lots more animals. We went on the Manta Ray ride - Jess screaming like crazy! Then we also got so yummy food.

That evening, we came home and had nice long chats and yummy food for tasha's last night. It was sad and time seemed to have gone so fast.

 It was really sad to see Tasha go, especially as it was a stressful leaving because the Super Shuttle never turned up. It claimed it did somewhere on campus and just expected her to be there. They didn't call her by the number she provided because it was international. What a stupid rule. We complained.

Kayaking at the weekend was brilliant. Definitely do it if you come to San Diego with OEX sports. It is so much fun. Arunav told us we didn't need to wear wet clothes we weren't going to get wet. Yes Arunav...typical Arunav. We got soaked. Andy and I were in a Kayak (for a while we pretended we didn't know each other which was fun) whilst Jess paired up with a boy from a 'lads crew'. The first part was where you get wet. When you kayak against the waves. Andy and I were yelling. It was cloudy day so was quite chilly but kayaking kept us a bit warmer. We did stop a few times to calm down. We saw dolphins only a few metres away, which was wonderful, we saw some caves and learnt more about the beach being an inspiration for Dr Seuss. We saw some lovely sea lions too. The kayak leaders challenged people to stand up on their boats for ten seconds. Andy and I tried only to promptly fall in the water. Jess's partner wanted to but she was like "NO NO NO!" He rolled off the back of the boat with her screaming and saying "Right that's it." And she began kayaking away. Andy and I were cracking up with laughter. She was not amused. She so didn't want to capsize. So she was so scared when he tried to get back on her kayak that she clung to Andy's and mine's. Then she took an instructor's oar and when he came to get it back and began shaking the boat she lifted up her oar screaming "I WILL HIT YOU! I WILL HIT YOU!" It was very funny.

Back to LA!

We woke up the next morning to Tasha's lovely sounding alarm. Andy just seemed to grumble and keep sleeping whilst I looked around. 

We got up slowly, each taking a turn in the squeaky ghoulish sounding shower before heading off. The weather was rather gloomy as we pulled up to the Hollywood Walk of Fame. It was rather funny, Andy had been there before and clearly wasn't impressed. He told us not to get our hopes up. It was weird. We drove into the Walk of Fame without even realising. It was just like any other street, and it starts with really shabby looking shops and weird odd looking places surrounding the pavement. We found a car park higher up the Walk and got out. We had already glanced some of the crap looking impersonators that had been walking up and down the streets. Jess was trying to make a joke about the Batman figure who was in reality black and said, with the window down as we passed him, "Oh, I never knew Blackman-" followed my an explosion of laughter from the car. Great Jess. Start the day of with some racist comments :P. She obviously didn't mean it in that way.

Once we got out the car park we immediately had people jump on us like leeches. Asking if they could show us around, give us a tour of the stars homes, give us a tour of the stars places...etc etc. Andy hated these kind of people and quickly said no, whereas Tasha often engaged with them before saying no. We walked along and it was quite fun finding the stars of people we recognised but it was also a bit weird. The place was so rundown and shabby and in areas, people had dropped muck and food on the stars names. People ran at you from all over too, trying to sell you things or take you on tours. The impersonators were also just rubbish! I mean, a tanned Latino Mr Incredibles....really?? Seven different Spidermen in equally crap costumes? The SCREAM being three inches shorter than me. Random sexy police woman. It was like everyone had just gone to the local fancy dress store and bought whatever was left. IT was fun though, being with my friends and trying to find the names. And I did get excited when I saw some of my favourite stars.

There was also a part of the walk where stars had come and cemented their footprints into the stones, written a message and signed their name. I liked the one with all the stars from Harry Potter. And Will Smith's one was very cool. Robert Downey JR. has SMALL FEET! It was fun. I did love the star spotting but just everything else, and the environment was just a bit meh.

We went for an early lunch at a French crepe place. It was really yummy. I only had one course but the others had two. We soon realise our waitress was a bit incompetent as she directly asked me "So the strawberry preservative?" and I said "Yes." And she bought me real strawberries (my crepe still tasted amazing though!). And then she got Andy and Tasha's savoury crepes the wrong way round. And she kept trying to bring us the bill or hurry us with our decision making. Andy knocked a glass of water over at the end and we joked how we should smear all the sugar and whipped cream we also had over the table (it was glass) as revenge. We obviously didn't. It was good food. We soon realised why she didn't care about her service like usual Americans - tip was included. So we nearly didn't pay the tip  (Jess saw on a documentary that if the service is poor and you are less that eight people you do not have to pay tip) but I felt guilty and so did Andy so we ended paying the exact amount that was written on the bill. No extra at all.

We then went and searching the Walk of Fame again. At the end we stopped for Fro Yo. We then went to find the Hollywood sign. Google maps took us to a place slightly far away but we still saw it. It was a beautiful place. Andy fell asleep in the car once again as we drove there and missed our argument with another car. He was blocking all the cars as they went around the car park, didn't indicate what he was doing, was near no parked cars so wasn't waiting for a space and just leisurely sat there. We went around four times until as we passed him, a spot opened up. We were very close to it so we moved towards it when he dangerously (very nearly hitting us) zoomed up from behind us and grabbed it.

Tash and Jess started yelling explicits from the car window as he got out and said "Did you think I was just sitting there for my health?" ...It became an ongoing saying of the holiday.

It was nice seeing the Hollywood sign at sunset and it was a beautiful day.

We set off home after that and felt happy and content. We really had had a wonderful time in LA and it is one the most memorable trips I have had. It is weird to think I went to LA when I was younger with my friends and never imagined going there with friends from home, let alone my boyfriend (Yep, i think Mum had started looking at what Nunneries to send me to).

We got back to San Diego late at night and parked the car. We got home via a taxi as it was a Sunday night and we were all pretty tired. We got to Ralphs and had dinner at a lovely greek place called Daphnes which Andy and I love. We then went shopping for ice cream and stuff and after changing into pjamas went to Andy's. The other two met Arunav for the first time. He is lovely and they all were very happy to meet him. Jess managed to persuade him to watch Bridget Jones Diaries with us but because she was so tired she left to go home early, he jumped at the opportunity to run off too. Tash was dosing off as we finished the film and then the night ended. Andy realised he had seen BJD before which was a bit of a shame as he never watches movies twice. He also got quite angry at some of it, like the fact she continually said she was overweight and he would be literally squirming in his seat and repeating "But there is nothing bloody wrong with her she is tiny" Even Arunav laughed and was like "is she having a laugh? Dude what the f**K?" Nice to know what guys really think :D

Tash told us to jump....Andy got into it...

The wind made my bum grow to the size of a small country...

He was mimicking my pose :P x

Tash told us to do something crazy. Jess and I were both confused whilst Andy... x