best of the best

Now that the trip to end all trips is done and we are all home safe, sound, and in one piece, it is time to reflect on some of the very best moments of the whole shebang. Behind the cut (look! Even my lingo is technologically savvy.), you will find photographic evidence of fantabulous, fairly foolish, fantastically... fantastic? fun. (Alliteration is for the cool kids.)

There is no particular order or segregation by geographical location, because Blogger added them willy-nilly and I am too lazy to attempt to exert order, but the collection was carefully curated for representation of maximum awesome. If you really, desperately need to know where a picture was taken, or under what circumstances, ask me and I guarantee I will know the answer, something I can only do rarely. However, I very much doubt that you will have questions, seeing as NO ONE EVER COMMENTS EVER, BUT WHATEVER, I'M NOT BITTER. (Just kidding about the capslock.)

Enjoy.

(And try not to be too jealous.)

(I was just kidding. Again. Be jealous. It's a reasonable reaction.)

Brighton!

BRIGHTON

SUN AND SEA AND BOOKS AND GELATO AND SUNBURNS

Today was (as my days are so often) fairly fabulous. 

Thanks to my incredible friend Jessica, I was able to hope a train to Brighton, the beach city about an hour out of London.

Friends. It was fantastic. 

Here's the story the above photo-montage tells:

- Nero's coffe: I do love you. Woke me up on the train ride over.

- Went from train station to a stupidly scrumptious and reasonably priced lunch: Brie, bacon, lettuce, tomato, and cranberry sandwich. Um. YUM. I'm drooling.

- Meandered down the pretty, busy streets to the beach. Looked at the pier. 

- Made faces at the sun. That squinty expression is actually what my face does when I am reacquainted with one of my BFFs - which the sun is. 

- Picked out my spot on the beach. At first, the lack of sand and abundance of rocks made me question the quality of said beach. But, then, two hours later and totally free of sand-filled clothing and crevices, I reversed my opinion. Pebbly beaches: I approve of you. 

- Read my book and stuck my feet in the water and basked in the fact that, oh hey, this is my life and it is actually breathtakingly wonderful.

- Ate gelato. Ate a lot of gelato. It was this banana chocolate crunch delicious nonsense that was like Chunky Money but better. Yet, that's a thing. I know, I know, hard to believe, but I am a master of all things carbohydrate-y, and I know my business.

- Why, yes, that's a sunburn. You may be asking yourself, "Why, how is it even possible to get a sunburn in England? Isn't that a contradiction of terms?" Well, it ought to be. But my name's Marie and my skin never got the memo that it was raised in the land of 350 days of sunshine. Alas.

Moral of the story: I am –––––––– this –––––––––––– happy.

Also: Burned.

LONDON

LONDON, FRIENDS

LONDON

It's pretty fabulous. So fabulous, you get this dinky little post composed on Instragram shots me myself and I have taken. See, while the little people are cruising around the city with the camera and the tour guide (and the homework. Ha!) I am wandering like a wanderer and taking awkward self portraits as I go. Secret: Sometimes, I end up making really stupid faces in my pictures, because at the last moment, a stranger looks over and I have to stop grinning at my phone like a fool, because I somehow still have a sense of shame, or something. 

On to the main event.

In the past four days (I think?) I have...

Visited, prowled around, and taken terribly foolish pictures of myself at the British Museum. Saw the mummies through gaps in the monstrous crowds. Also saw the Picasso exhibit, and was distinctly underwhelmed. Most likely because I lack refined tastes.

~

Walked around Regent's Park for a few sunny minutes. Saw old people (like, legitimately old. Think seventy year-olds) dancing salsa as part of some exhibit. I was terribly humbled by my own lack of coordination. I also has to make the above serious face because I was pretending to take a picture of the garden, and once does not take pictures of flowers with stupid, 'CHEESE' smiles. 

~

Ended up in the National Gallery as I was attempting to escape bizarre sunny-RAIN-sunny-drizzle-RAIN-drizzle-RAIN.  It was big. And pretty. And occasionally surprisingly amusing. 

~

I also walked. A lot. A lot a lot. Especially for someone who essentially needs to be dragged around the block at home. I am impressed with myself. Oh, the measures to which one will go for the love of money. Or the love of not spending money. Yay cheapness! Anyway. In my walking, I walked by Big Ben, Parliament, etc. Good times. IF ONLY IT WOULD STOP RAINING.

~

On Sunday, I hiked (actually, legitimately walked myself two+ miles) to Westminster Abbey for the Evensong service. Which was great. Did you know that sometimes, the people that sing in the church choir are good? I know. Crazy talk. But there were these adorable little boys in cute little outfits singing in their pretty tiny voices and it was a painless hour and a half. Totally awesome experience - I recommend it highly. 

~

FOOD! My favorite, always. I made Jessica tramp on down to Camden Market to get some ethnic grub with me. Here, see our yummy yummy shared meal of Italian and Ethiopian deliciousness. Add a sangria and BOOM! Perfectly awesome. Love the markets. 

~

Kew Gardens is a world of green. Apparently, they have 1 in 8 known plant species. That is crazy talk. Think about that for a minute. Crazy talk. It is also very pretty, and sometimes reminiscent of Jurassic Park. Their dessert exhibit was also very homey. Jessica and I were both overwhelmed with the sense of home. Which is a little pathetic. 

~

And the best for last: WICKED.

On the West End. Yes yes yes. You are jealous. It's ok: I would be too, if I were you. But I'm not you, I'm me, and I saw the (fabulous!) show with Jessica about five hours ago and my heart is happy. Very fabulous experience. Wicked awesome, actually. 

a series of fortunate events

FRIENDS

FRIENDS

TODAY, WE ALMOST MET MERLIN

Seriously. We were l---THIS---l close. 

IT WENT LIKE THIS

First, we decided to visit this castle, because Google told me that parts of Merlin were filmed there. It's called Castele Coch, for reference. It's very cool. Look:

From here. 

Only, when we got there, the castle was full of TV stuff. And a crew. And lots of wires. We all go like this: 0_0 and whisper, "OHMYGODdoyouthinkthey'refilmingMERLIN?"

They weren't. They were filming this other, new show called Da Vinci's Demons. It comes out in the spring. As an insider, now, I will tell you that it looks pretty fab.

So we're at a castle and they're filming. And then we were skulking around the court yard, because we didn't want to get in any of the very many peoples' way. We got in free, which is AWESOME and also foolish - they don't charge when shows are filming because not everything is open, but HELLO, that's the best time to be there, DUH

ANYWAY

We are standing around wondering what to touch and how loud we can whisper. Brilliant Miles goes up to the nearest crew member and asks, "Hey, could you please tell us where we should avoid? We don't want to get in your way."

AND THEN THE GUY PRETTY MUCH WALKED US AROUND THE CASTLE. 

THROUGH THE SET. 

THROUGH IT.

Our crew-member guide was very very nice. (And if by some beautiful trick of the universe, he is reading this, HELLO! You were great. Five American tourists appreciated your kindness very very much.) He was so nice, that once were done looking around the castle, we talked to him for awhile. 

He asked what we were doing in the country.

"Studying abroad in London," we said.

He asked why were in Wales and at the castle.

"WE LOVE MERLIN," Eden said.

Everyone looked scandalized, until our almost-friends said:

"Really? I've worked on Merlin."

Everyone looked like this:

Then he said, "Oh yeah. I've also worked on Dr. Who and Sherlock."

We all practically lunged. "WE LOVE SHERLOCK TOO!"

For a few minutes, conversation dissolved in our flailing about and acting like the foolish fans we are. Our friend laughed. He gave us directions to filming spots up the hill. We squealed. 

AND THEN AND THEN AND THEN

He said: "They might be filming around here today. Hold on, I'm going to call my friend. He's on set with them."

Cue:

He called some guy on set with Merlin to try to get us on set. Sadly, they were filming in another part of the country entirely, The Forest of Dean.

BUT STILL.

So close. So close.

OH BUT THERE'S MORE

We decided to hike up a huge hill, to seek out the filming spots. Places seen in Sherlock AND Merlin? We could not resist.

We were standing at the bottom of the mountain, looking up the path and being awkward uncertain as to how to start. 

There is a moral to this story: Look awkward, ask for help, reap benefits.

Some very very nice Welsh lady walking her dog asked if we needed help. We said, yes, actually, we are looking for BBC filming sights. 

She said she's seen that many times.

She said she knows where the places we were looking for are.

She offered to walk up with us and show us the way.

I know. I know. Luckiest day ever.

So today, we saw places that our BBC friends have filmed. 

It was the BEST THING EVER.

AND, FOR THOSE OF YOU WHO WERE NOT AWARE

The Manning family has a bit of a thing for Merlin. And Sherlock. A bit of a thing, and a thing is an obsession. As in, Eden and I were almost crying with joy when our friend was on the phone with Merlin people. Don't judge us: It's a BIG FREAKING DEAL. 

Also, if you haven't watched either of these shows, shame on you. Get on it. They're on Netflix. In fact, I will even link them for you. No excuses. Watch. And before you know it, you'll be hiking up big muddy hills and stroking the ground because, "They were heeeeeeere!"

MERLIN

SHERLOCK

update

Roppongi, Tokyo all lit up.

At least I am freezing to death surrounded by beauty.

The host family and I take a picture after the Nihongo Happyoukai - a performance put on by the foreign exchange students to showcase out (theoretically) improved Japanese.

This was my Halloween costume. I bought it for approximately $3.50USD. It is one of the best investments I ever ever made.

___________________________________

I have gotten really horrible about updating this.

It is just very, very, very difficult to keep up with everything that has been going on! Every single day is a new series of adventures, and recording these adventures on a consistent basis would take away from adventuring time. Seeing as I am in my final month (WHAT?), I have been trying my very hardest to do/see as much as possible.

I have been doing pretty well.

Since I have last checked in, some new experiences include:

sleeping/lounging/eating/studying sprawled out on the floor, because the floor is where the heat it; writing and memorizing the script for Little Red Riding hood in Japanese; performing, with two friends, that same story - in Japanese; watching my classmates flex their acting muscles quite impressively as they performed their own Nihongo skits; going to beautiful, elegant museums in Tokyo; walking through streets that reek of class and money in (what I assume) are some of the richest neighborhoods in Tokyo; getting to see real, live, red/orange/yellow/green fall in all its glory; exploring the city and enjoying every minute, despite the bone-chilling rain; falling asleep on a stranger on the train and not realizing it until I was poked awake because he had to get off; acquiring a mastery of the train system that allows me to decide on a general direction or specific location I want to go and actually get there; meeting my family's foreign exchange student to-be; walking around Ueno Park and Ueno Zoo by myself and being able to take in the awesome all around (pygmy hippo! I WANT ONE); going to a Neko Cafe and playing with some of the cutest cats in the history of the world; somersaulting down a hill; seeing a light display that rivals in Zoo Lights; having long, gossipy conversations with the host mother; going to a salsa club in Roppongi and having the awesome Emily lead me through the steps in a semi-competent manner.

hello, hello

I know it's been awhile.

But, you see, being in love with life takes up a lot of time.

Kinkaku Shrine! Look how shiny.

View of Kyoto from Kiyomizu Temple.

We are ninjas. We are at a ninja restaurant. We go big or go home.

WHALE SHARK!

At the awesome aquarium in Osaka - that's the whale shark behind me!

Epic hike through hundreds of gates/tori in Kyoto.

Pretty picture, right?

My fellow exchange students in front of the gate in the water, enjoying a brief vacation/tour of Japan.

Approaching Miyajima, aka: Jurassic Park. (Not really even where they filmed it, but I swear it could have been.)

The famous Tsukiji Fish Market in Tokyo.

At the Lock-Up, a prison-themed restaurant.

Crea Mall at night.

The Kawagoe Matsuri (street festival) in all its crowded, float-filled nighttime glory.

Tokyo Game Show / Akihabara

9/18/10

• Purple poofy skirt + Mesh shirt = Me = Maybe overkill.
• Spider bite.
• Game show in Tokyo. Enough said.
• Most crowded train ride of life. Sardines in a can is accurate to the t.
• Long, long wait to get into game show.
• Way, way more people than expected in Game Show.
• Light and cameras and crowds and games and noises and craziness.
• Dressed up people everywhere.
• Perverted men and scantily clad women in the same convention does not equal happy gaijiin.
• Stupidly brave decision to leave the Show, hop on a train, and hope to end up in Akihabara. The words, "Let's get lost!" definitely left my mouth at some point
• Success. Akihabera, hello hello.
• Electric City: Bright and crowded and the amount of staring directed in our direction was ridiculous to the point of annoying.
• More anime shops than can be described.
• Adventure into the mother of all adult shops. Emerge traumatized.
• AWESOME, SUCCESS.

I HAVE A JAPANESE CELL PHONE!

Guess what it does?

(hint: much)

Currently, I am loving: the English/Japanese and Japanese/English dictionaries; the snazzy camera (and video camera); the fact that it receives email (!!!); how cheap said email and text messaging plan is (approximately USD$3.50/month unlimited); the cute background animation on the menu screen; the way that I receive text/email in 3D animation (!!!!!!!!).

TOKYO

TOKYO

On Saturday (your Friday), a group of us JSP students went into Tokyo to look around and go to a concert. It was pretty much amazing, and we definitely plan on going back. We didn’t do much in terms of actually sightseeing, but we did get to simply wander around Harajuko.

The concert was also one of the most insane things ever. First, everyone else was dressed to the nines. You will see what this means in the pictures below. It was a VIsual K concert, which pretty much (as far as I know) means that the band consisted on men in elaborate, ornate drag. The crowd was amazing too: insanely... organized? They all knew the ‘hand-dance’ they were supposed to be doing during each song. And they all had matching flags they whipped out and during one song and matching fans for another.

In conclusion: Awesome.