Saturday, January 13, 2007
Update #8: The round-up for a truly international year
Happy 2007 (eeek! I can't believe it)! I hope that this message find you sticking to your New Year's resolutions and very happy and healthy;) As I write this on Saturday Night Date Night (no comments please), my family is having a party back home without me--supposedly in celebration of the successful attempt to drag my baby sister home from British men and Irish whiskey. But I'm not bitter. Anyways, since they're reveling and undoubtedly having too much fun without me, I figured I would send an update. Lucky you.
This update, however, will diverge from the normal Mexican adventures and dramas, and tell you a little about my Christmas trip to London. As many of you know, Alison was studying abroad this past semester in London through her beloved Bucknell University. She was so upset to leave Bucknell, afraid that she would miss her friends and familiar campus, but that all changed very quickly as she fell in love with suave British men and their silly accents, and notably a man named Jameson... That said, my parents were afraid that they'd never be able to drag her home, so they decided that we would have to go and get her and drag her home, kicking and screaming. SO, Santa brought me a plane ticket to London, and I was on my way! After suffering from my first ever food poisoning at 3am the night before (sweet), I woozily boarded a plane to Texas and then to England. It was definitely a shock to hear English on a consistent basis again, although I must admit that I was sooooo happy to be leaving Mexico for a short while. I was in need of some time in a more gender-equal world, where men do not stare or call or do who knows what else, where I don't suffer differential pricing because I am tall and blonde and therefore rich (VERY bad logic), and where I can blend in and become anonymous. Heaven.
In London, we stayed with my mom's friend, Emer, with whom she'd grown up during her time living in England. Emer welcomed us as though she'd known us forever (I'd never met her before), and was a spectacular hostess. The first day, I told my mom that I needed to rest since I was on a diet of ginger ale and ritz crackers, so can you believe that they were going to leave me and go to see Windsor Palace!???! Well, I wasn't going to have any of that, so I rallied despite my dizziness and jetlag, and went to see the crowned jewels, amazing art works, stolen treasures, and absolute extravagance of Windsor Palace. We saw a lot of this stuff, which is just fascinating, visiting Kensington Palace and Buckingham Palace, as well. At Kensington (where Princess Diana spent the majority of her regal time), we saw an elegant display of her gown collection, and the photos that were taken to promote the auction of her gowns for AIDS patients. It was so interesting because there is definitely a public love for the ex-princess that still haunts the royal family, which now barely acknowledges her existence. At Windsor, I was appalled to see the royal collection of stolen treasures, which included a beautiful solid gold tiger with crystal teeth from India commemorating the "valiant victory over India." My jaw dropped as I saw this and countless other national treasures strewn about the palaces as a sign of British domination. Pretty sick. Nonetheless, the palaces did not disappoint, and I am convinced that I would make a spectacular princess...
Another highlight was the opportunity to have a 407 Wright reunion in London of all places. My junior year roommates and swimming teammates, Steph Hsiao and Chrissy Macaulay, flew in from Beijing and Paris, respectively, so that we had a wonderfully surreal reunion in front of St. Paul's Cathedral, smack dab in the middle of London. Hsiao-er and CMAC spent Christmas Eve and Day with us at Emer's home, and it was great to catch up, and share stories of adventures, frustration, and life. On Boxing Day, Hsiao, Chrissy, Alison, and I ventured out to the city on our own, during which we wandered the city, sipped hot chocolate on the lake by Kensington Palace, and saw a fantastic production of Wicked in the London theater district. Great show...see it! After the play, Alison took us to her favorite Irish pub (which I'm sure many of you have read about by now), where we danced like crazy. Alison and I even tricked a sketchy American tourist into thinking that we were sketchily dancing British gals. Fun times. I was so happy to see all of my girlies, and I still can't believe that we all flew in from four countries and three continents on the globe!
We did so much more on the trip (as evidenced by my utter exhaustion upon returning home to Mexico), but I will spare you all the detail, in an effort to keep this relatively brief. We also saw Mary Poppins and A Christmas Carol in the theater, visited the British Museum, ate beef 'n ale pie in many charming English pubs, visited Oxford, and managed to eat until we nearly exploded. All in all, the trip was a success!
I am now back in Mexico, lounging about lazily not knowing quite yet what to do with all of my free time. November and December were extraordinarily crazy months...I studied for and took the GREs, prepared applications for six grad programs in four schools, attempted to buy pants long enough for this body of mine in Mexico of all places (NOT an easy task) for chilly London, and so much more. It was a whirlwind that I can barely remember. So, today I kicked off my newfound freedom by lounging in the sun and bronzing my pale white body at La Casa del Colibri, watching the birdies bathe in their bathes and hummingbirds sip sugar water from their feeders:) I could really do without cold weather for a few years I think. It was lovely. I've also been planning for the very exciting visits of four extremely important people this spring: my lil' sis, mr. DeRoo, and Kristen and Hoffy! Between the four of them, I will have the opportunity to visit countless pyramids, cathedrals, beaches, mountains, jungles, and who knows what else! I am soooo pleased to have visitors!
More about Mexico in my next update. I hope you all are well and happy in this New Year. It's going to be an exciting year...I feel it! Oh, and on a side note, I've really been stressing about global warming lately, so please use your reusable bags (and say no to paper and plastic at the grocery store), ride your bike to work once a week instead of driving, and write nasty letters to conservative politicians who don't care about the future of our planet. Sorry, that was my political statement for the day...
Until next time.
This update, however, will diverge from the normal Mexican adventures and dramas, and tell you a little about my Christmas trip to London. As many of you know, Alison was studying abroad this past semester in London through her beloved Bucknell University. She was so upset to leave Bucknell, afraid that she would miss her friends and familiar campus, but that all changed very quickly as she fell in love with suave British men and their silly accents, and notably a man named Jameson... That said, my parents were afraid that they'd never be able to drag her home, so they decided that we would have to go and get her and drag her home, kicking and screaming. SO, Santa brought me a plane ticket to London, and I was on my way! After suffering from my first ever food poisoning at 3am the night before (sweet), I woozily boarded a plane to Texas and then to England. It was definitely a shock to hear English on a consistent basis again, although I must admit that I was sooooo happy to be leaving Mexico for a short while. I was in need of some time in a more gender-equal world, where men do not stare or call or do who knows what else, where I don't suffer differential pricing because I am tall and blonde and therefore rich (VERY bad logic), and where I can blend in and become anonymous. Heaven.
In London, we stayed with my mom's friend, Emer, with whom she'd grown up during her time living in England. Emer welcomed us as though she'd known us forever (I'd never met her before), and was a spectacular hostess. The first day, I told my mom that I needed to rest since I was on a diet of ginger ale and ritz crackers, so can you believe that they were going to leave me and go to see Windsor Palace!???! Well, I wasn't going to have any of that, so I rallied despite my dizziness and jetlag, and went to see the crowned jewels, amazing art works, stolen treasures, and absolute extravagance of Windsor Palace. We saw a lot of this stuff, which is just fascinating, visiting Kensington Palace and Buckingham Palace, as well. At Kensington (where Princess Diana spent the majority of her regal time), we saw an elegant display of her gown collection, and the photos that were taken to promote the auction of her gowns for AIDS patients. It was so interesting because there is definitely a public love for the ex-princess that still haunts the royal family, which now barely acknowledges her existence. At Windsor, I was appalled to see the royal collection of stolen treasures, which included a beautiful solid gold tiger with crystal teeth from India commemorating the "valiant victory over India." My jaw dropped as I saw this and countless other national treasures strewn about the palaces as a sign of British domination. Pretty sick. Nonetheless, the palaces did not disappoint, and I am convinced that I would make a spectacular princess...
Another highlight was the opportunity to have a 407 Wright reunion in London of all places. My junior year roommates and swimming teammates, Steph Hsiao and Chrissy Macaulay, flew in from Beijing and Paris, respectively, so that we had a wonderfully surreal reunion in front of St. Paul's Cathedral, smack dab in the middle of London. Hsiao-er and CMAC spent Christmas Eve and Day with us at Emer's home, and it was great to catch up, and share stories of adventures, frustration, and life. On Boxing Day, Hsiao, Chrissy, Alison, and I ventured out to the city on our own, during which we wandered the city, sipped hot chocolate on the lake by Kensington Palace, and saw a fantastic production of Wicked in the London theater district. Great show...see it! After the play, Alison took us to her favorite Irish pub (which I'm sure many of you have read about by now), where we danced like crazy. Alison and I even tricked a sketchy American tourist into thinking that we were sketchily dancing British gals. Fun times. I was so happy to see all of my girlies, and I still can't believe that we all flew in from four countries and three continents on the globe!
We did so much more on the trip (as evidenced by my utter exhaustion upon returning home to Mexico), but I will spare you all the detail, in an effort to keep this relatively brief. We also saw Mary Poppins and A Christmas Carol in the theater, visited the British Museum, ate beef 'n ale pie in many charming English pubs, visited Oxford, and managed to eat until we nearly exploded. All in all, the trip was a success!
I am now back in Mexico, lounging about lazily not knowing quite yet what to do with all of my free time. November and December were extraordinarily crazy months...I studied for and took the GREs, prepared applications for six grad programs in four schools, attempted to buy pants long enough for this body of mine in Mexico of all places (NOT an easy task) for chilly London, and so much more. It was a whirlwind that I can barely remember. So, today I kicked off my newfound freedom by lounging in the sun and bronzing my pale white body at La Casa del Colibri, watching the birdies bathe in their bathes and hummingbirds sip sugar water from their feeders:) I could really do without cold weather for a few years I think. It was lovely. I've also been planning for the very exciting visits of four extremely important people this spring: my lil' sis, mr. DeRoo, and Kristen and Hoffy! Between the four of them, I will have the opportunity to visit countless pyramids, cathedrals, beaches, mountains, jungles, and who knows what else! I am soooo pleased to have visitors!
More about Mexico in my next update. I hope you all are well and happy in this New Year. It's going to be an exciting year...I feel it! Oh, and on a side note, I've really been stressing about global warming lately, so please use your reusable bags (and say no to paper and plastic at the grocery store), ride your bike to work once a week instead of driving, and write nasty letters to conservative politicians who don't care about the future of our planet. Sorry, that was my political statement for the day...
Until next time.
# posted by Sarah @ 1/13/2007 12:55:00 PM 
