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Monday, July 27, 2009

Ladies in London

It’s so hard to post in the summer! Hopefully I’ll be better about it as the semester starts up again. (Especially since I might be guilty of posting in class! But when else do you get those things done?)

Anyway, thanks for your advice and support on my last post! Things turned out fine; I misjudged two of the girls and the next day we were friendly. The third one I’m fine with avoiding. Things are still going great with the new BF, too.
Time is going so fast and I have no idea how I will get everything done next semester! I got onto Law Review, which is going to be a ridiculous pain in the ass, and am an officer in Family Law and also will be working for federal immigration court. Oh, and going to class. But I don’t really worry about that. Ha!

Anyway, on to vacation pics, as promised! I'll put up Paris and Rome later this week.

Erica in London

London basically felt like New York City, but without street hot dog vendors. Instead, there were castles and monuments. We were there for three days. We got there after a nine-hour red-eye and proceeded to stay up until almost 2 the next morning, so by the time that day was over we were pretty loopy.



My friend's straightner blew the converter and started smoking...oops!


Albert Memorial in Hyde Park....

Big Ben was actually not that big...


I paid $6 a piece for these pastries at Harrod's. As you can see, they were amazing.

Gardens at Windsor Castle. The royal family has little apartments there that they let impoverished retired military officers live in for free.





The London Eye...we didn't ride this because heights make me frantic. Once on a school trip I climbed up maybe five feet on a zip line and almost passed out. I had to lay on the ground afterward.


A guard! In a furry hat! Notice the little worn path in the stone, too.



The Tower of London. Which is actually several buildings that make up a castle. Who knew? (Probably people who paid attention in European history...oh, and that cylindrical glass building in the background is nicknamed the "erotic gherkin." In case you like trivia.)

Westminster Abbey! It was beautiful but we didn't get to see the inside because it was closed to visitors unless they sat through a service.


Friday, July 3, 2009

Boat to Nowhere

I really will post about my trip soon, but right now I'm annoyed. I adore Boyfriend. I like to be with him, and I like his friends. Well, his Dallas friends. When I see Dallas friends, they hug me and look happy to see me and tell me how much Boyfriend likes me and ask how I'm doing.

And then pre-Dallas friends come, and Boyfriend is excited for me to meet them, and I'm excited as well. Until they're unfriendly bitches. I really like his guy friends--they're great, and they like me too (probably because I can prevailed upon to make a 2 a.m. grilled cheese).

I'm friendly. I'm nice, and smart, and pretty. And you should at least be open to liking me. Don't answer my questions about your kid or where you work or how long you've known Boyfriend with one sentence answers and then turn around and ignore me. And then, after a few hours of that, don't go to Boyfriend and tell him I'm unfriendly and ask why he's dating me. Because that pisses me off. I don't ask you why you're shaped like a meatball, or if you need to borrow my shampoo sometime, because I have tact. I understand that social retardism is sometimes a hard hurdle to overcome, but grab a pole and vault. You can do it.

Now, Boyfriend is going to be confused and hurt because I'm not going on the Fourth of July party boat tomorrow. But I really don't want to spend five more hours feeling like an awkward uncomfortable freak show. Should I just suck it up and go? Am I being a baby? I could go out with my friends instead, and have a good time that doesn't involve drinking, sunburn, and pretending to have a good time when really I'm bored and angry and hurt.

(I found forty bucks on the ground at the bar, though. And that was the high point.)

Wednesday, July 1, 2009

There's No Place Like Home


I’m back and exhausted! I’ll post a few pics soon but a lot of them are on my friend’s camera. Most importantly…I made top ten percent! Barely, but I did it and I don’t even know how to tell you how relieved and happy I am. Thinking about how awful last year was, and how I managed to get through and change my life and come out on the other side exactly where I wanted, makes me want to cry. In the best way.
********
Horror story: On the way back from Rome, our flight got delayed for four hours. We had gotten up at four and were exhausted, and I started crying on the airplane because I was so frustrated and tired. Then this lovely Italian lady named Rosie mothered me and fed me a granola bar and we talked all the way back to New York, and I met her sons at the airport and she told me she wished she had a daughter like me. (She met her husband in Italy and knew right away, and they got married almost immediately and are still happy thirty-eight years later, which is beautiful.)
Anyway, back to the horror. So then, even after running flat out through JFK with our suitcases, we still missed our Dallas flight, and I started crying again and so American Airlines put us on standby on a flight out of Laguardia. So we took a taxi and he drove crazy to get us there, speeding down exit lanes and then cutting people off to get back on the freeway, and the desk lady told us we might not get on (there were 84 standby passengers). So Yara begged, and I was still crying, and then we took her a pretzel and begged some more. And then magically our name popped up to the top of the list and we got on the plane and finally, finally got home, and my boyfriend scooped me up and twirled me and kissed me and I squealed and laughed, and everyone in the baggage claim stared at us.
*****
But, and there’s more to come later, I’ve never had such a great vacation. I love my best friend in a way I love few other people, and I’m lucky to have her. We celebrate the best qualities in each other at the same time we accept all the warts, and so travel together was amazing. We laughed the whole time, spent all day every day together and still talked each night till two in the morning.
******
Paris was my favorite city, London was very American, and Rome…ugh. I’ll be honest and say I did not like Rome and never want to go back. It was filthy and smelly and the men were very aggressive, and once you run out of ruins there’s not a lot to do. But later I’ll tell you about running around Paris, and an amazing little Sardinian restaurant off the Spanish Steps in Rome, and the bustle of London. Now I’m taking my jet lag back to bed.