I'm really behind on posting to this thing!

from Day 7:

And on the seventh day, God let the sun shine and the sky get blue just for us to go to the tulip gardens! The Keukenhof gardens were definitely the highlight of Holland for me! Even though a lot of the flowers weren't in bloom yet, a lot were. I'm actually kind of glad they weren't, otherwise i may never have left. Seriously. It was AMAZING!

...i took SO many pictures!! there was a greenhouse that gave a glimpse of what was to come outside and we spent almost an hour just in there! It was probably the best flower day i will ever have in my life! When we got back, we went to a grocery store (on the advice of an old guy in our sketchy ass hostel) and got tons of food for cheap and watched Mean Girls with dinner. Joe's never seen it!! Crazy! Anyway, before i go, here are some...

BITZ O WIZDUM

some things i've learned in Amsterdam

1. Check your travel paths carefully. If you don't you may wind up disoriented on a ferry crossing into Germany

2. Germans are a lot less naturally friendly than the Scandinavians (The Dutch are in the middle)

3. Mayonnaise on french fries is actually not bad (thank you Pulp Fiction)

4. When you are in the Red Light District, EVERYTHING is sex related. To assume otherwise is a mistake!

5. Amsterdam has a vodka museum. go to it.

6. TULIPS ARE AMAZING!!!!

7. You don't have to be high to have a good time in Amsterdam

8. Anne Frank lived in Amsterdam. I always thought she lived in Austria. Hmm...

9. God loves the gays. So does Amsterdam

10. Don't go to the Sex Museum. I am telling you as a friend. it is not worth it.

so we have a train to catch at 8:04 (ok, so what is the deal with trains/planes leaving at such random times? Why not just go at 8:05. Or 8? or something with some sort of reasoning behind it, rather than 'hmmm...how can we confuse our customers? I know, let's make our departure times so stupidly random that it confuses anyone who wants to travel!' But i digress...) I iz sleep sleep now! ~Bai!

From Day 9

It's been a good day. Expensive, but good. We started off the day (at 8:30) walking around the city because nothing was open =( . we went down to Lake Zurich and took beautiful pictures then to a cafe with super good hot chocolate made with REAL SWISS CHOCOLATE!!!

...we then went to some churches, an art museum (blah), and the Swiss national museum that took forever to get through, like almost 3 hours of museum!

...It is really nice to have someone to travel with, if for nothing else, there is someone to talk to. Having it be your best friend is a plus :)

We're heading to Lucerne tomorrow. Big lake #2, beautiful mountains and more awesome Switzerlandness awaits, so I iz sleep sleep now! ~Bai!

From Day 10:

Switzerland is such a beautiful country! We arrived in Lucerne at about 10 o'clock and we couldn't check into our hostel, so we walked around the city and soaked in the beautifullness! We ended up walking around the whole northern outside of the city! We saw the mountains in the mist and bought souvenirs. Joe got a badass pocket watch and I got a Switzerland mini-scarf!

...It's pretty warm here and the people were enjoying it! Apparently, the Swiss people love to practice tight rope walking. There were 4 in the park we walked by! anyway, we went to another chocolate shop and got some more chocolate (awesome!) and went back to the hostel to cook dinner. in the kitchen of the hostel, we met some people from Hong Kong and the man loved to talk! their son is 24 and has been working for an electronics company in Zurich for 3 years and they were vacationing with him until april. They were super traditional Asians! the wife was making dinner and the man was just sitting and talking to other people. One of the other people in the kitchen asked the man (the woman didn't speak English), "does your wife cook every day?" to which he responded "No...Sometimes we go out". I think the word Wow covers it! Anyway, he was telling us a lot about Hong Kong and it was really interesting how different cultures can be. Did you know that a lot of Chinese children are pretty much independent of their parents by age 18? You do now!

...After dinner, we went back to our room (did i mention we have a private room? Awesome!) and watched the new episodes of family guy and South Park, then A Bug's Life. Great night! We are going to see some sights, then walk around the other side of the lake tomorrow. Fun awaits, so I iz sleep sleep now! ~Bai!

From Day 11:

I feel like a badass today! we literally walked off the map! we went so far around the lake that we left the city proper! It took a couple of hours and my legs are dead tired, but it was worth it. we got some awesome pictures of the mountains and a cool castle near the lakeside. the sky was way clearer in the distance today, so the pictures turned out awesome! we also went to the Cathedral of the Canton and walked around. it was pretty cool. We watched Fern Gully and were basically room bums the rest of the day. We were appreciating having a private room, so i feel it was justified! Cooked dinner and Chatted and ate TONS of Swiss Chocolate!!! It's been a great day and we're off to Bern tomorrow! I iz sleep sleep now! ~Bai!

From Day 12:

We woke up at 9ish and left beautiful Lucerne for the big city! Bern, the capital of Switzerland is very much city. much more than the rest of Switzerland. It is also rainier. We went to Einstein's house in bern (in the rain), the History museum (in the rain), and shopping for food (again, in the rain). Our hostel here is at least nice. the Swiss do know how to put their guests up! All the hostels in Switzerland have been really nice (though a bit pricey), as all of Switzerland has been. We'll do more tomorrow, but for now, not much exciting. I iz sleep sleep now! ~Bai!

More to come!

Jojo

More Craziness...

From Day 4:

Starting off early (with every school child in Copenhagen, apparently) at the National Museum. If I don't go to jail for killing a child in the next few hours, I'll tell you how it goes.

God it is great to sit down! So i didn't kill any wee-ones in the museum. i just avoided them by being on different floors at all times. It has been a day! I've walked about 15km (no joke) total today and my legs are killing me! I walked from the museum to the harbour, then up the waterfront to the Gerin fountain and still further to 'the little mermaid' every travel book, guide and person told me not to waste my time on it, but i did. it actually wasn't as pathetic as everyone made it out to be. That little lady is really photogenic! After that, i walked to Rosenborg Castle and the King's Gardens...the Danish crown jewels are there and my God, they are an extravagant people, the Danish!

...The end of my day has been less eventful. Copenhagen overall has been a good time. i wish i had planned 3 days in each place instead of 2, then i wouldn't have to cram seeing so much in so little time! Well, before i go, here are some...

BITZ O WIZDUM (Some things from Copenhagen)

1. The hello rule is even more important in Denmark, cause their hello sounds like 'hi'

2. The Danish have come up with the best drink EVAR!!! Hot chocolate w/ ice cream!!!!!!!!!! the ice cream cools down the HC enough to make it drinkable as well as adding delicious ice cream flavour to the hot chocolate! Awesome!

3. It is much better to give yourself more time, rather than going more places. i have discovered this.

4. Scandinavians are nice! Ask for help if you need it!

5. Always check the train station before just showing up for your train on the day of travel

6. Before you plan a trip, see when all the really cool stuff opens up

Only 6 for Copenhagen. Maybe i'm getting more cultured...or less stupid...or just can't think of anything else. well, train at 7:45, so I iz sleep sleep now!

~Bai!

From Day 5:

Well, that was a fun day. 11 hours of trains, accidentally boarding the subway, oh, and more trains! I left Copenhagen at 7:45AM and checked into my hostel in Amsterdam at 8:15PM.

...On my way, i apparently got on the metro. don't know how, but i did. When i came out, a policeman stopped me and started yelling in Dutch and i was really confused. apparently, the subway works the opposite way in Amsterdam; you pay when you come out. So i didn't have a ticket (since i got on it from a train) and technically took the subway through 3 zones and didn't pay for it! the policeman gave me a warning, so that's good.

...When i got to the hostel, i can see into the bar (yes the hostel has a bar. and a 'smoking room') and see a bunch of high Americans watching college basketball. really funny sight! they don't even react to the game, they just sit there open-mouthed staring at it!...Joe gets here tomorrow and i am worn out from the trains, so I iz sleep sleep now!

~Bai!

From Day 6:

Well, today started off with a bang...or shall i say a flash. at 4:30 in the f&%!ing morning, some douche-bag decides to get ready -loudly- and to turn on the room light! so of course, it takes me a while to get back to sleep and then i have to get up in a few hours, but whatever. ANYWAY...I went to the science centre (I know, 2 science centres in 2 cities. yes i know i am a music major) and it took me by surprise how mature it was and how mature European kids are. there were some rather 'older' scientific things that were just open for everyone and the kids were very mature about it. there was a little puberty film and i was giggling more than the 10 year olds. i felt immature. but i realize that it is because they are able to see it, and have it explained maturely and scientifically, at such an early age that they turn out to be ok with stuff like sex, drugs and alcohol. It was an eye opener. After the science centre, i got on the City Sightseeing bus and went around the city.

...i got off and went to the Amsterdam tulip museum, which is basically a room in the basement of a flower shop with info and a video. but it was cool nonetheless. i also got some cool stuff from the shop. after that, i got caught in a rianstorm and took refuge in a cafe, where i got some lunch, turkey bagel sandwich. yummm. then Joe called and said he was here, so i went back to the hostel and met up with him. we went walking around the red light district, providing immense entertainment and a REALLY FUNNY story, then the sex museum, then the vodka museum. the vodka museum was definitely the better of the two. we got free shots (Awesome) and learned about vodka. i am now determined to brew my own at some point.

...We're going to the tulip garden awesomeness in the morning and i am SOOOOO EXCITED!!!!! but for day 6, so long. I iz sleep sleep now!

~Bai!

More soon!

Jojo

The Madness begins! (excerpts from my travel diary)

BAH!! so it is finally happening! Spring Break, travelling through Europe AMAZINGNESS IS HERE!!!! so i will treat you for the next few weeks with insights into the mind of Joe Johnson and give you excerpts from the soon to be published (haha) travel diary of the 5 weeks of awesome!

from Day 1:

overall, i would say it's been an amazing day! my day started at midnight, catching the bus from oxford to stansead airport wherei had to wait for a few hours, but successfully booked, paid for and made a flight on time all by myself (It's the little things that make life grand!)!! i arrived in stockholm and proceeded to have trouble with my credit card, so what do i do? stand there trying for 5 minutes and then stand there some more. this, for some reason, looked shady to the security personnel, who felt it necessary to check my bags once more before letting me leave from baggage claim. other than that, it has been smooth sailing!

...i decided to check out Gamla Stan, the 'old city' and proceeded to get lost. but not the bad kind of lost. i mostly just walked around and checked outt he city. it was pretty fun.

...if you know me, you know i am obsessed with money from around the world. the Royal coin museum was perfect for this need of mine!!!! it was basically the best 2 hours of vacation EVER!!...so as you can see, my first day was rather awesome...but also long. I iz sleep sleep now! ~Bai!

from Day 2:

...i kept seeing this little cafe in Gamla Stan and finally decided i would go in. Great choice! I am eating a Brocolli and Ham quiche that is awesome and having hot chocolate because it is F*&£ing FREEZING here!! i mean it's Scandinavia, so i don't know what i was expecting, but still.

...today i got lost in the 'new city', not as fun as Gamla Stan. i went to the Nobel Museum and the Swedish Music Museum, both of which were pretty stellar!

...i ended up not doing much else the rest of the day but here are some.......

BITZ o WIZDUM from Joe Johnson

1. the Swedish love moose (mooses?)...i don't even know. it's just a thing here.

2. Hej (pronounced 'hey') is 'hello' in Swedish. if you say hey back to a store clerk, ticket person, etc. they will assume you speak swedish. ALWAYS SAY HELLO!!!

3. Americans are so behind the rest of the world! most of the people in my hostel are tri-lingual (their native language, English, and enough Swedish to get by) and it makes me sad i can't even understand numbers in swedish. Suck less America!

4. don't slip on ice. it hurts more when you already have an injury.

...6. Walk around, you never know what you'll find!

7. Swedish people are nice and friendly (and most of them can speak english!)

8.Swedes love asian food! Sushi, chinese, thai places EVERYWHERE!!!

9. burritos and chocolate...strangely awesome combination. Quiche and hot chocolate...better!

...Well, i have an 8:21 train to catch in the morning, so I iz sleep sleep now!

~Bai!

from Day 3:

Denmark is way warmer than Sweden!...i got turned around getting to my hostel, but a nice homeless woman and a random passer-by helped me get to it ok.

...i didn't have time to do much today, but i did go to the Ripley's Believe it or Not in Copenhagen and (more the reason for going) the connected Hans Christian Andersen MiniMuseum! it was really cool. there were interactive exhibits and storytelling with robots (always awesome!). my favorite story by him, the Steadfast Tin Soldier, had a little interactive toy room where you could make the toys come to life. LOVED IT! after that i went to the planetarium to waste some time. cool stuff, space.

...i caved and had chinese food for dinner. but hold judgement, i passed up 2 McDonald's, a Burger King, and a KFC (plus all the stuff, including a TGI Fridays in Stockholm) so i feel it's ok!

...i got internet, so i figured i would update my blog while i was at it. I'm gonna turn in early (recurring theme?) and get started fresh in the morning. I iz sleep sleep now!

~Bai!

More to come...

Jojo

Happy Thanksgiving...or as they say it in England, Happy Thursday!

guy fawkes burning

as you can see, i got a new camera, and it is basically amazing! November started out pretty great! we watched V for Vendetta on the 5th and me and Lora went to a carnival/fireworks show/guy fawkes burning the next day. i took lots and lots of pictures with my new camera! it was pretty awesome... but cold.

there's been a lot of visiting going on this month! justin came from Cambridge one weekend, then all of the Cambridge kids came the next weekend and then Allison came to England for a visit and she, Jenna and justin came to Oxford. Wow, Justin probably should have just just went to Oxford if he's gonna come here this often! then Joe came and we went to the Ashmolean! it was really fun! people from Hendrix that are studying abroad in different places have also been coming to visit the hendrix people that are here. lots and lots of visitors.

it's apparently been too much visitation. a guy from Oxford property services came to our house and told us that we have been making too much noise and that the neighbors had been calling the landlord and even the police on us and that if it didn't stop, they would have to take action! no one, not even the landlord, had given us any warning before this, so how in the world were we supposed to know if people were mad at us. Penelope says that's just how british people are...they just don't come up to your face and say STFU! well, we've toned down our partying and people are pretty much done visiting, so it should be ok.

tutorials are going pretty well. my professors are basically genii (geniuses?). my minor tutorial professor can speak 27 LANGUAGES FLUENTLY!!! Ridiculous! she works for the British Library and translates for czech diplomats and coordinates receptions and huge dinners and celebrations for important people and everything! she is basically a beast... except for the fact that she is like 5'2 and speaks like a parakeet. she has parakeets in her house and kyle and i have decided that she is probably an animagus and the parakeet is her animal. i'm going to have her again in the spring for my spanish tutorial, which will be really interesting.

my major tutorial is really fun and my tutor knows sooo much about music. he is a performer too, so that makes him even more crazily awesome! it's been going pretty well. he said i've been doing really good, but my last paper was a complete fail. i have my meeting with him later today, so we'll see how that goes. other than that, they've been completely awesome! i am also really excited because i will end up having both of these tutors again (i don't know if they want me back, but they're stuck with me! HAH!)!

trampolining has been going great! apparently even though i am not an official member of a college in Oxford, i will still get to compete against Cambridge at the Varsity meet next term, and i am also getting to compete in the sort of national college competition later in the spring! it's been really awesome...i'm thinking i might keep doing it when i get back to the US if i can find a place.

my first Thanksgiving meal

even though the British don't celebrate it, we had our own little thanksgiving at our house yesterday. me and bernice did the cooking and if i do say so myself, it was quite a good meal! there were 5 of us and,as you can see, we made a crap ton of food! day 2 and there is more than half of the food left (I'm actually eating leftovers right now!). we'll see how long it lasts!

Coming home in a week and a half. i don't really know how i feel about it. i am really excited to see my family and friends (and my new ipod will be waiting for me when i get there!), but at the same time, it's a realization that i'm a third of the way done with my year in england. i get to go to jewell to see people i haven't seen in months, but i also have to talk to professors about credits and majors and my future and it's all just a lot to handle. i want to come home, sure, but it just drives home the fact that i am growing up and will have to be a part of the real world soon. hmm. guess it had to happen sometime! :P

well, that's all i can remember for now.

kthankxbai!

Jojo

Choir fail #1

hey all, sorry i haven't updated in a while, it's been a weird couple of weeks.

Brief recap of the time since i wrote last:

October's been going pretty fast. tons of drama, of course, but too much to go into here. we had our introduction papers due on the 8th, which i think mine went well, but we won't get them back for another week (yea, 4 weeks to get a paper back!). then the real tutorials started. it's not been extremely difficult yet, though i have at least one paper every week instead of one every two weeks, which took some time to get used to.

my birthday was on the 16th, it was pretty good. i didn't do too much (and didn't get drunk). just basically spent a really nice and relaxing day at home and then went out to eat and to a few bars and a club that night. it was a good birthday. and i got to see someone get alchohol poisoning and get carried off in an ambulance! haha. God knows what i like to see on my birthday! :P

i went to a dance at Regent's with Melody Megan Annie and Corey a couple of weeks ago and it was really fun! i got to "dress up" like a professor, which basically means i put on some nice clothes and danced a lot! It was glorious!

as far as OOSC related business, we went to a castle, a palace, an artist's manor, and Shakespeare's birthplace as well as other places in Stratford upon Avon and London that were of Shakespeare significance and it was pretty cool. other than that, we've just been hanging around oxford and doing not much. there are some cool British people we've been hanging out with a bit that Becca introduced us to. they're basically awesome and annie's kind of dating one of them.

Me and Maura went on a surprise and last minute trip to cambridge to visit Joe and Jenna and everyone at Cambridge and it was AMAZING!! we went to a pirate dance and met the people that live on their floor and had pizza and watched movies and it was great! Cambridge is much more like a city than oxford and it was really interesting. plus i got to spend time with joe and jenna, which was amazing as always. justin got me sick though, and i spent the next like 4 days in bed. : ( not a fun tutorial, let me tell you! now they have to come visit us so we can take them around oxford! hmmm...what else?

Oh! i joined the Oxford Trampolining Club!!!!! my god, i love it! it's really weird trying to get the hang of the differences between gymnastic form and trampolining form (trust me, there are a lot of them), but i think i'm getting it. they said i might even get to compete later in the year! SO EXCITING!!! it's three times a week as well, so it gives me something else to do other than procrastinate from writing my papers!


now on to the choir fail. so i've been looking for a choir to join because i didn't want to be in a church choir, so annie told me about a choir at St Catherine's that we could go to...and choir fail begins. we start walking and i don't know where we're going plus i don't have my glasses. so i know this will be an interesting trip. we looked on the map before we left and saw a little bridge over a lake that was a little shortcut, so we head that way. as we're walking, we start to approach serious horrror movie potential. there is overgrown plants everywhere surrounding a street with less and less street lights and when it starts nearing the darkest part of the area, we see this unlit path leading to a creepy 2 foot wide "bridge" we'll call it, with no lights on it of course, and annie was like oh i think that's the bridge we need to take. i was like H@#$ NO!!!! This is why white people die in horror movies. i had flashbacks to the float trip. anyway, so we keep walking and end up getting completely lost, so we decide after a while to juts give up and go home. we have travelled so far south, we are near the OOSC house that is really out of the way of everyone else, so we decide to go to their house and hang out for a while. so that part of the night was good, but overall, it was an EPIC FAIL!!!! We may try again, but next time, we'll take the bus, thank you very much!

jojo

So, I'm Not a Clubber

this is mostly ranting, so just skip down to the third paragraph if you don't want to read my complaining.

As you may have guessed from the title, i have discovered that the club scene is not for me. Basically all last week Annie and Bernice were set on going to find some clubs in Oxford for us all to go to, so on Friday after our excursion, we got all dressed up for the club and hit the town...not before most of the people did some pre-partying at the house (whose house? ours, of course!). So we head to a club called the Purple Turtle, that we get into for free because we're members of the Oxford Union, and in about 20 minutes, i realized that clubs were not my scene. the music wasn't great and was really loud, there were too many people in a small dance room, and random British guys were being creepy on my friends. So i use the excuse that i need to call my parents to get out of there and go home. i start to get a good sleep going on and then what do i hear? my housemates and...wait for it...3 random British guys from the club. IN MY HOUSE! WTF?!?! It's about 1:30 at this point and i think they'll be gone soon enough and i can get back to sleep. BUT NO! they stay around drinking more, being loud, etc. for the next 2 hours! they don't leave till 3:45! SIGH! no sleep that night.

So yesterday, I think that I'll go to bed early and get a good night's sleep. but everyone comes over to the house and start talking about going to a bar, instead of a club, so we can meet fun people. so we head out and the first place we go to was kind of not our scene and we had a big group of people and a few of us decided to go to a bar while the rest of the people went back to the Purple Turtle. i knew i didn't want to go back to that or any club, especially tonight. so we head to a bar and it was ok i guess, but not exactly what i call a good time. we left and ended up going...of course, to the Purple Turtle. there were more creepy guys hitting on my friends and we had to protect them for a bit then i just sat for a while, cause i was not too happy. i think it would have been a little more bearable if the music was better. when the DJ at a dance club breaks out with Hungry Eyes by Eric Carmen (look it up if you don't know what I'm talking about and then picture it in a dance club setting. ugh!), i KNOW it is time for me to go home! so we leave, and apparently a lot more drama happens after i leave, but we'll not mention that on public internet space.

so, bottom line, i apparently don't dig the club scene. Anyway, to happier subjects, England is AMAZING!!! Oxford is even better!!!! the last 2 weeks have seemed like 2 months, but in a good, super good, way! My housemates are awesome and most of the rest of the people in the program are cool too. We've been learning a lot about Elizabethan and Victorian England and we went to some cool places too (Pictures on facebook)! even the Globe theatre for a Shakespeare play! it has been such an amazing experience so far. we have a paper due in 2 weeks and I'm pretty confident about it. i know, weird coming from me, right? but i think it's gonna be a great start to a great year!

it is really weird being away from everybody, but i think i can manage for a while! :P I'm excited the Cambridge people are coming in next week and I'll get to see Joe and Jenna and everyone soon! so it'll be a little better (and i need some time with other people than the 20 i am surrounded by constantly. don't get me wrong, they're awesome, but they are the only people i see every day and i just need a little time with some other people...soon)

i think that's it for now!

Jojo

And So it Begins

Hey everyone,

so my family and I all arrived safely in London and we are settled in our hotel room! I think everything is even more amazing this time around! The family is interesting to be around as always and it seems my sleep patterns are perfect for this time zone. Yesterday, i went to bed at 11:30 and woke up at 7!! Crazy right?!?!?!?!

i went to my first casino yesterday as well!!! i lost 10 pounds : (
we went to the wax museum today and me and my dad stood over in a corner and didn't move and there were like 5 people that came over to see if we were wax or not! lol! it was really funny!
other than those interesting tidbits, not much amazingly exciting has happened so far. i'm already missing friends, but at least i'll be seeing some of them in a little over a week!!

i've only been here for two days, but i've already learned some important rules and lessons:

Rule 1: Stand (and walk slowly) on the right
PEOPLE WILL TRY TO RUN YOU OVER!!!!! there have been multiple occasions where i had to basically jump out of the way to avoid someone walking REALLY fast, so if you're not that person that's running everyone else over, just stay on the right.
Rule 2: Order TAP water (with ice if you can)
if you just ask for water, they bring you bottled water and charge out the wazoo for it! in one restaurant we went to it was 4 pounds and warm! so make sure you make it tap with ice (but they may charge you for the ice).
Rule3: Check and see if gratuity in added in your check already
a lot of restaurants (especially near touristy spots) do this and don't tell you, hoping you'll pay the server their tip twice. check in the menu or even ask just to make sure! and there's no sales tax in most places here, so if the amount on the bill is more than the food you ordered, i would say don't leave a separate tip.

Lesson 1: Don't display your American (or tourist) qualities in a crowded area
you are a better and more obvious target for pickpocketers, people stare and talk about you, and it just makes you stand out (most of the time, not in a good way).
Lesson 2: DON'T CROP DUST PEOPLE IN LINES!!!!!!
really, it's just rude and it makes people want to kill you. there was a guy that did it to us in a line AND on the underground and my sister was ready to take him down! so either just go find a bathroom or hold it till you're not in a crowded place.
Lesson 3: Ask for your check
some places don't bring you your check till you ask for it because they think it's rude to sort of try to force you out by giving you your bill. so if you want to get the check, just ask for it or you could wait around for 30 minutes in an uncomfortable seat in a restaurant that smells funny with people in the next booth that are being annoying and just in an all around uncomfortable and unhappy situation. not that i'm speaking from experience or anything...
Lesson 4: Make sure and check your electrical appliances before you plug them in!
My mom blew a fuse in the hotel room because she didn't get a converter, just a plug adapter. check the back of the power chord and make sure that you know if you need a converter or just an adapter...or you can just blow some fuses and appliances till you figure it out!

Well, that's all i got for right now!

Jojo