Saturday, May 29, 2010

Eurovison 2010

For all of you non-European people like me, you more than likely have no idea what Eurovison is. Pretty much, it's crazy. Each country selects a singer or band to represent them, and then it's a free-for-all karaoke competition. Apparently it is a massive thing here. There were house parties, full bars, and even block parties based entirely around watching the finals. Whichever country wins hosts the event the following year. This year, the finals were hosted in Oslo Norway.

This year, the winner was... (drum roll).... GERMANY!

In second place, Turkey; and in third place, Romania.

Here is this year's winner...

Friday, May 28, 2010

DONE!!!!

I am finally done with my Spring '10 semester!! Exams were... well, awful. Oh well, I'm done!! Now, to enjoy the beautiful summer weather and party it up for 3 days. Then my summer class starts. Lame sauce.  But for now I'm off to the park, the pub, and to begin my prolonged good-bye with the city I have grown to call home. 

Wednesday, May 26, 2010

Update!!

Just a quick update on life here in London...
  • The airways were closed and reopened yet again thanks to that crazy Icelandic volcano. 
  • No one that I know of (including myself) have been terribly affected or deported yet with the conservative government.
  • Lauren and I enjoyed a great free meal from of London Met. 
  • I went up to Bicester this past weekend to see my family friends one last time this year. Enjoyed the summer weather and good food!
  • TODAY IS LAUREN'S 21st BIRTHDAY! Party tonight, and probably all weekend long :)
I think that's all for now.... more to come soon though I'm sure. Lots of pictures to take before heading back to the states. 

    Tuesday, May 11, 2010

    Foals!

    Lauren and I went to check these guys out last night at the Electric Ballroom in Camden, and the show was amazing! If you've never heard of Foals, check them out! This clip is from the show we were at.

    Elections and Politics, Part 3

    aka; WTF just happened?

    Right so last I updated on this we had a hung parliament and Gordon Brown (labor party) was still the Prime Minister. This essentially meant we still had a leader, but no government. Today however, Gordon Brown resigned (leaving us without a leader OR a government (technically giving the power to the Queen), and about fifteen minutes later (ok I exaggerate, still under 2 hours later...)  it was announced that David Cameron (conservative) had accepted the position as PM from the Queen with the intent to from a 'full and proper' coalition with the liberal democrats. Ummmmm, wait.... what?! Suddenly US government and politics doesn't seem so far out there. To change PMs at the drop of a hat, or to have a system that even allows for such things as a hung parliament, I guess I just don't understand. (Not that I ever did to begin with, but really.) Apparently Nick Clegg (lib dem) will now sit as the deputy PM as "Mr Cameron said he and the Lib Dem leader were both prepared to put aside their party differences and "work hard for the common good and for the national interest". "I believe that is the best way to get the strong Government that we need, the decisive Government that we need today," he said." I guess we'll just have to wait and see how this pans out.

    Sunday, May 9, 2010

    ISH May Ball

    The ISH May Ball for Mind was this past Friday night, and I would have to say it was a complete success! The evening was filled with friends, champagne, music, and dancing. They even had a belly dancer, a chocolate fountain (which I literally had to pry myself away from), an auction for the aid of Mind, an awards ceremony for the ISH residents, Matt Horne DJ'ing, and Starman performing throughout the night.    
    It was so much fun to get everyone together and all dressed up! There were a few proper socialites there as well, since it was a charity event, and even they seemed to be having a good time, regardless of if they were just watching all of us students making fools of ourselves. 
    Believe it or not, I even wore a dress that night! (That is how classy we were. Look, I've even got a glass of wine! Wow.) Anyway, it was a night I'm sure we will not soon forget, though I think some of us can't even begin to remember it...  :)
     

    One Month

    One month. One. Month. Lauren and I will be on a plane back to America in one month. I don't even know what to say. Our time here has flown by so fast... I just don't know where its gone!

    So what will I be doing for this last month you ask? Well, aside from scrambling to finish the paper I have due tomorrow, 3 finals, and starting (yes, starting) my online summer class, I'm thinking it will go something like this...

    Lauren and I will sleep in, spend as much time with our friends as possible, grab a few bottles of wine our cameras and wonder the streets of London drunkenly crying about leaving enjoying every last minute that we have here. Sounds like a good plan to me.

    Except, that is, the whole leaving in one month part of it...

    Elections and Politics, Part 2

    The elections have come and gone, and what dose the UK have to show for it? Well, nothing really. After the election results were in and tallied, we found out it was ended in a hung Parliament. What is a hung Parliament? Good question. A hung Parliament is when no single party hold the majority of seats. Read a more in depth definition here. The conservatives won the most seats in the general election, however, there is now a battle to see which leader can form a new government. Technically speaking, Gordon Brown will remain as PM for now, but Conservative leader David Cameron now has the right to seek to govern. In other words, I have no idea what is really going on and I don't think they really do either. At this point, looks like we will just have to wait and see. To read more about this, click here!  

    Thursday, May 6, 2010

    Buses

    I have officially decided that buses make me sick. This seems strange to me because there is nothing else I can think of that does this. Planes, trains, boats, cars, even thrill rides are completely fine. (Does it go fast, up, down, sideways, upside down and spin? Awesome, lets go.) But for some reason, as soon as I get on a bus, I feel ill. I found this out the hard way on a 12 hour bus tour of the Scottish Highlands with my mother about a month ago, but I figured it was just the length of the trip or the dodgy roads. Yet now even when I'm on the 205 for that hour to and from class, it's simply torture. Ugh, I'd rather take the tube at rush hour any day. I suppose I've only about a week left that I need to take the bus, so I shouldn't complain. Besides, its a good excuse to never take Megabus ever again...   Looks like my car is coming with me to Milwaukee! ;)

    Tuesday, May 4, 2010

    Elections and Politics

    It's election year here in the UK, but things seem strangely calm and quite here about it compared to the US... There are the political commercials, public awareness ads to register to vote, and (for the first time ever in the UK) televised debates. But there are no yard signs, no banners, no buttons or stickers. It's kinda nice actually, if you lived under a rock you might not even notice that the elections were going on.
    Now, I will be the first to admit that I know very little about politics, economics, or foreign policies for the US (though I would venture to say that I know a great deal more than Sarah Palin....); however when it comes to UK politics, I know next to nothing. Assuming the majority of my readers are American, I will venture to say that most of you don't know much about the upcoming elections here either. So here is a very brief overview of what is happening.
    Like the US, the UK has a party system. There are 3 main parties; Labor, Conservative, and the Liberal Democrats. Each party has one leader, respectively; Gordon Brown (the current Prime Minister), David Cameron, and Nick Clegg. There are other parties involved, however they do not currently seem to have enough support or seats in the House of Commons to warrant much talk of them here in such a short overview. There are 650 MP (Members of Parliament) seats in the House of Commons, all of which are up for election on May 6th.
    This is about where my knowledge of this issue ends (I told you it would be brief), though as election day draws closer I hope to learn about more about each party and what they represent.I will update you with the results on the 6th!

    Monday, May 3, 2010

    ISH Football Match

    Saturday was the annual International Students House football match between the two houses, MTH and GPS. MTH dominated the pitch, and we came away with a 2-1 victory. Lauren, myself, and a few dedicated others took our place on the sidelines to cheer our team on.
    We were obviously very supportive, as you can see here.Cheering for our team was quickly replaced by drinking, lighting the grass on fire, and laughing to the boys on the next pitch over changing in the middle of the park. 
    Still, our boys played a great game keeping the ISH title with MTH for the 5th year in a row.  As distracted as we may have been, we did our best to cheer them on. Congrats guys!