Filed under: Bullets
Last week was the first time since I have been here that I have met someone Jewish. They aren’t really popular around Europe for some reason, I don’t know why. We cut up snowflakes because they were non-denominational to put up on the windowsill. Outside of my window, we finally have a Christmas tree. No star of David on top though.
The schooling here is weird. All the practice tests are the same and year after year they ask the same questions. If this were to happen back home, everybody would average around a 90% on their exams. I have seen practice questions like “what is a histogram.” Today I had a lab, but due to some complaints about having exams from my American colleagues, the lab ended up not counting and we just left and receive a grade on our practicals that will be the average of the other three labs. I guess that works out pretty well for me, though I feel a little guilty. Also, despite the fact that I am supposed to be studying I have watched the first half of the first season of 30 Rock. Great show.
Caitie stayed with me the other night and brought brownie balls. She also convinced me that I should friend my 9th/11th grade English teacher/debate coach on facebook. Now we are much closer. I think she stopped teaching now that she has two kids. Too bad. I’m at that stage where stuff like that makes me think how much I would like to go home right about now, but I’m sure two weeks in my own home will make me yearn for school soon enough. Anyway, some links I will share:
- I have an RSS feed from my google reader on the bottom left of this page, but some of the articles I thought were cool include Why People Hate Duke Basketball and Steve McNair being implicated in a “bizarre” lawsuit, to say the least.
- Oh, and mostly due to the sub-prime mortgage market, Capital One along with other credit card companies are dying in the market. Lucky that I wasn’t freaking out about my lack of company stock like everybody else there. I’m interested in knowing, but not interested enough to expend any effort, in finding out who from my summer is actually going to be working a the company. It was weird when this girl I knew from work who is studying at Oxford was talking to me about whether or not I was keeping in touch with anybody, we both awkwardly responded with a “no.” Too bad.
- Michael Vick got sentenced today, to 23 months. I mean, I’m against animal cruelty and all but I think it’s ridiculous that this was a light sentence compared to the five years he could have received. Then again, now that I am more or less a pitbull owner myself, maybe I should be more sympathetic to dogs.
- Still, you compare something like that to Leonard Little, who only received 90 days for killing a woman even though he is a “persistent drunk driver.” Note that this article was written for another DUI that he received, after the one where he killed the woman. Wow.
- I found out that I have the same fashion sense as Jessica Alba. I know. Be impressed. Actually considering this was travel clothing for me and Lakers game clothing for her, that’s a bigger plus, because obviously if I’m dressed that well for a trip consisted of rain and long bus rides, I must dress really well when the weather is nice. Right?
- Just because I am a fan of Pixar movies, here is an extremely comprehensive list of easter eggs found in them. With pictures and everything!
- As the end of the year approaches, we have some study music. This is kind of cool because it aggregates a bunch of “top of 2007 lists.” My list? In no particular order. I think it’s like 11 songs. No albums because I only have the means of downloading songs from music blogs right now. Now’s your chance to comment with your favorite songs of the last year, since its almost over. Shocking eh? 2008!
- Ted Leo/RX – The Unwanted Things
- Feist – My Moon My Man
- LCD Soundsystem – All My Friends
- R. Kelly ft. Usher – Same Girl
- Bloc Party – Flux
- Justice – D.A.N.C.E.
- M.I.A. – Paper Planes
- Beirut – The Penalty
- Rihanna – Umbrella
- Menomena – Wet and Rustling
- Outkast – The Art of Storytelling Pt.4
- On a Chargers note, LaDainian Tomlinson of 60 minutes fame, was so upset at his quarterback for throwing two of the worst interceptions I have ever seen that he left the bench as soon as Rivers sat down. Then, surprisingly, they came back from 14 down in the 4th and won that game thanks in large part to Rivers finally playing like a first round pick. Or learning to step up in the pocket and not take 10 yard sacks all the time. But yeah, Lorenzo Neal is also out. I really hope we don’t lose our third straight playoff home game. The thought is upsetting.
About a week ago I went to a birthday party and had names scribbled on my arm when I woke up, along with the word “Amsterdam.” The name alongside it was Jesse, a UCSC transfer who is now parties hard at UCSB – who I found out knew a former asian figure skating prodigy that I have known since middle school. Small world.
Anyway I took two 11 hour bus trips in two days, but maybe because my legs are so short and I always figure out ways to make myself drowsy – they don’t really affect me that much. Jesse and Robin told me (and showed me later) that when they got to their ferry, they decided to buy a 24 pack of Stella’s to make the ride shorter. Personally, I hate getting up and going to the bathroom all the time so I don’t usually try that. An odd thing I found out, to go across the channel, a bus drives onto a train and has the train go across. For some reason that’s really strange to me. My guess is that it has something to do with there maybe not being enough lights underneath, but I’m not sure.
I arrived pretty early in the morning and found out that the coach station and the my hostel were on opposite sides of town and that I was supposed to be right in the middle later. And that the metro is very small in Amsterdam and you really need to go on trams to get anywhere.
After a long check-in process I met up with Zach and Kirsten, a girl from the U that seems to get along and enjoy traveling with Zach, which is impressive I guess. We went to the Van Gogh museum to meet up with Jesse and Robin. They have these video message things that you can e-mail to people (we live in such a hi-tech age) that I thought I would send my parents. Of course, my mother seemed to be angry and quickly asked about everything I did there. Probably a poor decision to send out to my parents.
We went to a coffee shop afterwards and ate at Maoz, which must have been the best falafel I have ever had. Ever. The long bus ride and the fact that most European cities don’t offer tap water – combined with my current efforts of drinking 2 liters of water a day – made my mouth really dry. Like cobwebs in my mouth, it was weird. Afterward I had a desert. I’ve been thinking that when I go back and I have an oven, I am going to make myself brownies and cookies more often. I don’t really eat desert very much, except when I get around to buying fruit.
At night we walked around the red light district and did some window shopping. Not really. It’s weird how short some of them are (fun sized!), and how big and black some of the other ones are. If it’s true that it is around 100 euros a day to rent a window, do these people actually make money? I mean I know it’s usually eastern european women who have no other choice, but many don’t seem to be profitable – some are downright hideous women who don’t even try. After some chinese food, we later found ourselves sitting in a bar looking out the window and cheering whenever a curtain closed and someone was getting paid. We’re supportive people.
We walked around a little more and did a tour of the Erotic Museum, which because of the pornographic cartoons alone was worthwhile. I think. I’m not that sure. After returning to Zach and Kirsten’s hostel, I tried out this thing called the Amsterdam Maximator, which to this point has to have been the worst thing I have ever tasted. Wow.
Somewhere during this time somebody figured out a club that we could get into for free, but I must have been very tired because everybody told me that I was dancing as if I was in slow motion, completely out of it. Must have been the long bus ride that got me all knackered. But because of that I left a little bit early and it took me way too long to get back and find the night bus (I have no idea how much time passed). I believe I left the club at around 1 and I got back at about 3. There were bags that other people left on my bed but I just decided to spoon them because I had no energy to move them.
On Sunday it was raining and miserable so we went to the Anne Frank house. It’s kind of depressing. There was nothing to do so we went to a coffee house to warm up, because none of us really wanted to spend more money going through the hundreds of museums in Amsterdam. And the Heineken Experience was closed so I didn’t get to take the obligatory picture of me playing the drums. Too bad. That’s it I guess, I spent the last of my euros on a cake and a muffin for the bus ride home. You know, in case I got hungry.
css+justice+metronomy
Originally uploaded by e78
I went to with my flatmate Yassine to see Justice at Brixton Academy. It’s really cool being able to go see a concert on Monday night without any repercussions. Ah, the little things that I’ll miss about studying abroad. If you want to see some pictures of the bands and the venue, check out e78’s photos. I’m not really the take-pictures-at-concerts type. It’s ridiculous how many people try and record the entire show.
Metronomy was the opener, and they were pretty good. It’s interesting to see electronic artists playing with a band behind them. It sounded pretty interesting, kind of what Bloc Party wants to transition into (i think?) with their new song Flux. My favorite part of their set are their awesome t-shirts, which light up whenever you touch them. During one of their songs, four dancers came out with those sweet t-shirts and … well, danced.
Justice was amazing. I like how they tease out their songs by separating out the vocals, which you can find really evident in their Lovestoned remix. It was cute, because everybody got excited when the D.A.N.C.E. vocals came on but they wouldn’t start the song. I loved it when they played “We Are Your Friends” – my favorite Justice song – despite what Kanye West may think. If you remember, this was the video that beat his “Touch the Sky” video that made him so upset that he went out on stage and refused to take part in the award ceremonies again. Though after hijacking Daft Punk, I think he’ll be more than happy to have people get excited about his music in Europe. Hah. Their aggressive/abrasive sound is really perfect for concerts and the lighting effects were incredible too. Hell, they even helped the street vendors sell little tiny glowing crosses.
CSS was okay, I feel like I like half of their songs. But some, like “Alcohol,” are just painful. Too bad Apple’s “Music is My Hot, Hot Sex” turned out to be part of the painful category just because it was performed so poorly live. Oh well. They had a really entertaining show as they came out dressed as presents and Lovefoxxx literally bent over backwards (several times while singing) and manage to go through multiple costume changes, all of the spandex body suit variety, that would make “Oops! I did it Again” seem normal. I thought they had a great stretch with “Off the Hook” and “Alala” though, but it definitely didn’t do as much for me as Justice’s set. If only I had more space to dance.
Filed under: Travel
Before I begin I have to mention that Ray missed his Eurostar train. He forgot his passport and didn’t realize until we arrived at King’s Cross. So there’s a blurry photo of Platform 9 3/4 because I was holding both bags without anything to do for 40 minutes. But he got on the next train. That wasn’t even that bad – on the way back from Paris he left his Eurostar ticket in our hotel room and had to buy another ticket. His parents promptly lectured him to get better at planning ahead. And eat vegetables. He stopped eating with us and just eats a ham sandwich and pasta with sausages every night.
Joining me this trip were Steph, Julie, and Eric from WashU who go to SOAS and King’s College. Can you believe there’s a School of Oriental and Asian Studies? Yeah, me neither. I was recommended to go to Le Refuge des Fondues right on the bottom of Montmartre for dinner the first night. I’ve never had fondue before, and I’m not sure if I was supposed to eat those “appetizers” before the cheese arrived. We should also have asked for a pot of the meaty stuff. Too bad. I liked that they gave us Kir Cassis (although the sugar was the best part) and served us wine in a baby bottle. It was cute.
Ended up rushing to the Eiffel Tower – but ended up being about five minutes late and we weren’t allowed on top. We saw plenty of drunk Americans walking around to compensate. The Metro was on strike that week so it was confusing getting around, but at least the first day we didn’t have to pay for anything.
The next morning we woke up early and went to eat breakfast near the Louvre at a fairly cheap place. Except fairly cheap is very expensive in Paris when you want to sit down. Our French was so poor, despite the fact that Julie took years of it, that they just didn’t serve Eric his omelette. We asked the waitress several times, but she just nodded and said it was coming. Then we asked for our check and it wasn’t on there. How rude. Despite the fact that meals were expensive, I think I ate better in Paris than I had on any vacation (except I also spent a lot more money) – but the pastries are ridiculous there. Every little shop you’re tempted to buy something.
We walked to Ile de la Cite and saw Notre Dame. Ray and Eric decided it was okay to donate about a euro to take a five euro candle that you were supposed to leave in the church and light as a prayer? Or something, I really have no idea how Christianity works. It’s not like they’re stealing from God. It was raining that morning so we rushed to the Musee D’Orsay. It’s a former train station renovated with all the impressionist crap they kicked out of the Louvre. Ray met up with his friend Olivia from high school who was studying in Paris and we walked around. I didn’t know that you could take photos in Museums like that. Really cool place though.
Walked through the Tulleries and after pronouncing it har-DEEN for so long, I completely forgot that the French actually use their “j” properly. Strolled down the Champs Elysees and noticed a sizable group of asian tourists in front of the Arc de Triomphe. There were about eight peace signs in their collective hands. My one regret is not trying to jump into that photo. Afterwards, we strolled into the huge Louis Vuitton store and watched as more asian tourists would sit there and drop down hundrd euro bills like it was some sort of drug deal. Scary sight.
We unfortunately had to pay for the Metro at this point, and rode to the Louvre because it was free for students Friday night. I tried to reenact a photo of me sleeping with my mom carrying me in the Louvre, so I forced Ray to pick me up on one arm. Twice. By the way this really has to be the most ridiculous museum in the world.
Woke up early to climb up Montmartre – not after engaging in a mini black friday with a bunch of poor Parisians in the area, basically because Steph had to buy a new pair of shoes because well, she brings one pair of small slip on flats that really don’t hold up well in the rain.
The girls really wanted Long Champ bags so we went to the store. I was considering getting something, I mean – it’s a Parisian brand, and I was in Paris (meaning an incredible gift) – but honestly, they are notable because they make a bag out of parachute material. I guess they expand, but you can’t put anything in it when it’s small, so what’s the point. I specifically asked this question and the person really did not have a good answer.
Julie left to meet her friend, so we went to meet up with Olivia again and went to the Latin quarter. This was really confusing because I thought this was something like a latin-american/spanish quarter, not just something that had to do with the Sorbonne. wow. So confusing. I guess it has to do with the French Quarter in NOLA? I don’t know. I was so confused. We met up with some of Olivia’s friends in Paris as we rescued Kate from a creepy French guy with black leather serial killer gloves.
We concluded the trip with a trip up to the Eiffel Tower despite the best efforts of the Parisian students to get us to go clubbing some 30 minutes outside of the city. I suppose you don’t really get to go to the Eiffel Tower that much. Unless you’re Julie. It’s her fifth time in Paris.
So the Craven Cottage actually has a cottage. It’s pretty cool. It’s on the bottom right corner of the pitch from this angle, and it has a nice balcony where I assume only the select fans can watch it. It’s also in a really cool area, just off of the Thames. It’s such a small stadium with ~30,000 seats which you can compare to University of Michigan’s “Big House” which had more than 100,000 fans see Appalachian St. kick their asses.
Anyway, headlines everywhere read about how Fulham conceded a late lead yet again to only come out with a draw – however, considering how terrible their defense is and how many blown opportunities they had in the first half. Especially Kamara, holy crap. I know he scored but that was the easiest tap in I’ve ever seen. Basically he would get the ball all alone on one side of the pitch and dribble it out of bounds or take way too long to take a shot or shoot one right over the post or make a horrible cross to no one. And yeah, their defense is terrible. If Blackburn had anywhere near the opportunities that Fulham had – the score would have been like 5-0. Also the foul call for the first Fulham goal was pretty dodgy I thought. Oh yeah, and they play Song 2 after a goal. Obviously.
So tracking American soccer star Clint Dempsey, they really hounded him because I think they knew Kamara was terrible. Numerous times Fulham would still throw it into Dempsey even when he was doubled. The funniest thing I think about soccer is this ridiculous play where Dempsey and a defender were chasing down a long pass in the corner. But the defender goes ahead of him, and you can see Dempsey is slowing down and basically has his arms in front of him when he is. And then the defender just rolls and tumbles forward over the ball as soon as he feels Dempsey’s hands graze him. Ah, the Europeans. They are such pussies. At least on the soccer field. This would never happen in rugby.
The Blackburn fans were definitely intense, dancing and chanting the entire games a la Cameron Crazies. Except I really couldn’t make out what the hell they were saying, whether it’s because their accents were terrible or the fact that I didn’t know any of the Blackburn players. Still, a pretty entertaining game due to the fact that it barely met professional football standards.
- An interesting article about being libertarian and how that affects Ron Paul. I think it’s really cool how he managed to set a one-day GOP record of $4.3 million on the internet alone, just because it was Guy Fawkes Day. And the crazy thing is he didn’t even organize it, some supporter did. More of a comment on how the two party system is completely failing this country in the eyes of every college-aged citizen.
- The thing about Ron Paul is, it’s admirable that he holds onto his strong, non-interventionist-support-the-constitution beliefs, but I’m scared about how someone like him would react when some things could go wrong. For example, I personally don’t think the private market is a solution for social security – nor can the government cease to regulate things related to the environment (Al Gore would freak). Would Paul be flexible and relinquish his small government principles? I don’t think so.
- I cracked a couple of eggs on the way back from ASDA yesterday and decided that I had to make something with them, to go along with the leftover turkey from the Thanksgiving Zach had organized on Thursday. So I made korean pancakes. Actually they turned out to be just fluffy omelets due to so much egg and not enough flour, but still, pretty good. I didn’t think San Diego would be a place that I missed for its Asian cuisine, but Southern California really had some good stuff.
- The thing about two story clubs with multiple dance floors is – it really just gives an excuse to play the same songs in multiple locations over and over again. It’s ridiculous. I mean, I guess you can’t go wrong with playing Beautiful Girls three times in one night, but I’m sure other people tend to get upset.
- Josh McRoberts, I hope you’re happy sitting on the bench for Portland playing behind the likes of Raef Lafrentz. That second round contract feels good doesn’t it? I’m glad the rest of the NBA is smart enough to see what Duke has seen all along: a marginally athletic power forward who wishes he was a point guard. Well, at least you look happy.
