Glasgow is....

Jenimon and Myself at dinner

Yummy Art Gallery man

Don't let this fool you

Glasgow School of Art designed by Mackintosh

Me and Charlatan looking extra, extra pretty

Art!

On the plane toward Scotland with JQ

How can one sum up Glasgow? I do not really know how. All you need to know is that I am never going again. Enjoy the pictures by Charlatan.

Signing Off--

LeahMon

Bootleg Election Post- will be revised

Michelle, Palin, Highly medicate Cindy McCain

The Decor

Yesterday is something we all will remember for the rest of our lives. Not for any one group, not for any one people, but for the way we as a people have learned what inspiration and hope can create. Once again I am proud to be an American.

The day before the election, we went to see SPAMALOT (which is the best thing ever). While there a bunch of people talked to us about how Bush was so horrible and how America was such a joke. 

I must say I am not the biggest nationalist, pretty hard after 8 years of Bush, but I will not allow people to say that I am an unintelligent, redneck just because of one nut. I told that man that we were smart and capable people. Just because we had a bad president does not make us bad people. I think Obama shows that America realizes are mistakes of the past and is ready to create a better world. 

Our election party- Nailin' Party- was a success. I stayed up the latest, 3 a.m., and sent e-mails to Emeri in Japan because she had class. I went as Michelle Obama. When I fell asleep it was pretty obvious Obama had dominated. When I awoke at at 8 a.m., I heard Obama had won and burst into tears of joy. 

I am so proud of the country for making the best choice for the world and for us. 

Once again, I am proud to be an American! 

"America, we are better than these last eight years. We are a better country than this."- President Obama

I am going to be in Scotland the next 4 days so there might not be much. Happy Change!

Signing Off-

Leah Mon

Condi Does London: Halloween Edition

Condoleezza

Mere Bear and JQ: the Ninjas

Happy Belated Halloweeny Beanies!!!!!

I hope everyone had a great night of mayhem and mystery. I know I did, not that that should surprise you. 

The night began on a journey to a few thrift stores. JQ and her friend from high school were looking to finish their costumes. London has the best random thrift stores ever and when you enter one it's always a treat (no pun intended). While there JQ's friend found a great 80's style prom dress and decided to be Sarah Palin after winning the Miss Alaska beauty contest. While there we met the wildest English boys of all time, who decided to put together a random assortment of clothes that turned one of them into a very strange woman. From the moment on I knew it was going to be wild.

We returned home and after making myself a burger, which is officially my favorite dinner to eat in England. I worked really hard to perfect my costume and finally I was ready to show my costume to the world. I exited the room in full on Condoleezza Rice gear. 

The night was really fun other than that. We went to the boys' flat and hung out. Then we went to the Ministry of Sound. This club is supposed to be one of the best in the U.K. and it definitelylived up to this statement. There were 2 huge rooms with easily 1 billion people in each. There were flashing, flashing lights, lights and fog machines. The music was pure wildness, just the basically the same bass over and over and over and over. Honestly I could say I am a party animal, but I would never be able to go to a club like that every night. It was so wild and so intense. At one point, I was trying to call my friends to find out where they were and I walked into a sub woofer. It took me a while to realize why I could not stop vibrating, but once I did I ran out of there like a bat out of hell. It was like being a pin ball. 

No one recognized me and I had to tell people. In retrospect I looked more like a blend of Hillary Clinton and Michelle Obama, which is not a bad thing at all.

The night ended with getting lost, meeting random people in the 24/7 mart down the street, and finally in sweet surrender to my beddy bye. All in all it was a great success. 

Signing off--

Leah Mon

Spain is the Land of Extremes

being academic- proving that to my parents that i am learning something

Moore Foundation and INIVA

  

new dress from spain... i'm so european

on a mountain, overlooking the ocean

docks of Vigo, with giant octopus

portugal!!!

the view from the monastery

the view from the embryo restaurant

Hello! These last few weeks have been extremely busy. JQ and I went to Vigo, Spain, which is in the northwestern part of the country. It is beautiful and awesome. We stayed with JQ's family friend, who was wonderful and provided us with delicious meals 3x a day, which is the most food I have eaten since being abroad. Do not worry, I have enough baby fat to sustain myself. As for Spain/Portugal (where we went for one day) my main observation is that Spain loves hyperbole, almost as much as me. 

A normal for JQ and I:

Wake up between 9 and 10. Cat Watch 2008 (a.k.a. spying on the kittens in the backyard). Breakfast: 2 pieces of toast, Frosted Flakes, and Sunny-D), Beach until JQ's stomach demands we return to the apartment (so about an hour, maybe 2 if JQ had eaten 2 bowls of cereal and 2 pieces of toast), SIESTA complete with a delicious food made by Carmen and my favorite beverage Fanta. Then we would hang around and by 8 or 9 go to the bar downstairs and enjoy a few adult beverages while e-mailing and talking to the bartender. 

My Spanish is still bad, but my charms make up for it. We went to many places thanks to Carmen's friends generosity. We went to the port one day, then Santiago Compestella, where people who backpack usually start their journey. One of the Bush twins went there and Carmen said that she went there to ask forgiveness for her father's sins, which means that like me, the Spanish have good senses of humor. We also went to Portugal where we tasted like Porto wine. Quite possibly the most disgusting thing I have ever had the displeasure of consuming. In the words of my Alien Baby roommate from Colgate, it tastes like "you are suckling sweet baby blood". So very true. 

As to the extremes: I was the highest I have ever been, besides in a plane. We were on this twisty mountain top and got to the top and I could see into infinity. It was great.

Next when were eating paella, the most delicious Spanish dish, with seafood, I noticed the shrimp were not peeled. So I reached for one of them. As I pulled of the head, an extreme amount of red goo flew out and spread across the plate. Needless to say I was shocked. Then Carmen, her friend, and JQ began speaking rapidly in Spanish. I asked what they said but JQ was hesitant to tell me. I demanded to know and in retrospect I wish I hadn't. Turns out the red goo was shrimp embryo. DISGUSTING! Let's not discuss it anymore. Next I went to a monastery, which was something I had always wanted to do. I also had churros and chocolate. Luckily neither of those things can reproduce so I didn't have to worry about awkward explosions. 

But now I am back in LDN and things are just dandy. Work has been getting crazier but the study group is a lot of fun. We went to see Oedipus Rex at the National Theatre and Ralph Fiennes played Oedipus. It was great, it would have been better if he would have taken off his shirt, but when he did he was covered in blood.

I also went to the Jenny Lewis concert. It was awesome and perfect in every way. I went by myself and met really cool people by extending my magnetic friend rays in every direction. I did not take pictures because I'm a fool but just know it was fun. 

I had my first date in England last week. It was an experience. All that matters is that I looked hot and I realized that once and for all about 75% of the English male population are creeps. I should have known judging on the club scene.

Anywho, work calls. I miss everyone so much. I'll try to write more frequently as I am now back at homebase in London.

Signing off--

LeahMon

p.s. I realize the captions are all off. Sorry. I am still not the best at this and I like to assume that my readers have common sense. Love you and thanks for reading!

YUM

Yesterday was possibly one of the most amazing of my life.

For my art studio class we went to the London Zoo to some how relate animals to the city...

I don't really get it either, but then again I'm not an Art Studio major.

It was a lot of fun because I love zoos and animals. We were able to get very close to the animals, which I thought was strange, but I was not complaining because I got some cool pictures. I drew some sketches which are incredibly horrible. Not that I mind because I like drawing even if I am terrifyingly bad. I would show them on this blog, but then no one would ever respect me again.

So here comes the most interesting part of the day. As 5 of my study group mates and myself walked back to the flat for a delicious meal, we came upon a photo shoot on the same street we were strolling down. I looked at the model and I though to myself, "He looks too old to be a famous model maybe he's someone famous." I look closer and realize it's Robert Downey Jr!

And of course being the non-conspicuous person I am, I yelled "O my ****ing God. It's Robert Downey Jr.!" He was about 6 feet away from me and looked over and smiled at me. It was as if the sun had thrown the clouds into the stratosphere over Antarctica and let the world enjoy its warm, comforting rays. I felt all giddy and filled with warmth. He was such a hot biatch. 

We crossed the small street to stare at him so we did not interfere with the photo shoot. I yelled across the street "Hi!" like a total fool. He looked over and winked at me. I felt like floating home and once we looked at him for about 5 more minutes, I did just that with a vapid smile on my face. I realize this blog post is less than satisfactory for those of you who do not "know" Mr. Downey Jr. on the same level I now have the privilege of doing and do not care for insane girls loving celebrities, Sorry. 

I am going to Spain on Thursday which means I will be out of the blogosphere until next Sunday or so. Please do not miss me too much. I will try to the same while I am sunning myself on the nude beaches.

Signing off--

LeahMon

So I finally got hit by a car

It is true, kind of. Here I am walking in my very cute and complicated boots that all sophisticated women in London have, on my way to Tesco (think Lily Allen song "LDN"). I am crossing the street and this car comes and I start walking anticipating that by the time I get to where we would hypothetically intersect the yellow van will have moved. Unfortunately this did not happen. Instead I misread the situation, which is something rather new for me. The car stopped short, I was in a crowd of people, and in short the result was me slamming my leg into the bumper. My strange shriek of surprise and embarrassment only caught more attention, which for once was unwanted as it was my stupidity that caused the car to hit me, or rather me to hit the car. 

But do not worry, there is no evidence of this debacle besides the mortifying memory stamped on my mind. Also it did not effect my ability to dance until my feet went on strike and walked home 15 minutes before I did. 

The following day I went on my first adventure on my own. The destination: Regent's Park, a 20 minute walk from our flat. My fair roommate Nala told me where to go and I started with a backpack full of crappy Ramen Noodles, chocolate, laptop, readings, and a towel. After walking for a bit I called Papa Montre. However crisis soon struck as I realized I was about 3 minutes from the Thames River (Description: exactly like the Mississippi except smaller and minus the truly disgusting water, sad river side casinos and restaurants, and radioactive catfish). This was the exact opposite of where I was supposed to go, so my dad being the librarian he is, got on GoogleEarth. He told me the closest park was Hyde Park, which is like 50 minutes from our flat, which was the park I did not want to go to but when fate gallivants into your life you have no choose but to jump on for the ride. So I made my way to the Mall and after wal

king for 40 minutes with a 10 pound backpack I was quickly losing the capacity to walk in the straight-line. 

My dad kept saying I would see Buckingham Palace and past that would be Hyde Park. I thought aloud, "Isn't a palace supposed to be like ginormous? The size of like 50 giants? Shouldn't I be able to see it by now past all these trees?" My dad insisted because stubborn runs through all sides of the family. When I reached the mid-point of the Mall, I saw the little red men with the funny hats and thought that perhaps Papa Montre had not steered me wrong. As I walked forward a rectangular building arose, I realized this flat thing must be Buckingham Palace. Sure it's impressive with the golden gates and fancy Queen Victoria statue... but seriously I thought it was gonna have like fancy towers and such. It was kinda flat, but whatever. I'll go back again with friends so I can pose with the guards without being a loser because I do it by myself.

Signing off-- LeahMon

Got Sculpture?

We went to the Henry Moore Sculpture Park yesterday. It was about an hour and a half outside of London. Of course the scenery was beautiful. Our first tour guide was obviously in LOVE with this Moore character. He knew everything about him, carried little pictures of him in his pocket, and touched every piece of sculpture we saw with a lover's caress. Kinda weird, but at least he's passionate about something, even if that something is dead. The sculpture was really cool (see pictures). 

I also had my first portion of fish and chips from the pub by the park, delicious. We also went into Moore's home and had to wear very sweet dust booties (not like butts, those thing Marky Mark wears when he kills Matt Damon in The Departed). This dude had like the most fantastic personal art collection; Degas sketches, 3 Courbets, Picasso engravings-- serious stuff, million dollar serious stuff. 

My overall verdict is that Moore was definitely a gifted artist, but he seemed to stagnate. 

I also find it a little obnoxious that he started a foundation for himself of his art only, that also does not encourage or foster new sculptors..... not very philanthropic. However, there is no denying his importance to 20th Century sculpture and his very cool, very popular art.

Note to Papa Montre: Don't read this part if you want to sleep ;)

Later that day, in the night time, when the sun goes down, when the freaks come out, a few of us decided to go out to a really cool club/bar we found last week. 

The lights were out, so we went down the street to another bar. We walked into this strange Spanish theme bar and found the dance floor completely empty. Did that stop us from getting down? Absolutely... NOT. We kicked off the dance party with just the 5 of us. Within a half an hour the floor was completely full with people trying to equal our stunning dance moves.... needless to say that was not happening. 

We met these rando guys and it turns out one of their parents owns a oil well somewhere and he is straight ballin' out of control. He bought a bottle of champagne for all of us. I didn't drink it of course because I'm pure......

It was another great night, this time there was no debauchery til 6 a.m. but it's only Thursday.

Signing off--

LeahMon