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

Out and About

Also pictures of us around London: Colgate Alumni Pub, National Gallery.

Flying Statues

I am currently procrastinating... a bit. We went to Westminister Abbey today. 

I saw the tomb of Queen Elizabeth 1 which is very cool.

I asked one of the guides stationed throughout the Abby where Anne Boleyn was buried. He looked at me like I was a loon and replied that she was where her head had been cut off: The Tower of London. I asked why they hadn't moved her since she had produced the best, kick-ass queen as her off-spring. Instead of muttering "stupid American" under his breath, he giggled. My jokes work around the world! A great triumph.

I took a couple of pictures of me with Big Ben, but they are neither attractive or flattering, so we will save those for another time, say when I want to mortify myself.

But outside of Parliment there were peace protestors.

 See pictures. They avoided us like the plague, but it was nice

 to see some fellow angry liberals, reminds me of my dad. JK-kinda.

I also took a sweet picture of a statue in the square across from the Abbey and Parliment... pretty cool.

The last picture to post is this sweet sculture outside of the National Theatre. We went to see The Waves tonight, which was based off a Virginia Wolff novel.... it was artsy, and if I would have understood more of what the accents were saying and was

n't so distracted by the artsy-ness I would have probably enjoyed it more.

Signing Off--

Leah Mon

Thank You Little Chef

I know the world has been awaiting my triumphant return to the blog-o-sphere.

Things have been absolutely insane across the pond. This past Monday night we saw a play for our theatre class called The Lady in Black. It was easily the most terrifying play I have ever seen (which isn't saying much because I've only seen about 4- all from high school). If you ever happen to come to London, you should def check it out. Around 3:30 that morning a strange man attempted to break into our flat, which was even MORE terrifying then the play. The police, who have very funny hats making it about 3 times harder to respect them, were involved and explained that the man was a security guard who clearly did not understand his job. Our professor MAC came and I didn't sleep until 5 in the morning.

At 8 we met with the people who manage our apartments and switched flats, so we are now on the seconds floor rather than the basement. Our room is smaller, but more cozy.

Tuesday evening about 5 other girls and myself went to see the musical Wicked. Which has been something I have wanted to do since I read the book. It was incredible, the woman who played Elphaba had the most amazing voice of all time, next to mine of course.

The rest of the week was relatively uneventful.

However-- yesterday we went to Salisbury Cathedral (see photo) which was really pretty and we saw the Magna Carta. Cool.

The most interesting thing was to come the following morning. That night we stayed at the classiest hotel in England: Travelodge, and ate such fine cuisine as Little Chef. JQ and I enjoyed 6 Carlsburg Imports between the two of us, but only had to pay for 1 each. Pure Excellence. We awoke at 6:30 and 10 minutes later were beholding the stone beauty known as STONEHENGE. This was an awesomely amazing experience. We were allowed within the fenced off areas and touched those ancient and powerful stones. It was easily one of the most awe-inspiring things I have ever done, besides being born and learning to write. Some may say it is over-rated, but those people are simply fools. 

Next some archaeologist guy took us to all these digs about avenues and whatever.... It seemed like a lot of old ditches and as far as I'm concerned, you see one old ditch, you've seen them all. Aren't we Art History majors and minors? Why would we... But I digress. Stonehenge was awesome and I just couldn't stop taking pictures, for being stone it was quite photogenic.

Signing off--

Leah Mon

 

Group Shot!

This is our lovely group outside the Serpentine Gallery in Hyde Park. 

In case you need to know which one is me, I'm the cutest one.

The two girls on my right in 

the picture are my roommates, JQ and Nandi (not their 100% real names, only 75% real.)

This is a bunch, but not all of the girls in the group. This was the first night I believe. --->

<----This is us last night on the way to a club.

Danced for about 3 hours straight. You should

see my feet, never going to wear heels out again, EVER.

Romanian Invasion

Today was pretty standard, however last night's pub visit yielded great rewards.

On our way back to the flat from The Lamb, which coincidentally has terrific house ale, I saw the word Romania. My dearest roommate from school, Baby Alien (her real name), is a quarter Romanian and she has attempted to teach me Romanian phrases. Unfortunatly the only thing that has caught on is a love of Romanian food, thanks to her grandmother's fantabulous cooking. 

JQ and I noticed that the store was a charity store to benefit Romania. There was also a sign saying they needed volunteers.

So after class this afternoon, we stopped by the store. 

The two ladies who run it were SO excited to see us and hear of our interest in helping them out. 

We have decided to come by once a week after class. We need a letter of recommendation, which we found a bit suprising, but we do look like degenrates so I can't blame them. 

When we had left our contact information and confirmed our first day next week, we looked around the shop. They had a great random selection of fabulous clothes, shoes, and random items.

Pink Suitcases- Never Buy One

Just to clear up a little misunderstanding.... The picture labeled "Rando Apartment" or whatever, that is not where I am staying. That would be insane, not exactly what I call roughing it. For those people out there that are not as in tune with Leah-Lingo (actual term) RANDO=RANDOM. 

ANYWAY- JQ and I went to the Sainbury's yesterday. Sainsbury's is one of the chain grocery stores here in London. It is expensive, not that that should surprise anyone. We decided to stock up to the maximum SOO we bought my HUGE bright pink suitcase.

The history behind this suitcase starts with my dearest Mum (I'm soooooooo English). Once I tell my mom I like a shirt, she assumes this rings true for the next 20 years. Example: I saw a XOXO shirt and said "O, it's XOXO. Cool." Because I was young and thought having an ugly shirt with a somewhat known brand name made it cool. I have since learned the greatness of clearance at high class stores such as Target. ANYWAY- about 4 years later my mom was creating a keychain for me with words, and she told me to get a XOXO charm (as in Hugs and Kisses) because I loved the clothing brand so much... Ummmm, What? Absolutely absurd.

This carries into all aspects of my life: Crushes, Shoes, Candy. But at least she cares to know.

So one day I come home and there is this bright pink suitcase because everyone knows pink is my favorite color/colour. There were three suitcases, all bright pink... Why would anyone want to affirm that they still like Barbies, experimenting with blue eyeshadow, and writing Leah (insert crushes name here)? . That is exactly what a bright pink suitcase says to the wider universe. Of course this MAY be true about me, but I do not want the world to know what I may or may not do with my spare time.

So just imagine two girls walking through central London with a suitcase that maturity wise makes us appear to be about 8.5 years old. We arrive at Sainsbury's with this abomination. We grab two carts, or rather trolleys as we were told by the security guard watching us with an amused expression, and began our shopping adventure. You must realize that these trolleys are about 1/4 of the size of American grocery store carts, so within about 5 minutes we had filled it to the max. Our security walked upon us about 20 minutes, watched for about 10 seconds and asked "Are you guys still here?" We nodded the affirmative, looking around to see if we were being judged. Fortunately the British are grand at hiding their disgust. 

Finally 40 minutes later we go in the line, wait 15 minutes and reach the register. The woman behind the counter looked absolutely horrified to find not one, but two fully loaded trolleys. 

Once we were finished, 10 minutes later, we moved to the side and began the packing of the REALLY COOL pink suitcase. By this time no one could ignore the "fat Americans" giggling with amusement and mortification, and we were being stared at by the entire line/queue. Amusement and borderline disgust was the general emotion that was to be felt. After 5 minutes we were done, the bag weighed easily 80 lbs. 

We had to walk 5, 7, or about 20 blocks back to the apartment. It was very, VERY long but we had a delicious feast of frozen pizza, chocolate bars, and orange Fanta.

Signing off....

Leahmon

Coconut Juice

I went to Carnival in London this fine day.
It was amazing, slightly terrifying. I have never seen so many people in one place, it was like St. Louis' whole population times 20 billion. (You will soon notice that hyperbole is my best friend, if you actually read this- I'm talking to you mom.)
ANYWHO- I was surprised to see so many black people, although they are technically Afro-Caribbean. It was cool and everyone was just so excited to dance without worrying about judgement, which I feel is truly the only way to dance correctly.
I went with my other classmate, JQ, and my professor MAC.
I tasted some goat curry, a bite actually.... it was spicy and tasted like hard cat hair, but yes I would eat again. Never say no to curry --> that's actually in the Bible.
JQ got a coconut. If you didn't know coconuts cure hangovers, have the same amount of something thats good for you as blood, AND make you strong like a lion. (see the pictures)
It tasted like water with chalk dust flavored as non-sweetened coconut, if that makes sense. It doesn't.
We left at 5:30.... and we walked for TWO hours to get back, we thought it was only like an hour. Obviously we were wrong. It wasn't too bad because we walked by Hyde Park, which is insanely unreal, and we saw a lot of cool architecture. (pichas again).
Today, or rather yesterday, was fantastic.... only the 4th or 5th or 3rd day....
Thanks to Rongu.... for being the only person to read this and for encouraging me to share my insanity with the "world".
Signing off..... LeahMon