Day 119

I had an early morning, waking up at 3am and getting out by 4am. I took the taxi to the airport, then had to check my luggage; not only did I have an extra suitcase, but  it was also overweight. Once it all got sorted, I went up to queue for security. I made it through fine, my bag, on the other hand, was searched because of my suspicious amount of electronics. Apparently, 5 charges, 3 adapters, tweezers, and a case of DVDs is reason for concern... and not just a normal person's way of passing time while traveling 20 hours. I sat around the airport for an hour before going to my gate. I boarded with ease and had hoped to fall asleep. Just an hour or so later, I was in Amsterdam, which looked exactly like Newcastle with all the clouds and rain. I had five hours of trying not to pass out in the airport. Going through security, this time the sparklies on my dress meant I needed to be patted down. On my long flight, I talked with the man next to me, who was in Europe on business, and he also gave me his blanket. All bundled up, I wanted to nap, but no luck when food came. I chose the pasta option, shocker, I know. I tried watching the movie Life as We Know It, though my set up was broken, causing the sound to skip out and the screen to blur. Instead, I read my magazine, listened to music and attempted to sleep. Before landing, we were served another meal. In Detroit, I waited in line to go through customs which was quick and easy, then I had to pick up my bags and recheck them. I went to the desk to get my boarding pass printed out, then got in line for security. Once I finally got through, my dress again set it off, requiring a pat down, then I needed a hand swipe because my ring set it off. Everything came out clean and I found my way to my gate. It was so warm I was able to take off my leggings, as I had hoped. It was less than an hour wait before boarding my plane. Sadly, this little girl and her father got split up, so I offered to switch, just moving me across the aisle into the window seat. It was only an hour flight, but it seemed long because I was so close to being home. When I finally got there, I immediately dropped everything and hugged Matt. I gave hugs to everyone and Bob got a high-five. We collected my bags and it was time to part ways. I was sad I had to leave him already, but glad I at least got to see him. I drove home with Mama and we stopped at Allie's to say hi on the way. Once home, we had pickle pizza and I handed out souvenirs and showed them the souvenirs for all of my friends.

Day 118

After my late night saying bye to Jen, I only slept 4 hours until it was time for breakfast. I ate with UVM Jen and some of her friends. I had talked myself out of napping at all today, so I showered and repacked all morning while watching some shows. After the majority of my packing was done, I saw Esther’s door was open so I went in to talk with her for a couple hours. She was leaving later this evening, so her room was all packed up. I left her to go make lunch out of whatever food I had left and was watching White Collar. I started to drift off watching White Collar. When I woke up, I heard Esther’s voice, so I went back to visit her and it turned out her mom was here! They were so cute! And Esther was so excited to go home, it made me a bit jealous. I sat and talked with them; later, we were joined by Kate and Katie, and, eventually, Louise too. We all helped bring a load of stuff to their car. We all hugged Esther and said our goodbyes before going to dinner. Jen and Liz decided to tag along to dinner to socialize. I went back to my room and skyped my lovely boy. When I had finished, I texted Kate asking if I could steal her away; instead, she came in with Jen and Liz. At that moment, I was just thinking, okay, all of you may leave right now. However, once they left I’d have to give them hugs and I really did not want to hug someone I have no respect for. Instead, I stuck it out for over an hour, not talking at all, basically to force the awkwardness. Finally, Liz left to go to the bathroom and I started the goodbyes. Unfortunately, they took longer than it did for Liz to pee, so she came back. She stood awkwardly and approach for a hug, so I made it quick with a “bye” and that was all she got. They left and I was too pissed about it all so I couldn’t fall asleep for a couple of hours, leaving me to only sleep 3 hours after my previous night of only 4 hours.

Day 117

As usual, I went to breakfast with the 2 Jens and Kate. Jen and I showered and got ready for a trip into town. While in my towel and brushing my teeth, I hear a knock on my door. It was Liz, I assured her I wasn't bothered talking while I'm in a towel, but she cowarded out and said she'd come back later. I really couldn't care less. I finished getting ready, then went to Jen's room I helped her pack up her boxes and taped them up. We went into town carrying her three boxes and mailed them out at the post office. After, we made our way to Shake-a-holic for our last shake, and our most delicious shakes yet. I got Toblerone with buttons and Jen got Aero chocolate. We enjoyed these as we journeyed back to our rooms. Jen brought her pillow into my room and I started acquainting her with Psych. We fell asleep in and out of episodes. Eventually, we hit dinner time, so we went knocking on doors. We went to dinner with Kate and Katie. Katie was surprisingly friendly and social today. Dinner itself was disgusting because they have been serving the same thing every day this week. I returned to my room waiting for Matt to skype. He wasn't on, so I asked Tucker if he was sleeping. Tucker ended up reminding Matt to skype me. He was very funny, though I suppose he always is. While skyping, Jen warned me that Liz was here for when I went into her room later. I went in and it was just so awkward. We were talking and laughing and eventually, Jen had us all close our eyes and hold out our hands. She had made bracelets for each of us, though she later told me she really didn't want to give one to Liz. This is when Liz decides to make a public apology for her behaviour, telling us she can't control it... so yeah, she didn't even take responsibility for her actions. Jen and I talked to her about it; Jen told her needed to start acting like an adult, Liz is convinced she does, I rolled my eyes. Then, Liz had the balls to say leaving friends is like a small funeral. I could have punched her; how dare she say that. I would much rather have Super Taylor still alive and living in Iowa than dead, that's not even comparable. Oh, and don't worry, she still couldn't come up with one reason why she doesn't like Obama.. still! I went silent for a bit, just clearing my head. Liz and Jen had left briefly and Jen and I went off; Esther thrived from this bitch session, she is so funny. Lateefah and UVM Jen enjoyed this too. We introduced Lateefah to the best thing she had ever seen, Ms. Swan skits. Jen and Liz came back, Liz mentioning her mom was still on skype so we could skype her whenever to say goodbye. We kind of just shrugged it off; not getting her way, Liz went quiet until she left. We thought people would be staying up to say bye to Jen since she was leaving at 4am, but one by one they left, even Kate. I stuck with Jen, happy to have time for just the two of us; I guess it really just shows who your friends are. We watched Juno and complained more about Liz. We both fell asleep, but woke up when the movie ended. We watched our last Jenna Marbles together, then got her stuff out of her room. She knocked on Kate's door to say a final goodbye, then I walked her down to reception and out to the taxi. She started tearing up as we were hugging, mainly because we were so tired, but we both know we will see a lot more of each other. I waved her off and returned to my bed to sleep for a few hours before breakfast.

Day 116

I had breakfast with Jen, UVM Jen, and Kate. After showering and getting ready, I met up with Jen and Liz to take the tourist sightseeing bus around Newcastle. It was a great thing to get us out of Leazes. For 6 pounds, I saw everything I've already seen, but I also got to actually cross the Tyne Bridge to go to Gateshead. They also had recently put up Olympic rings on the side of the bridge, so it was awesome to get to see that. We got off at the gate to see what movies were playing and the times. I called up Kate and Jen to see if a 4:30 showing of Snow White and the Huntsman would work; Jen was for it, Kate was not, so we bought four tickets. We then went towards the Monument where there was a little market; we stopped at a tent and got crepes and sat down at the Monument to eat them. Then, we headed back to Leazes. I asked Jen to eat peanut butter and watch White Collar with me. We ended up half asleep on my bed for a bit. It got closer to the movie time and Jen H messaged me saying to meet at 4:15 in the lobby. We went to Jen's room to get ready to meet the girls. Liz was convinced we were going to be late (possibly, but only late for 20 minutes of ads). Jen and I still took our sweet time. Our walk to the theatre, Jen and I decided to be obnoxious, walking slow, lunging, crossing far too many crosswalks, taking the elevator, and yet we managed to get to the theatre before them. The movie was alright, it really seemed very long and it probably could have been shortly. After the movie, we went to a bar downstairs because Jen and I had wanted to try a chocolate martini before we left. They didn't quite have it, but they had similar ones, so Jen and I each got a different one an tried each other. The four of us talked about raising babies gender neutral and we somehow got to the topic of Obama. It briefly got a bit heated, but we changed the subject. Liz ended up sitting quiet and upset. When we left, she was charging ahead, refusing to walk a normal pace with us. Annoyed by her behaviour, Jen brought up Obama again. I just asked her for one reason why she didn't like him... just one, how hard can that be? If you have an opinion, you have at least one reason why. Instead of letting me ask my simple question, she made it personal and shoved her hands in my face shushing me, several times. She said "I'm older" so I said "I could beat you up" before I acted, I just walked away to cool down a bit. Seeing this, Jen was pissed and continued the debate; let me remind you, Jen is Canadian and yet she knows more about Obama than Liz or I. Liz's points were all easily refuted. Eventually, she just said "I'm angry." Being my sarcastic, angry self, I not so nicely remarked "So what? Liz announces she's angry so we all stop and baby her?" She said "I don't want to be babied." I replied "I'm angry too! I don't feel the need to announce it.. what does it contribute?" Jen continued with her and eventually she came to tears, claiming she couldn't come up with a reason why she doesn't like Obama because she can't think straight because she's upset about everyone leaving. Jen told her to stop making an excuse and that it doesn't make sense. Eventually, Jen went "okay Liz, it's okay" in a babying tone, which I hope Liz noticed to see that she always gets babied. We finally got back to Leazes, with Liz charged ahead not talking to anyone. Jen and I returned to our kitchen to make dinner and bitch about the argument, updating Kate on what had happened. Jen and I watched White Collar, then I stayed up until 1am to skype Matt since we had made a mess of the timings and schedules. I passed out after that.

Day 115

Happy Monday! We again had 9:30 breakfast, just Jen and I, though it was disappointing when there was only apricot jam. We returned to our rooms and showered. I went into Jen's room fresh out of the shower. Kate asked us if we wanted to go to Costa Coffee for a drink to get us out of Leazes. We met up with Liz in the lobby after getting dressed and headed into town. I got a hot chocolate and a muffin while we sat and talked. Eventually, Liz pulled out a deck of cards so we started a game of Liverpool Rummy. As the first round ended, the other Jen arrived and we dealt her in. Jen and I had not really wanted to play cards to begin with, but were wanting to less and less as the game continued and it felt like rules had changed. The game finally ended without anyone biting anyone's head off. We headed back to Leazes where the Jens and I sat in my room watching White Collar until it came close to dinner time. I helped a friend with a math problem she messaged me, then I went to dinner with Kate and Jen. While at dinner we realised we had forgotten about the others and Kate gave them a ring to let them know we were there. Dinner was gross, all I ended up eating was cucumbers, chips, and chocolate cake, none of it good though. I came back to my room for an earlyish skype date. After skyping Jen came in my room and we watched more White Collar, finishing the season before we went to bed.

Day 114

After sleeping in until 9:30ish, I opened the shades to uncover the dreary, rainy, cloudy, depressing day Newcastle had to offer. I watched an episode of White Collar, then went knocking on Jen's door. She joined me watching another episode, before we went to the kitchen to make our breakfast. I wasn't feeling well, so we spent our afternoon watching White Collar, I was laying down while she was making a bracelet. Eventually, I went to take a shower and set her up to watch something in my room while I was gone. Around 5:30, we made ourselves dinner; I ate whatever can on soup I had left. I kicked her out when it came time to skype Matt. After skype, I ran down to the vending machine for Jen and myself because I wanted gingerale since I wasn't feeling well. They didn't have any, so sprite would have to do. We were chilling in my room when we found out that Louise, Kate, Lateefah, and Esther were watching Lilo & Stitch, naturally, we excited ran to find a seat with them. After the movie, I had fun educating Esther on the world of quidditch and the IQA since she will be starting a team next year. We all went to our rooms around 10:30ish, where I continued to watch White Collar before going to bed.

Day 113

I got to sleep, so I woke up around 10am. I made my way to the kitchen to make toast and hot cocoa for breakfast. I ate my breakfast while watching some White Collar. I got a facebook message from Jen "Forks" asking about watching 27 Dresses. I went to my Jen's room and knocked on her door to see if she was up for it/ready. Turned out, she had still been asleep and I had woken her. Because of the time, she didn't mind at all. She came to my room with her breakfast and we watched White Collar until Jen and Kate came in. We all tried to contact Liz, but just started the movie without her. She came not too far into it. I just laid on the floor this whole time. Once it was over, Kate left for the gym and Jen and Liz left while my Jen and I made lunch, yummm pasta, as usual. We watched White Collar until it was time to skype Matt. Shortly after, our pre-ordered pizzas arrived. Jen and I split a pepperoni feast pizza. Jen and Liz enjoyed their veggie supreme. Kate came back in with us and texted Jen from UVM to join us. We all ate a chocolate cake in just minutes. We started the next movie of choice, How to Lose a Guy in Ten Days. We all got comfortable, laughed, and talked; it was a great evening. After the movie, everyone left but Jen and I, so we watched another episode of White Collar before parting ways out of exhaustion.