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.

Day 112

Now that I am finally done with classes and stress free, I had hoped I'd sleep like a baby and catch up on that I had missed. That was not the case; I had the usual 8:30 wake up. I went to a cheery breakfast with the girls. We came back to our rooms and showered, preparing ourselves for a day of errands. Kate and I ended up in Jen's room while we waited for the other Jen to come. She turned up, then we had to wait for 12:30 since that is when she had said she would meet up with Anna. Since it was Antoine's last day, he showed up too, though I think he had hoped for more of a goodbye celebration than just running errands. First stop, Jen and I needed to go to King's Gate and figure out requesting our transcripts. They told us we would have to request over email since our results were not in. Next, we headed to Primark so Jen could get some cute colouring kit for her nieces. Just a sidenote, this day was miserable and raining the whole time. Our next stop was the Newcastle United store, where I wanted to buy a jersey for myself; I got the bright orange away jersey... matches my trainers quite nicely! After this, Antoine decided he needed to go, probably because this wasn't the exciting goodbye he had hoped for, oh well. Our journey neared its end with a trip to Tesco Express. Jen and I decided to get a Koppaberg cider and kinder egg for our ideal Friday night. We all trekked back to Leazes. In Jen's room, Jen, Jen, Anna, and I socialised, napped, and watched White Collar. It neared dinner time and Kate came for us. We all went to dinner, even Anna tagged along to talk. It was a disgusting meal though, I can't wait for my home food. After dinner, I went to my room to skype Matt. Jen came in as soon as I was done. Then, Jen and Liz, back from her daytrip somewhere, joined us. Liz had brought us all back something; she gave me a bracelet with little dangly mushrooms, it was very sweet of her. They left to get ready with Kate, and it was just Jen and I left. Neither of us wanted to go out, so we ate our kinder eggs and ciders. We heard Kate holler for us to come, so we did. We socialised and danced while they pre-drank, then we slipped away with Esther, where she cracked us up with her story-telling skillz and impressions. We asked her to join us in my room where we watched Bridesmaids, laughing hysterically. After the movie ended, Esther left and Jen and I remained watching White Collar. Jen was telling me some stories while playing with my hair, so I started to fall alseep. Once she noticed this, she decided it was time to leave so we could both sleep.

Day 111

Well, it's here, exam day! I went to my usual breakfast with Jen and Kate. I came back to my room and showered. I got dressed and sat down to study. I finished going through all of my cryptography notes, then re-examined my number theory notes. I made myself some lunch and saw Louise in the kitchen, who also had a 2pm exam. I ate, then studied until my alarm went off at 1:30. I got everything together and headed over to the Sports Centre for my exam. I went in and sat at my assigned seat, 147. The test was 2 hours and 15 minutes. It was really quite hard and I had to leave some questions unanswered. When the clock hit 4:15pm, I could not be more relieved. I was finally done with my semester at Newcastle and my sophomore year. I headed towards campus and dropped by to pick up my final essay for Environment and Sustainability. Without knowing what the hell Town Planning is, I managed to pull off a 56 on my essay!!! (the way they grade, passing is above a 40) Then, I stood outside the Student Union building waiting for my friends. I finally text them and then Kate starts calling me. They all decided to meet at Costa Coffee instead, where am I? I'm right where we said we'd meet; you guys could have effing texted me instead of letting me wait here for 10 minutes while you guys were waiting for me to show up at a different place than what we'd agreed on. Anyway, I went over there and we (Jen, Jen, Kate, Liz, Antoine, and Kori) walked towards the Monument to get our "hooray we're done with Uni" shakes. I was going to get cookie dough and maple syrup, but they didn't have with of those flavours; in a quick decision I decided to have twix. It was delicious, probably the best one I've had yet. We all went over to a bit of a park area by the mall. Some kids were playing soccer and the ball was bouncing towards an oldman in a wheelchair, so I ran to intercept it and kicked it back. We sat down on some benches and enjoyed our shakes. Antoine started smoking, which pissed me off, so I moved. Eventually, we all headed back to the dorm. I hung out with Kori, Antoine, and Jen in her room. 6:30 came and neither of us were hungry, but we went to dinner before it closed. After dinner, I skyped my lovely boy and got to hear him sing again. I went to Jen's room and hung out with her, Jen, Liz, and Antoine for a couple hours. Antoine, with his jerkish, know-it-all, woe-is-me, negative Nelly attitude pissed me off with inconsiderate things he said and the way he said them, so I was happy to leave and go to bed. I was so pissed I couldn't fall asleep very easily, but I managed to eventually.

Day 110

I'm a bit behind on my blog, so today I'm writing about Wednesday I believe. I had 9:30 breakfast with the girls, then I returned to my room to shower and begin studying. My studying turned into a bit more packing and I ended up in Jen's room after 30 minutes of studying. Eventually, Jen showed up too, the other Jen. We decided to move to my room and watch White Collar. We did this all afternoon. Kate came in during an episode, then, at the end of it, we left for dinner. Dinner was as always disappointing. After dinner, I returned to my room to skype Matt. I was a bit late, but it was all okay. Since Wednesday was his long chemo day, he skyped me from his phone while receiving chemo. This meant it was only a phone call, so I couldn't see his face. It was still amazing to hear from my strong boy. I didn't get to hear him sing to me, but I, of course, still sang to him. After our call, I went through another week of notes. Then, the Jen's and I hung out watching Say Yes to the Dress Bridesmaids. I was crazy hyper when Jen tried to leave and tackled her a bit, for like 10 minutes. Eventually, I let her go. Jen and I watched another episode, then I kicked her out since my exam was the next day. Off to bed early!

Day 109

I again had 9:30 breakfast, just with Jen, Kate, and Katie this morning. I returned to my room to shower and study. Shortly into my studying, I began to pack a suitcase instead and go through some things. I got back to studying, but just felt really unhappy, not stressed, just unhappy. So, I decided to join Jen and Jen to their movie later, regardless of my upcoming test. After more studying I made lunch and ate with Jen and Jen. We headed into town and bought our tickets for the next showing. Since we had an hour to kill, we walked over to the Monument and got shakes at Shake-a-holic; this time I tried Kit Kat Crunchy Caramel. It was very good. While enjoying our shakes, we sat in the chairs on the Monument and watched the Jubilee on the big flatscreen on the street. We got really cold and went into the mall to warm up. We went from window to window playing the "which one?" game. Eventually, it was time to go to the movie. Our assigned seats were in the very first row, which didn't end up being too much of a neck strain. There were 23 minutes of ads before our showing of "What to Expect When You are Expecting" finally came on. The movie itself was good, very funny with many well-known people in it. We came back to Leazes and met up with Kate to grab dinner. Our usual dining hall was closed down due to the number of students who have gone home for the summer. Dinner was disappointing, but I got to come back to my room and skype my lovely Matthew. After skype, Jen, Liz, Kate and I ended up in Jen's room watching some Say Yes to the Dress Bridesmaids. We parted ways around 10 and went to bed.

Day 108

My plan was to sleep in after staying up until 2am, however, my body had a different plan. I was up around 8 and laid in bed, attempting to sleep, until 9:15ish. I went to breakfast with Jen, Jen, and Liz at 9:30. After breakfast, I took a nice long shower, got dressed, and started my revision for my exam on Thursday. I decided that I was going to do Number Theory on Monday, Cryptography on Tuesday, and old exams on Wednesday. I read through all of my Number Theory notes and wrote down important things and formulas I need to remember. I kept getting myself distracted with thoughts of cleaning my room and starting to pack, I even looked up how much it would cost to move my flight and come home early. I am just so over this exam and would like Thursday to come and go asap. I heard a knock on my door and it was Jen with the loaf of bread I requested from her trip into town with the girls. We met up in the kitchen to make and eat lunch. Kate also came in and we found Esther in there on a cleaning rampage. We hung out in there for about an hour. Eventually, I went back to my room and Jen joined me shortly after. We decided to watch Say Yes to the Dress Bridesmaids until dinner. We went to dinner around 6, Kate, Katie, Jen, and I; of course, Mark found us too. After dinner, I returned to my room and skyped my lovely boy. I had fun helping him look for a job this summer. After skyping, Jen and Liz came to my door and asked if I knew where Jen was. The three of us and Kate began texting, facebooking, and skype messaging her obsessively. We had no idea of where she could be, so we started looking everywhere. We went to laundry, the computer cluster, Antoine's room.. by chance we walked past this lounge we didn't even know existed and we spotted her in there with Mark and Antoine. We played fake angry for scaring us so bad. Eventually, we decided to play some pool... except when we got the equipment we didn't know what to do with it. I didn't even know what English billiards or snooker or whatever was, let alone how to play. Instead, we just tossed the balls towards pockets, climbed on the table, and poked each other with the abnormally large pool sticks. It was time to part and, being his last day, Mark tried to give people hugs. I managed to get out of it and happily went back to my room. Jen, Liz, Kate and I ended up in Jen's room for a short bit before parting again to go to sleep.

Day 107

I woke up around 8am ish, but laid in bed for another hour before my alarm went off. When it did, Jen and I took turns  taking showers, getting dressed and packing up. We were out of our room at 10:26 for our 10:30 check out. The hotel was nice enough to let us leave our big bags and we rode the bus into Venice. We wandered back towards the market on the bridge. On our way, we stopped for gelato for our breakfast; this time I tried caramel cream and cookies, but yesterday's cream is still my favourite flavour so far. We finally got to the market of souvenir stores and finished our souvenir shopping. After shopping we walked around a part of Venice we had yet to see, stopping at all the stores along the way, just looking since we had so much time to kill. Eventually, we sat down for lunch at a cute little Italian place. I had traditional spaghetti al pomodoro. It was delicious. After eating, we continued wandering around window shopping. It started to get really hot, so eventually we stopped to get slushies. Eventually, we sat in the park for 20 minutes or so before deciding to catch the bus back to the hotel. We grabbed our stuff and waited for the bus to the airport. The busride was about 40 minutes and we were still at the airport early, around 5pm. Since we had checked in online, we headed straight for security and made it through easily. We had 3 hours to kill, so we played some "name that song" games then bought some dinner. I had a ham and cheese sandwich and the most delicious cookie type thing filled with nutella. After eating, we went to are gait. On our way we finally got our Italy stamps in our passport. We hung out by our gate for close to an hour before getting on a bus and heading to the plane. I ended up being the first person to get on the plane, and the song Call Me Maybe was playing, so I danced down the aisle to our seats in the back. We were next to each other for this 3 hour flight. The woman on the other side of me had moved to a different seat so she could sit next to her husband, so I laid down across all three seats, including Jen's lap. For a bit, we hit turbulence and I had to sit up and tighten my seat belt. Our plane landed early in Newcastle, then it was time to go through customs. We got to the desk and they told us we needed to fill out landing cards, so we had to go back towards a Jet2 guy to ask for it. After filling it out and being the last people in line, it was our turn. Jen got through easily. I showed the guy my landing card, passport, and student ID. He asked me a million questions and wanted proof of my studying there. So I pulled out the paperwork that got me through the first time. He kept asking me when I got here, when I was leaving, how long I was here for, finally I asked him if he'd like to see my flight information for when I leave in 12 days. He looked it over forever... He was looking for the date, because my word wasn't good enough. The idiot couldn't find it at the top of the information, so I pointed it out. I finally made it through and met up with Jen. We caught a taxi back to Castle Leazes and got our room keys. First thing, we knocked on Kate's door where she was with Jen and Liz. We gave them their presents, which they loved. Jen and I set our stuff in our rooms and we all met back up in Jen's room. We heard some stories, then it hit 11pm, time to skype my boy. He was adorable, as always, and he approved of all my gifts for everyone. I then started taking care of my stuff from emptying my bag. I watched an episode of Say Yes to the Dress, then fell asleep.

Day 106

I woke up at 8am to Jen talking in her sleep. I had thought she was talking to me, so I rolled over to listen to her, but she wasn't even awake. Now awake, I decided to check all my emails and facebook. Jen woke up, then I went to take a shower. I got dressed while Jen was in the shower, but when she came back and put her Greek dress on, she convinced me to wear mine as well. We were out of our room by 9:30 and went to the train station to buy our tickets. We went to the self-service machines and found it would cost 70 Euros for our roundtrip to Milan. We debated shortly, and just decided to go. Jen got her tickets, then we tried to get mine seated next to her. The machine wouldn't take my card, so Jen paid for them, putting me in her debt and her no longer owing me anything from paying for the room. We hurried to the platform and got on our train. We found that our seats were not near each other, but at least we were in the same coach. I sat in the empty seat next to Jen until a man came on and claimed his seat, so I returned to mine down the coach just a bit. The train was about 2-2.5 hours long. When we got to Milan, we reunited and went to Information first for a map. They told us to take the metro yellow line to the fourth stop, Duomo, because that is essentially the center of the city. Coming out of the metro, the vender men came over to us and tied bracelets around our wrists; Jen asked them if they cost anything because we didn't want them. The guy who was tying mine asked me if I was from New York, but I just didn't talk at all, I enjoy pretending to be mute at the moments. With no answer, he asked if I was from Africa. Then, he gave me an extra bracelet for the boyfriend he assumed I had and asked for a small donation. Jen and I just walked away with our free bracelets. We saw some beautiful buildings and walked through an area filled with designer stores. We decided to just wander around aimlessly and eventually found a cute little place to eat. We had pizza for breakfast again! We continued walking and found a strip of stores, still pretty expensive ones, but we also found a gelato vender, naturally, we stopped for some. Since I had tried chocolate in Venice, I decided to try a chocolate chip and cream two scoop. Cream, or Crema, was the most amazing thing to have ever touched my tongue! We walked across the street and ate our gelato sitting on the edge of the fountain in front of the palace. After eating, and being bugged by more venders, we went through the gate of the palace to take a look. Based on the time, we decided to walk over towards the park, and eventually made our way back to the train station. On the way, we stopped at this restaurant and asked if we could take away some pasta. Lucky for us, we could, so we did, and that was the end of what I owed Jen; I had paid it all off! We continued to the train station; inside, our first stop was the bathroom. Unfortunately, they make you pay to get into the bathroom, so we waited for the bathroom on the train. We boarded our train just a few minutes later. On our train, again, we were not seated next to each other, but on either side of the aisle. A happy coincidence, a couple was divided the same as us in the seats next to us, so we just switched with them. Another 2 hour train ride back to Mestre, our train station and we made the walk back to our hotel. As usual, we uploaded our pictures first thing. Hungry, we ate our take away, cold pasta, which we didn't even know what kind it was. It turned out to be eggplant parmesan we believe, and it was delicious, even cold. We watched some Say Yes to the Dress and wrote our blogs, all while I was waiting to skype my lovely boy. I even began to pack my bag. Finally, I got a call from Matt after he had returned from a hike with his mama. The sweetest boy in the world made me continuously smile. Then, Jen and I chilled before falling asleep.

Day 105

Jen and I set an alarm for 9am this morning. The first thing we both said was "Bunny Bunny Rabbit Rabbit," so we are supposed to be lucky this month. I headed to shower first thing, then chose to wear a cute dress for our day trip to Verona. We left the room by 9:45 and headed to the train station, all the way to the other side to get breakfast. The cashiers were very rude to us, but seeing as we were running late and had nowhere else to find food, we bought pastries and hot drinks from there. Then, we ran to our platform. Luckily, our train was still sitting there and we hurried on board. The train ride was about 2 hours long and the ticket master came to see our tickets. Apparently, we were supposed to get our tickets stamped at some machine to validate them, but we did not see any machine nor did the lady who sold us the tickets tell us such a thing. The back of the ticket mentioned it, but it also said he could do it. He was upset with us, a jerk, sarcastic; he even tried to tell us we'd have to buy new tickets. Eventually, he wrote on it to validate it, very annoyed though. Also on the train were more beggers, placing little notes on empty seats asking for money, looking for a handout; you can bet we continued to ignore these. Once we finally got to Verona, we found a map and started walking in what we thought was the right direction. We ran into some woman who told us it'd be too far to walk into the middle of Verona and suggested we buy tickets and take a bus, so we did. We were at Piazza Bra in no time, right in the centre of town. Nearby, we found Information and grabbed a couple of maps. On our way, we passed the Roman Ampitheatre, it was beautiful. We continued to follow the map to lead us right to Casa di Giulietta (Juliet's house, from Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet). We found her house easily, as it is a main attraction. The walls were completely grafittied with writing, gum, and bandaids all marked with couples initials. It was not at all as it appeared in my favourite movie, Letters to Juliet. On a gate, many had attached locks with initials, which would be cuter if the store in Juliet's house didn't sell all of those locks for 5Euros. I had decided to tie the first hemp bracelet Matt had made for me on the tree on Juliet's wall. After Juliet's house, we headed towards another city centre area, full of souvenir venders and restaurants. I bought a Verona magnet, we bought sandwiches to bring back for dinner, then we sat down for lunch. We finally got to have pasta!!! I had macaroni with white sauce with meat, then we had dessert. Mine was like a cream inside a bit of cake covered with a chocolate sauce accented with whipped cream. After lunch, we continued our search for Romeo's house. We circled blocks and even found Lamberti Tower and Scaligeri Graves while looking for his house. Finally, we stumbled upon it, only to be disappointed that it was just a sign claiming to be his house and others lived there. We looked at the time and we had less than an hour before our train. Instead of heading to another site, we started walking back to the Piazza Bra. We found a store to buy bus tickets and hopped on the first bus that stopped. We got back to the station, validated our tickets, and went to platform 4 for our train. It was 15 minutes late, which was annoying. On the train, it looked a lot newer and nicer than the other one, so we were wondering if we weren't supposed to be on it. Luckily, no ticket master came through and we made it back to Venice in no time. We headed straight back to our hotel. I took out my computer to put my pictures on iphoto and it magically connected to the internet again! I added the photos to facebook and edited my album that was half on facebook when I lost my internet connection. I ate my Salami and Cheese sandwich while Jen and I watched the season finale of ANTM. We didn't get to the end before Matt skyped me. I'm glad he approved of my tying the bracelet at Juliet's House. I get to see him again in two weeks! After skyping Matt, Jen and I finished ANTM and watched some Doctor Who. I think we are going to Milan tomorrow! so we better get to sleep soon, 8:30 wakeup.

Day 104

I woke up this morning around 9, fooled around on the internet, then showered. Jen and I were out of here by 11am. We asked the woman at the front desk how to get into Venice (since we are on the mainland). We go to the tobacco shop to buy our bus tickets and hop on bus 6/. We made it to Venice very easily. First stop, food. We had pizza for breakfast! And we each got a drink so we would have a waterbottle for the duration of our stay in Italy. Then, we decided to wonder aimlessly through the streets of Venice and not have our noses in maps. On our way, we stop for gelato. Eventually, we had gotten to this huge waterway and a few beautiful buildings across from it, so we decided to try and find where we were. A bit confused by the map, we turned to a woman and asked her to point out our location. It turned out, we were on the other side of Venice and very close to one of the main sightseeing attractions. We went to the first attraction, a huge, beautiful church, St. Maria Salute. Jen sat on the steps, while I went in and took pictures. We sat there for a bit, putting on sunscreen because the weather had lied to us and it was a beautiful day. After relaxing a bit, we aimed for the next attraction, the most gorgeous one at that. We get slushies along the way. We arrived at the Piazza Marco, an amazing architectured church building. We go all the way around to take lots of pictures, then sit on stairs off a canal, near a bunch of parked gondolas. We decide to head back towards the third and final attraction, the P. de Rialto. On the way, we stop at a shop and buy some beautiful things, I got a necklace and magnet and Jen got earrings. We continue on and get to it, a giant bridge with lots of shops on it. We take a few pictures, then continue on. Later on, we find a souvenir for Jen’s dad. Through a very long and confusing winding of pathways, we finally make it back to the busstop and get on our bus. Back near our hotel, we first go to the train station to buy tickets to Verona tomorrow. We get back to the hotel and drink lots of water while uploading our pictures. We lose internet a few times, but one time when we lose it, something messes up on my computer and it refuses to reconnect, with only half of my pictures uploading… I spend a good hour trying to fix it and Jen searches ways on her ipad to help me out, but nothing worked. I am so so pissed and frustrated and upset. We give up to get dinner before dark. We start walking towards where a map says there are restaurants, but all we find are bars and, at the end, a pub that serves sandwiches. We settle for here, so no, I didn’t get my pasta. We order from the menu, unable to read anything, chancing our meals. We each get a hot chocolate and a Panini. Mine turned out to be cheese, lettuce, and tomato (I even ate it with the tomato on it). Jen’s had chicken, cheese, lettuce, and mushrooms. After eating and paying, we try to go another direction, looking for any store with a bit of food and a cashpoint; no luck, anywhere. We are in the middle of gas stations, hotels, and highways. Dissapointed, we head back to the hotel. I fool around on my computer some more, trying to connect, but no luck, so Jen let’s me use her iPad to skype Matt while she takes a shower. Seeing my boy made my day a bit better. After skype, Jen and I struggle trying to shut an electronic shade the maid opened, but it’s stuck. After 10 minutes we give up and I just get pissed again because it’s going to be so hard to sleep; I need pitchblack. I use my ipod to get on facebook and message my Mama and Jen starts playing Sleeping Beauty on Youtube. We got distracted looking for ANTM and end up listening to music and reading tumblrs. I am still not a happy camper.

Day 103

Today started out splendid! We slept in for a bit, showered, then got breakfast at our favourite bakery. They also gave us free little croissants with a delicious cream in the middle. We return to our room to eat and finish packing. Around 12:30 we checked out. The woman at reception who loves us and is so sweet gave us each a little bottle of Ouzo and said she hoped to see us again! Then, we made our way to the metro. We asked for tickets to the airport and hopped on the blueline. Eventually, we came to a stop, everyone got off, and the lights went off, so we got off too, not yet at the airport. We saw that there was a sign saying there would be a metro to the airport in 18 minutes, so we waited. When it finally came by, we got on; minutes later, I found there was a sign that said you needed a special 8Euro ticket to go to the airport, and if you were caught with out it, it'd be a 120Euro fine. As a result, we get off at the stop right before the airport to buy said special ticket. Then, we sat at the end of the platform where we were dropped off, waiting for the next metro, only to find it only stopped at the other end of the metro and drove right passed us. To avoid this, we stood between the two platforms for the next one, and then it picked us up at the platform we had been waiting at the first time. We finally get back on and to the airport, only to find there was no one checking tickets or anything, so we didn't even have to get off! We found our way to EasyJet, checked in, and got our boarding passes. Going through security, they took my computer out of it's case and made me open it... they must think I'm more tech savvy than I truly am. We waited for our boarding time. We snuck in the speedy boarding lane and found seats together and overhead space. I slept a bit on our 2 hour flight to Rome. Once we got to Rome, we had to leave and go back in to get our boarding passes. We got so lost, but we finally found the right terminal and got sandwiches for dinner. We got our boarding passes and went through security. First stop, find a bathroom, the dirtiest airport bathroom I've ever seen, then we sat by our gate. When they called us for boarding, we were in the front of the line. Then, we had to get on a bus to bring us to the plane, meaning we would be the last to get off. When we got out of the bus, I quickly headed up the stairs at the back of the plane and grabbed seats and overhead space for us. This flight was only 45 minutes. After getting off, we found the place to get bus tickets and asked for bus 15, but it had stopped running. Instead of chancing it, we just took a taxi. At the hotel, the man refused to split up the payment in two, so Jen is in my debt. Also, the city of Venice has a stupid tourist tax we are required to pay for each night we are here. Finally, we got to our room, which is really nice, and we share a bathroom with our floor. We were so relieved to have free wifi in our room and I got to skype my boy shortly after our arrival. We ended our night with an episode of Doctor Who and passed out.

Day 102

This morning, I woke up around 10. Since Jen was still asleep, I watched Doctor Who and went on facebook. At 11, I couldn't take it anymore, so I just took a shower. When I came out, she was finally up! We put our swim suits and sunscreen on, then clothing over it. Today was supposed to be a beach day. When we finally got out of the room, we started walking into town and stopped at our favourite bakery for delicious doughnuts filled with apricot jam to our surprise. The filled us up and left powdered sugar all over our faces. While sitting and eating our doughnuts, we came to the decision that it was too cold for the beach. Though it was supposed to be 80, it was super cloudy, windy, and looked like it was going to rain. Instead, we talked about shopping then going to a museum. We went shopping for Jen's Greek dress and found one at the first store, the first dress she even picked up, like I did with mine. Then, we went searching for her souvenir for her mom in several different stores before finally finding it. Then, we headed to a bakery we had found online since we had been wanting cupcakes every night and we bought our cupcakes, mine is pinks, Jen's is blue. We walked down the shopping strip and picked out bracelets for Jen, Liz, and Kate. I also finally found what I wanted to get Matt from Greece. We walked back to our hotel to drop off our cupcakes, change out of our swimsuits, and leave our towels. When we arrived, the hotel owners were eating and just told us to grab our key from behind the desk; they are so sweet and they love us! After doing all we needed too, we ventured into town and got frozen yogurt; I put strawberries, chocolate chips, and dark chocolate sauce on mine. While eating, we concluded that we didn't want to walk all the way to the museum, so instead we walked towards Parliament and got on the Happy Train. This train shaped tram brought us around Athens sightseeing for an hour or so; some of the sights we had already seen, some we had missed. It was quite pleasant. At a cashpoint, I took out some more Euros. around 4:45ish it began to rain and was windy, so we went to our favourite restaurant even though we weren't hungry yet. We got Lattes to warm us up, then had pastitsio for dinner. We sat and talked for a couple hours there. When we decided to leave, the waiter talked to us and we told him we were leaving tomorrow, so we wouldn't be able to come back anymore. We hurried back to the hotel since we were cold. We began uploading pictures, then decided to start packing. Eventually, we packed up everything to make sure we had room for everything, especially all that we bought. We both passed.. barely, but we passed. If necessary, I will just wear as many items of clothing as needed. Then, we continued facebooking and such until I got to skype my boy! Unfortunately, he got kicked offline with the storms so we had to wait a bit. We got back on later to finish skyping. Then, Jen and I watched Say Yes to the Dress and made a video to a Backstreet Boys  song before going to bed.

Day 101

Our alarms went off at 6am and since we both had a hard time falling asleep, we were exhausted. I manned up and turned the light on, against Jen's wishes. Then, I jumped in the shower, put on my swimsuit and a dress, and ate my breakfast. We headed over to the hotel we had to meet the bus at, but the tourguide rerouted us to another hotel due to bus complications. When the big purple bus finally came, we got a ride to the other side of Athens to the dock and boarded the cruiseship. I made us sit at the top level, but we were freezing because of the wind and the sun had barely came up. Both Jen and I ended up falling asleep at different times on the trip to our first island. It was 3ish hours before we got to our first island, Hydra, my favourite. Hydra is known for its white buildings and donkey rides, Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants style, the whole reason I fell in love with Greece. We wandered down a street and decided to get an ice cream cone, then we headed in another direction where I found a ladder to the water, so I needed to stick my feet in, regardless of Jen's fear. The water was unbelievably clear and blue! We continued wandering to find a little rocky beach, so we followed the path and stood in the water. It was so beautiful; I could see my feet in thigh-high water. We had an hour and a half on Hydra before going back to the ship for our Greek, 3-course lunch. For 90 euros you'd expect better food, but we took what we got... oh yeah, and they made us by drinks, none provided. We returned to our spot at the top of the ship for an hour before reaching Poros, our next island. There really wasn't much to do other than shopping, so Jen and I sat on a dock, then found a playground to play on for our 45 minutes. Back on the ship for another hour before stopping at our last island, Aigina, more specifically St. Marina, supposedly known for its golden beachs. We went looking for said beaches, but only found one where you have to pay 5 euros for a chair, so we set our stuff against a fence with others from the cruise. Jen and I enjoyed this sandy beach. It was quite shallow pretty far out, but it was enough to go under and swim around. We dried off in the sun and returned to the ship when our hour and 45 minutes was up. The return ride was a very loooong hour and a half, and cold. We got lounge chairs at the front of the boat and eventually went inside on the second layer because of how cold we were. Back at the dock, we got on our bus and rode around town for quite a while; wouldn't you know our stop was one of the last? With food on the mind, we immediately walked to our favourite bakery to buy dinner and ice cream to eat in our room. The servers gave us a special treat, some sweet doughy thing for free. Back in the room, I called dibs on the shower, so I ate my ice cream before it melted and washed the salt and sand off of me and out of my hair. Then, we ate our dinner and  uploaded pictures while listening to music. I skyped Matt after our families barbequed at my house for the holiday, then Jen and I watched Doctor Who before passing out from exhaustion.

Day 100

This morning we slept in. I slept until 11 and Jen until 12ish. When we finally got going, we stopped on the corner for croissants and Frozito Chocos.. yummm. While eating we got bothered by kids trying to sell junk; It's so annoying. We wandered down the shopping street since today was going to be our shopping day, but realised all the stores were closed.. so don't try to shop on Sundays. Then, we were like "what to do?" Well, we saw we weren't too far from the National Gardens, so I have a lot of pictures from exploring in there. We came out the other side and saw the Royal Palace and the Presidential Residence. We went back into the Gardens in another entrance and exited near the bottom. We first went to Hadrian's Arch and took pictures, then looked for the entrance to the rest of the ruins. It turns out, our Acropolis ticket covered it as well, so that was all we needed. We went in and took pictures of the Temple of Zeus and all the ruins surrounding it. There was also another Temple, possibly of Saturn and Rae or something. We were so hot and tired and sweating, so we started walking back towards the restaurant we ate at yesterday. On the way back, we found more ruins, I think of Roman baths. We continued back to our restaurant, but it was closed, so we went down another street and found a cute one to eat at. I essentially got chicken kebabs, pita bread, chips, and a salad. It was so good and filling. And Jen and I drank 3 glasses of water each to prevent dehydration. Eventually, we got cold sitting in the shade and asked for the bill. I suggested we wandered the opposite way we came. As a result, we found The Plaka, the ultimate Greek Souvenir shopping center. I spent a good amount of money, but I found souvenirs for everyone! And now, I don't have to worry about it because I got everyone covered!!! On the way back, we found the tourist center thing and went in to book a day tour of 3 Greek Islands tomorrow for 89 Euro.  We get lunch, entertainment, and 2.5 hours at each island, including swimming in the ocean! The downside is we have to be ready to go at 7am... but it will be worth it. Jen bought peaches for her breakfast and accidentally asked them for a lot of peaches.. so we have like 20. She offered them to everyone we ran into in the hotel. We returned to our room and showered and uploaded pictures, as well as charge our cameras since they will have a lot of use tomorrow. We made countless attempts at ordering a pizza; with no luck, we ventured in the rain to the closest open food place: a cute bakery. We got delicious ham and cheese pastries and ice creams and ate them back at the room. I got to skype Matt, then Jen and I watched a Doctor Who episode before our 10:30pm bedtime.

Day 99

Jen and I woke up around 11:30ish, showered, packed and were on our way into town. We stopped at the main desk of the hotel to ask for directions to the beach, then started walking to the bus station. On our way, we stopped for croissants and then frozen yogurt for breakfast/lunch. It was  longer walk than we expected and we had to ask a few more people where to go but eventually we got to the bus stop right outside the Parliament and took the 45 minute busride towards the beach. We weren't sure where to get off, so we followed some of the people wearing swimsuits off at the first beach we saw. It was beautiful! Since I had applied sunscreen before leaving, I took my dress off and ran towards the water. It was cold so I only got halfway in. I returned to Jen and put sunscreen on her back then it was her turn to go in the water. She went all the way under. When she came back, I went back in and went under. We laid in the sun for a bit, reading, listening to music, and warding off the most obnoxious sales people ever. I went back in the water one more time, for about 20 minutes. After 3 hours at the beach, we were ready to eat. We caught the bus back to the Parliament and rode for 45 minutes, realizing how hungry we really were. We started walking the way back to the hotel and found a cute little restaurant, i Gusti. I was starving, so I wasn't going to take any chances and order something I might not like, so I got a chicken sandwich, and even ate it with the tomatoes. For dessert, Jen and I split the most delicious thing on the face of the planet: a chocolate filled cookie crumble crepe. I could eat only those for the rest of my life... sooo good. When we finished, we walked back to our hotel, noting all the shops and food places to stop at tomorrow on our shopping day. Back at the hotel, we showered to get the sand and salt water off of us and uploaded pictures and videos. I got to skype Matt, who will be running in the marathon tomorrow. Then, Jen and I watched episodes of Doctor Who while craving cupcakes.

Day 98

Since we slept in until 1pm local time, we decided against going to the beach. Instead, we said we would just explore the city a bit, get to know it more. Jen led us the wrong way out of the hotel (so we later found out) and we were a bit lost and confused as to where we were. Eventually, I found the road we were looking for and we started that way. We found the grocery store, good for future reference and as we were getting near the end we saw the Acropolis. We turned down a different street with little shops and found this one with beautiful Greek dresses that we swore to return to. Across from the shop we found some ruins. Looking for the entrance, we went around the corner and found the entrance to the Roman Agora ruins. We went in and they told us we needed a ticket, but since we were students it ended up being free, though I had left my Newcastle ID in the room because I didn't think I'd need it. After, we decided to just start walking uphill and it would eventually bring us to the Acropolis, which worked nicely. We found our way to the base of a hill with stairs that everyone was climbing, so we followed. At the top we could look over Athens and see the Acropolis; It was so beautiful. We continued towards the Acropolis and some women tried to talk us into a tour. I'm not one for tours, but if Jen wanted to, I would have gone along, though this women seemed a little off to me. We got our tickets to get in the Acropolis and the women found us again with and Australian couple who tried to barter the price. Since she refused, we all refused, thankfully. I did not want to pay more just to listen to someone talk for an hour. We walked through the Acropolis, seeing the theatre, which was stunning, and the Parthenon, which I had written about in an essay about math, as well as some other landmarks. It was beautiful being ontop of Athens and seeing so far. Once we made it around to everything, we headed back into town. At a little store on the way, I stopped to get a magnet, then we both got distracted inside and bought more souveniers. We continued towards town and found a restaurant to eat at. We ate delicious, yet expensive Greek food, well all the food was expensive, not just the Greek stuff. Still on our way back into town, we stopped at the Greek dress store and tried on a bunch of different ones. I found one that I fell in love with and bought. Again expensive, but handmade and worth it once you see it. We got into town and wandered down another little street with shops, then found our way back to the main road. I found hotel off the main road and we collapsed on our beds, uploaded pictures, and watched Doctor Who. I got to skype Matt at our normal time, then Jen and I found Say Yes to the Dress to make it a true Friday night.

Day 97

I had my last breakfast with Will; Jen and Jen were there too. After breakfast, I had to hug Will goodbye. It was quite sad. Then, I showered and repacked a couple of times while watching ANTM and waiting for Jen to get back. Eventually, it was time to head to reception, hand in our keys, and I called a taxi. We made our way to the airport and printed out boarding passes. Stupidly, I left my phone in my pocket (I forget about it because I don't use it... ever) so I beeped in security. Instead of letting me go through again when I pointed out I had forgotten about my phone, they patted me down. Once we finally sat down, it turned out we had two hours to kill until our gate opened, so we just sat and talked. We boarded out plane from Newcastle to London and realised we would not be sitting next to each other. Jen was just two seats in front of me. Since the flight was only an hour, I didn't mind being separated. The woman next to me was very nice also. In London, we didn't think we'd be fed on the plane to Greece, so we bought pre-made sandwiches. We boarded our next plane... and still weren't next to each other; we were in the middle seats on either side of the aisle. Lucky for us, a mother and son got split up in the window seats, so they asked if we'd like to switch, obviously we would. Jen and I read a bit of a book, then to our surprise got fed on the airplane. After that we just talked and she braided my hair. The flight was 3.5 hours and we arrived in Greece around 2:30am. We grabbed a taxi and told him the name of our hotel. Unfortunately, he didn't know where it was and we realised we didn't have the address, but he made some calls and figured it out. It was 50 Euros and a 40 minute car ride there. We got here and the man at the desk was so nice. The hotel is simple and beautiful. I skyped my family to let them know we made it, then Jen and I passed out (and slept until 1pm in Greece time)

Day 96

I had breakfast with two Jens and Will, during which we talked Will into watching his first ever episode of Glee.. this seasons finale. After breakfast, Jen and I had a "printing party" in the computer cluster where I printed off my essay due today. We waited for Jen and Will to come to my room then we all watched Glee. I kicked them all out at the end so I could shower and get dressed. When I was ready, I texted Will and we met at Reception to walk to campus. We handed in our Philosophy final essays at the Combined Honours office. We each needed to return a book, so we went to the library. After, he asked if I wanted to get lunch, so we wandered into town to get food. We decided that after lunch we finally needed to go to Shakeaholic for shakes. I got a cadbury egg flavoured milkshake and his was nutella. By the end of our shakes we both felt sick... too sweet. On our was back to the dorms we ran into Jen, Jen, and Liz so we joined them back into town and convinced them to get shakes. We stopped at the bookstore so Jen could get bibliography information, then met Elsa at Costa Coffee and wandered to the park. We played on the playground for a few hours and Jen braided daisies in our hair. It was Jen and my last time seeing Elsa. We talked Will into coming to Thursday breakfast to see us as we all headed back to the dorm. I chilled in my room for a bit before we went to dinner. After dinner I skyped Matt and sang him some A-teens :) I talked with Jen a bit, then we made hot chocolate and watched ANTM in my room while she finished making Will's friendship bracelet. Kate came in for a bit later on, then we all went to bed.

Day 95

I feel so free after finishing my first exam! I had 9:30 breakfast as usual with Will, Jen, and Jen. I returned to my corridor and showered and got dressed for the beautiful, sunny, 64 degree weather!!! I wore a dress with sandals, no tights, no coat. It was wonderful! Jen, Jen, and I wandered into town to run a few errands. First stop we had to pick up some sunscreen that was small enough to be brought on a carryon. Then, we went to the bureau of change to get some Euros... funny story, they only allow you to get the money straight from your debit card if you have your passport or UK driver's license with you. Seeing as we don't walk around with our passports, we went to the cashpoint just outside to take some pounds out. Apparently, I have a limit to how much I can take, but still manage to get enough pounds for 200 Euros. We hurried to the movie theatre since we were late meeting Elsa, Alex, and Antoine. We watched the movie Dark Shadows. It was pretty good! though I felt it had some holes here and there. Jen and I returned to our building and had a printing party getting all of our confirmation numbers for hostels and planes. After, I went to my room and edited my last essay to be handed in on Thursday. We had 6:00 dinner with the girls and Will... and of course annoying boy came along too. After dinner, I returned to my room to send mama my travel information and eventually went to Jen's room with her, Jen, and Kate. We just hung out listening to music and playing on their ipads. I skyped with Matty-boy at 10ish then called it a night.

Day 94

Well... I didn't sleep very well, maybe 5 hours? I got up for breakfast with Will and Jen and UVM Jen. Then, I came back to my room, showered and sat down for some studying. I tested myself by going through last year's exam, not feeling too confident. Eventually, I got dressed and a bag ready to go. I found exam rules on the school website... turns out you aren't allowed a calculator unless it's a Casio ... (certain models of it) All I have are Texas Instruments... my graphing and a scientific. And if that didn't scare me enough, going calculatorless for this exam, turns out.. The test has to be completed in ink... yikes! I make so many mistakes and NEVER write in pen. I headed over to my exam early dressed in my usual exam attire: a tank top, a sweater, a jacket... you never know how hot/cold it'll be and my hair was pulled back in a ponytail with my bangs pinned back. I was waiting for a while to finally go into the exam room in the Sports Centre. I was seat #37, right near the front. There were so many things on the desk I had to fill out. The exam started promptly and I only had 1 hr 30 min to complete it. There were only a few moments where I felt lost, but then I closed my eyes and pictured the problems I had done earlier studying. My only issue: I ran out of time so I didn't finish all the questions, though I'm feeling alright about it... I may have even passed. I walked back relieved and in shock about how much I knew. I got to my room, knocked on Jen's door, but no answer. So I texted her and she told me to join her and Jen in the park, so I walked back over there and we just sat and talked in the pleasant weather. When we returned to our dorms we separated for a bit, then had dinner at 5:30ish. After dinner, I came back to skype Matt. around 8, a bunch of us headed over the the pub The North Terrace for a pub quiz. This was a lot harder and less enjoyable to our usual pub quiz. It was very loud and dragged on. I got a Koppaberg and they handed out a free slice of pizza to everyone. around 10:30 I was so done and just wanted to head back. Luckily, Jen felt the same way and the other Jen tagged along. Then, I called it quits for the night and passed out like a baby.

Day 93

I slept in again this fine Sunday, then ate my breakfast, danced zumba and did 8-minute abs. I worked up a sweat, so I showered immediately. Jen and Jen came to my door asking if I wanted to go shopping with them. I had to turn them down because I needed to study, not to mention I didn't actually need anything. I sat down and studied as much as I could, though I could not get myself to focus or care very much. I started watching ANTM while writing down important things from my notes. The Jens returned and I made myself some dinner, then joined them and Liz outside for a few rounds of Liverpool Rummy. I came back inside to skype the most charming boy on Earth. Then, the Jens and I picked out a movie from reception: 21. I love that movie... so good. I was exhausted by the end, returned to my room to go to bed, but had a hell of a time falling asleep due to the stress of my exam the next day.

Day 92

After such a late night, I slept in until noon-ish; the sleeping felt great, though I felt like a bum for missing half the day. I watched an episode of Criminal Minds while eating my toast. I did zumba and 8-minute abs, level 2. And showered immediately after. I cracked my Diff EQ notes open and began studying, writing down the equations and info I need to remember. Eventually, Jen came in so we could make lunch, soup for me. We watched Doctor Who in my room and came close to passing out on my bed. Half asleep, Matt started skyping me, so Jen scurried out and I talked to my boy. After, I joined Jen, Jen, and Kate in the kitchen to make pasta for dinner, then we went to Jen's room. We started watching Dodgeball, but 20 minutes in, Jen H. decided she wanted a different movie. I went down with her to choose a new movie, Coyote Ugly, and discovered I had a package! Unfortunately, I didn't have my ID on me and the guy was too lazy to look me up on the computer I guess, so I had to run back to my room and down to reception again for my parcel. I got back to Jen's room, opened it up and teared up a bit because my family is so sweet and I miss them tons. I began making a bracelet with my new book as a guide and some alphabet beads for Matt's initials. We didn't get to finish Coyote Ugly, but Kate wanted to go to bed, so she took her computer in the middle of the movie. Shortly after, I returned to my room, looking to skype my family. I got to talk to everyone while they were hustling to get out of the house.

Day 91

Happy Friday! I had no classes today! I'm all done with them! But, I was continuing my day of silence. I went to breakfast with the girls and Will, which was fun, even though I didn't contribute much to the conversation. I did use a bit of sign language to get my 2-cents in. After breakfast, I needed to go back to bed because of staying up to late, so I took a nap and watched some Criminal Minds. When I finally woke up, I showered and just got dressed for my evening, then joined Jen and Jen chilling just down the hall. We hung out and talked for a few hours, and Kate joined us. Eventually, Jen H. from Idaho came to my room and I changed my dress and she helped me choose my shoes, well boots. We headed to her room, where we picked out her dress and I borrowed her hair straightener. We took a few pictures and counted down the end of my 24 hour silence. We met up with Liz and started walking the the pub for our Combined Honours dinner. The pub was very posh, but the buffet was disappointing, but what can you expect for a 2 pound ticket? It was just mini-pizzas, potato wedges, and fish sticks. At least each table got 2 bottles of wine... oh wait, they never brought us wine glasses. Right after we finished eating we left because Jen needed to skype and I loved the opportunity to skype as well. We talked a lot on the way back and Jen was to text me after her skyping. I got back to my room and skyped an anxious Matt, cute as ever! After skype, I downloaded some music and my Jen returned from her sushi dinner. I got a text of need from Jen H. so we went to comfort her for a few hours and at 12:30am decided we would come to my room to watch Ratatouille. The best part... the four of us all fell asleep on my bed and the movie had stopped streaming! We woke up and went our separate ways.

Day 90

I had a late breakfast with Jen, then returned to my bed with a headache again. Once I finally got up, I watched some ANTM and ate lunch, mainly things that were going to go bad in the fridge. I went to my classes from 4pm-6pm. I started my Day of Silence (for LGBTQ) at 5pm. I had silent dinner with the girls, though I used a bit of sign language to get myself in the conversation a few times. I returned to my room to skype my lovely boy. I took an hour break from my day of silence, which was made up later, because there was no way I was missing the opportunity to talk with Matt, and sing to him. After 45 minutes, it was back to silence and I had to meet Jen, Kate, Jen, Liz, and Antoine at the last comedy night. The headliner was a woman this time, and she was so good! She sang songs loaded with jokes and were so much more relatable just because of our gender. Kate and I hung out in Jen's room for a bit. I was force to take a quick timeout to tell Jen something important about our perspective London trip and the other girls. Then, it was off to bed!

Day 89

After a late breakfast with the girls, it was time to get ready for the Leavers' Event. I met up with Jen and Liz; we sat in the sun for a while since we were early. Once we got to the event, it was a reunion with a bunch of other study abroad friends. We were sat alphabetically, so I was behind Liz, but separated from everyone else. I attempted to take pictures of all my friends getting called for their certificates, though my camera was really blurry. After the presenting of the certificates, we got food!! They fed us rather "posh" food. Annoying boy would not leave us alone.. in fact he sat down next to me. I could have punched him.  We were ready to leave asap and decided to leave. Jen, Jen, and I walked down to the Quayside and took tons of pictures on the way. We saw the castle, cathedral, and millenium bridge, which having photoshoots in archways and such. On our way back, we stopped for coffee and muffins, then ventured back to campus to purchase my ticket for the Combined Honours dinner Friday night. We walked to the park and had Liz meet us their to play on the playground, dance, and sing at the top of our lungs. We started to get cold, so Jen, Jen, and I returned to my room to watch Glee, both episodes. Jen and I couldn't stand the thought of dining hall food, so Jen, Jen, Liz, and I ordered pizzas. I uploaded my pictures to fb, then Kate joined us and we watched the movie Bad Teacher. I kicked the girls out so I could make my chemo video for Matthew, and watched ANTM until he woke up from his nap and skyped me. We didn't skype until midnight but it was well worth the wait, and the perfect way to end my day.

 The Castle!

 Archway

 Way what?!?

 Planking at the castle

 Archway photoshoot

 The well-known Millenium Bridge

 Again...

 Monkey bars!

Just some flowers in the park

Day 88

I slept in this fine Tuesday and had late breakfast with Jen. Then, I laid in bed for a few hours trying to sleep and get rid of my headache. I then did my zumba and 8-minute ab routine so I could take a nice hot shower to rid the sweat. I ate a banana, then headed off to my only class of the day at 4pm. When I return, I chilled with Jen, Jen, and Kate until we all went to dinner with the girls and guys. I got to skype with matt, big day of chemo tomorrow. Then, I joined Kate, Jen, Jen, Liz, Antoine, and Will for a game of Liverpool Rummy; I didn't do too bad. The girls went to Jen's room for some gossip before separating. I watched the newest How I Met Your Mother episodes before going to sleep!

Day 87

Now that it is the last week of classes, my actual classes are dwindling down. I only have lectures for two of my courses this week. Which meant I had late breakfast with Jen, then went to the computer cluster to print off something for my essay. After showering and getting ready for my day,  headed off to campus to hand in my final essay for Environment and Sustainability. It was such a weird process: signing a sheet, filling out exactly how many words (I had forgotten to check, guessed 2165 and it ended up being 2163.. I'm just that good!), and I had to turn in a receipt with my essay. I finally got it all done, and headed to the building for my only class of the day. I sat in the lounge since I had 20 minutes, and ended up talking with Jen from UVM for a bit, then my Jen came over and was talking with us. I went to my class for some revision, then met back up with Jen to go shopping for a bit of groceries. On our way back, I requested we play on the playground a bit. I was able to do the monkey bars, which arched like a rainbow... it was amazing because I seriously lack upperbody strength. We returned to the dorm, made lunch and watched the MJ Glee episode. We split ways so I could write my statement of purpose for the IQA position I applied for. After finishing, I did my zumba and 8 minute abs. Shortly after, the girls and I went to dinner... annoying boy was there, but so was Will. Kate and I balanced spoons on our noses, while Will tried and failed desperately. I came back to my room to skype Matt, and sing him some Adele. It was the halfway point between when I left in April to when I return in June! I then made some hot cocoa and watched ANTM, eventually Jen joined me. I awaited my letters of recommendation and emailed in my application documents before dozing off.

Day 86

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY TO ALL! I slept in until 9:30 this morning, then started off with zumba, cardio, and 8-minute abs after eating my breakfast. I then needed a shower... so badly. After showering, I continued writing my essay, but not for too long before Jen declared it lunchtime. We ate lunch and watched ANTM, then I had to kick her out so I could do some more work. I ended up finishing the rough draft of my last essay and I finished editing my second essay. Jen and I walked past Will's room, pounded on his door, and continued on our way to the computer cluster where I had to print off a ton of things and figure out how to use this "turnitin" thing to submit my electronic version of my essay. On our way back, we again knocked on Will's door, but this time he answered in a timely manner as he saw us running away. We stepped back into our hallway to see Kate had returned from her weekend with her family! We all went to the kitchen to cook our dinners, pasta as usual. Then, we sat in my room watching ANTM again. They left so I could skype Matt, who sang "What Makes You Beautiful" to me by One Direction, a British boyband. Soooo sweet. Jen and Kate returned for tea and "My Big Fat Greek Wedding."

Day 85

I passed out before midnight and slept in until 10:30... I guess you could say I was tired. I ate my breakfast, then I did zumba and 8-minute abs. Next, I showered and started my essay. When I finished, I had 800 words out of 1500 and 4 out of my minimum of 5 sources. I was in the zone! I then edited my essay that is due on Monday. Tomorrow I will have to print out two copies and hand it in electronically. All of the essays are requiring me to cite my sources in a different way, so it's getting a bit annoying and stressful. At 5pmish, I was ready for lunch/dinner, so Jen joined me in the kitchen while I made my pasta. Then, we watched ANTM for a couple hours until I got to skype my boy. After skyping, I made some tea and Jen came back to watch more ANTM. Once she left, I made a Happy Mother's Day video for Mama, then went to bed.

Day 84

I had an early Friday morning breakfast with the girls, then hurried off to Cryptography and Diff EQ lectures from 9-11. I then met up with Jen and we went to Tescoes where I bought Kinder Surprise eggs and a Koppaberg's raspberry cider. Once we made our way back to Castle Leazes I did 45 minutes of zumba and 8-minute abs, then made a PBJ for my lunch. I invited Jen into my room and we watched the season finale of TBBT followed by an old ANTM episode. I kicked her out of my room so I could get dressed and begin correcting my Environment essay, though I only got 1 page in before leaving for cryptography lecture. We finished going over last year's exam and he told us that was the last class, so I don't have it at all next week. I came back to the dorms and tormented Jen for a bit before we headed to dinner. We did everything we could to try to avoid annoying boy, but yet again he invited himself to our table. Kate and I tried to teach Will how to balance a spoon on his nose, though it's a pretty hopeless cause. I returned to my room awaiting a skype call from Matt, during which I corrected another page of my essay. I don't know what it was, but he was especially adorable today. Perhaps it was his cuddling with his stuffed frog. He sang some Florence + the Machine to me and I sang him a Glee song he requested in January. Boy, do I miss him. After skype, I went to Jen's room with Jen, Jen, Liz, Kate, and Louise where we played cards and sang along with Disney songs while Jen and I were enjoying our Kinder eggs and Koppabergs. At around half ten, I was just too tired to socialize anymore and we all went to our own rooms.

Day 83

I had earlyish breakfast with Jen, then my last seminar with Will. We had quite a good time. Barely anyone showed up, so it was just Will and I discussing our question and it led to us making a very odd venn diagram of our friendship. hahaha. I handed in my last Diff EQ homeword, and received a poorly done previous assignment... oh well, can't change the past.Then, it was spa time! I met up with Jen, Jen, Liz, and Kate and we headed over to the City Pool, where downstairs they have the spa and massages and such. We paid L5.20 for the Turkish bath, complete with a cool jacuzzi, sweat room, and sauna. We all just felt generally happy from then on. We were allowed up to 3 hours, but we only stayed for 1.5. It completely drained us of energy, and ended up dehydrating us a bit. We went shopping, well Jen did while we all sat on the floor exhausted out of our minds. We finally returned to our dorms, so I ate lunch and laid down just for a bit of rest before heading off to Diff EQ and Number Theory lectures where we went over old exams in both. Unfortunately, I had to miss Esther's 21st surprise birthday dinner the girls through for her. I still chipped in on her present. 10 of us each gave L4 to get her this beautiful ring. Esther is like the mother of our floor and the sweetest girl here. I met up with them on the way back after class and Jen sat with me while I ate yucky dining hall food, not very appetizing at all. I returned to my room to skype Matt, and even facebook Gayle a little bit. Then, I did 45 minutes of zumba followed by 8 minute abs. I then let Jen and Jen know that I was done and they joined me to watch this week's episode of America's Next Top Model: British Invasion. Eventually, they left and I watched Secret Life before falling asleep.

Day 82

As usual, I had no classes on Wednesday, so I ate a late breakfast with Jen. I then returned to my room and downloaded a lot of new songs, mostly Glee and some Maroon 5. Then, I did 45 minutes of zumba and my 8-minute abs. After getting all swexy, I needed a shower desperately, so I did so. Then, I waited a bit for Jen to return, made myself a PB & banana sandwich and the two of us watched Glee. What a great episode. I also got to facebook chat with Matt a bit. Then I finished my Diff EQ homework to hand in on Thursday and I made a brief outline of my next essay. I ended up in Jen's room with her and Jen, just chilling for a bit, then went back to my room and sang for a bit. I went to dinner with the girls, Will, and unfortunately Mark found his way over... KMN! obnoxious. After dinner, I skyped my handsome boy and he told me he was excited to see my parents. HOW CUTE! I went to Jen's room again and her, Kate, Jen, Liz, and I watched 21 Jump Street and rocked out to some music. At 11pm my time, Mama skyped me in to the All-state parade in Winooski, where my family was watching with Matt's family at the DiMasi house. The DiMasi's got to meet my terrifying neices, but they loved them. And the girls love the chickens. I got to spend the hour with my families, which was nice, but it made me want to be there so much more. I'm happy I got to see everyone and that they all got to hang out.

Day 81

Back to classes... I ate late breakfast with Jen then got ready for my last Philosophy and Ethics lecture with Will. While waiting for class to start we worked on the crossword in the school paper. Then, it had to be about the most boring lecture, but I may have picked my essay topic, though it's going to be hard. After class, Will and I went to the school office to sign the census, letting them know we are still here. Then, Will accompanied me on my errands while he had time to kill. We went to the library to return books from my first essay, then we went into town so I could buy an envelope and wait in a long queue to mail out my Parking Permit application for next year, where they decided they had to cross out my return address... I still don't understand why. Outside of the post office I got to help Will pick out flowers for his girlfriend, Laura. SO CUTE! And we walked back to Herschel where he was meeting her and I handed in my final essay for my other philosophy class. I waited around for my next class where I got help on my Diff EQ assignment luckily because I was heading in the completely wrong direction with it. Then, I had Number Theory and Cryptography classes before heading back to the dorm for dinner with the girls and Will. I skyped Matt and talked about our days. Then I had hot cocoa and watched ANTM with Jen and Kate, and rocked out to a bit of Hannah Montana music to piss Jen off. The girls left and I watched some Friends while talking to Mama and shopping for Sophie's new bed... Mom won't let the puppies get bunkbeds :(

Day 80

Today is a bank holiday, so no classes!!! Jen, Kate, and I went to breakfast at 10, then showered and got ready to meet up with Jen and Liz. We all made our way into town to do some grocery and toiletry shopping. All I ended up getting was some carrots and ranch, much needed. I ate pasta salad for lunch, then made a resume for the quidditch job I'll be applying to. I also did my Number Theory assignment online... 4 problems in I lost internet and it lost my answers, giving me completely new questions when I logged back in. I was in pure shock and so pissed, but then I got through all 6 questions fine. I went to dinner with the girls; they were running out of food in our usual hall, so we went to the other one and met up with Jen and Will. We were all so tired and nutty and kept taking Will's utensils and ID and mixing his food around. I returned to my room to see and sing with Matt, now sporting the lovely mohawk yet again!!! Then, Jen, Kate and I headed to Liz and Jen's floor to attempt to help her learn to wax, listen to music, talk, and play a round of cards.

Day 79

I slept in this Sunday morning, then enjoyed breakfast with Jen, Liz, Jen, and Kate. Once most of them parted, Jen and I did our zumba workout. To her surprise, I also made her do 8-minute abs right after. I showered then got right to work. After hours of hard work, I finally pulled off a rough draft of my next essay, though I believe I may have strayed from the topic. I then edited my first essay for the last time since it needs to be handed in on Tuesday. Jen, Jen, Liz, and Kate came into my room where we watched Miss Congeniality while we all worked, I started my Diff EQ homework. Jen expressed her want for pizza so 4 of us split 3 9 inch pizza. We began to watch Stick It until pub quiz. We met up with Will and lost horribly, and it was the last pub quiz of the year. I returned to my room to finally skype Matt and here all about his lovely weekend. After we sang and said our goodbyes, I joined all the girls in Jen's room where we gossiped and read magazines.

Day 78

After staying up to play Jeopardy! I was glad to sleep in. When I woke up, I ate a chocolate chip muffin and some dry frosted flakes, washed down with some orange juice while watching friends. I washed my dishes, then informed Jen we were doing our 45 minutes of zumba in 10 minutes. We danced, then I took a much needed shower after that. I sat down to write my paper and got another 400 words done. I called Jen into the kitchen for lunch, then we got ready to go into town. We went to get Jen a new bag since the strap on hers broke. Then we went and picked up our reserved seating tickets for The Avengers! Amazing movie, however, here in the U.K. they had 22 minutes of advertising playing before the movie, and not movie trailors, a few, but mainly cars, shoes, and food ads. After the movie we headed back to Leazes and got ready for dinner with Kate and her mum. She treated us to drinks, then dinner and had a lovely time getting to know the older version of Kate. She even gave Kate money for the taxi ride back. It was wonderful having nice food. Though, since after the movie, my throat has been hurting and I'm in a bit of pain now, trying to make it better with some tea and honey. Also, staying up, hoping for a possible skype with the boy, not entirely sure how likely it is, but I'll wait a bit for the chance.

Day 77

I had early breakfast with the girls then Cryptography and Diff EQ lectures 9-11. After lecture, I went to tesco express to get a block of cheddar cheese and bread, then hurried back to my room. I was done for the day, seeing as my later lecture was cancelled this week. I watched the quidditch matches of my team last weekend, so proud of them! Then I wrote a tiny bit of my paper before receiving a skype call from Matt (a planned early call since he's away this weekend). After skyping and singing, I continued writing, and ended up with 622 words! I then got lunch and watched the new TBBT. Then, Jen came in my room and, while attempting yet failing to nap, we watched the movie Stick It, so good, always love it. At the very end, Kate came in. After talking for a bit, we decided to collect Katie and go to dinner, disappointing as always. I also texted Will, so he joined us, and though we texted another Jen, she did not come. I went back to Jen's room, where I taught her Egyptian Rat Screw. Then we went to Jen and Liz's floor and taught them how to play. We returned to Jen's room a couple hours later for hot cocoa and reading my old magazines. Jen and Liz left, so Jen gave me a back massage and braided my hair, such a lovely girl. Kate came back from dinner with her mum and joined us reading magazines. Eventually, we split ways to go to bed. As I was prepping for bed, Mama asked me if I wanted to play Jeopardy! which I was obviously wanting to. So, she skyped me in! Being teen jeopardy, I could answer a good number of the questions and I got to talk to everybody on the commercial. Although, every now and then throughout the game Kaylee's head popped in front of the screen to see what was going on. Three day weekend! (Bank Holiday on Monday)

Day 76

I woke up for breakfast with Jen, where we waved at Will from across the room. Then I headed to campus for my Philosophy and Ethics seminer. We were given scenarios and a point of view, so we had to make the decision from our assign point of view. Meanwhile, we got a bit off topic and Will and I got to learn and teach about cultures with this kid from China. We discussed gay people coming out, and how it is rarely done where he is from. I assured him that there are some cities where people don't necessarily feel safe enough to come out. It was really nice. Will and I returned to our dorms, I wrote 500 more words of my Environment and Sustainability essay, putting me at 1/3 of the way done reaching bare minimum. I then got lunch with Jen and we watched TBBT.. eventually I ended up falling asleep with my head on her lap while she was braiding my hair. I woke up in time to got to Diff EQ and Number Theory. When I return at 6, all us girls gathered and went to dinner. Eventually another Jen joined us, and just as we were going to leave Will came, so they stayed with him while I returned to my room to skype and sing with Matt <3 After, I watched The Inbetweeners Movie (based on a British sitcom) with Kate, Jen, Louise, Jen and Liz. It was gross, but funny, like a movie Matt would try to make me watch. Then I hung around Kate's room with Esther, Louise, and Jen for an hour before going to bed.