I'M BACK!

I owe a lot of people appoligies because it has been one month to the day since I last wrote.  I'm really sorry that it took me that long to write.  I have no real excuse except that I've been doing tons of fun things and tons of not fun school work.  But with that said, I am back now and will update you on the goings on of my last month.

I guess I must begin with spring break as that last post I made was about how I was leaving to go to the Canary Islands.  It was absolutely amazing getting out of the dreary London rain and into the fantastic Spanish sunshine.  We spent most of our first day traveling but when we arrived in Tenerife we found that our apartment was beautiful.  I admit I was a little bit skeptical and nervous because I had never booked a vacation rental direct from the owner before, but we were very happy with the place we stayed.  It was a very spacious appartment that slept 4 but since there was only 3 of us we had plenty of room.  The kitchen was fairly well stocked and although there wasn't an oven, there was a microwave, stove top, and toaster.  On our first night we settled in and immediately set out in search of some food.  Let me explain the area that we were staying in.  The resort was called Playa de Las Americas which is more a town than an actual resort.  The area has lots of hotels and apartment complexes to choose from.  There are also lots of little markets to buy food and a boardwalk were all of the major bars and restaurants are.  We found that we were only about a 5 minute walk down to the boardwalk and we walked into the first restaurant we found because we were starving.  We were greeted by the soulful singing voice of a man who looked like a combination of Allan Thick and Barry Manilow, intriguing I know.  The food was good and the atmosphere was nice, over all a good start to the trip.

The rest of the week transpired as such: wake up, go to the beach, come home, nap, buy food for dinner, nap, eat dinner, drink wine, watch television, sleep.  Wake up and repeat.  There were some days that we didn't go to the beach and opted to walk around the island instead due to the amount of wind that made the beach a little more like a sandblaster.  On Mardi Gras we ventured down to The Veronicas which is a complex on the boardwalk filled with bars and restaurants.  We successfully made friends with a club promoter named Steve who we ran into a few more times over the course of the week. "STEVE!" was our general way of greeting him....he liked us.  He was a nice guy and seemed very intrigued by the fact that we were Americans, because Americans never travel to the Canary Islands.  There really is no reason to go unless you are already in Europe because they are very similar to both Hawaii and the Caribbean.  We also made sure to take advantage of the amount of Mexican food that was suddenly at our disposal.  If you didn't know, London is very much void of all Mexican food so we found a few mexican places to satisfy our burrito/taco/fajita craving and I will say they did not disappoint.  We decided to visit The Veronicas one more time on Thursday to act as a nice closing to the week and had an even better night than we had on Mardi Gras.  It was an overall fantastic trip full of sun, sand, and siestas.  Hands down the best spring break of my life and we were all very sad to go.  But sadly the cold of London was always looming in the distance.  Although it took us a while to get there.  Unfourtionatly the bus service we had hired to take us to and from Gatwick Airport did not run over night and our landing time of 1 AM was not the best choice as it meant we had to wait at the airport until 4:30 for the next bus.  After a week getting burnt and mildly dehydrated, 3 hours in an airport takes its toll.  Sufice it to say we were all a bit delirious once that bus finally showed up.  My bed had never looked so good before and I slept for most of the next day.

The return from spring break was a rough one for a lot of us here at Richmond University because it also marked the beginning of midterms.  For me it was a huge paper that happened to be due the Monday after I got back.  Remember how I slept for the whole day after I got back?  Yeah...that was Sunday.  And was I the responsible student and remembered to get that paper done before leaving for a week of vacation?  Of course I was.....not.  I spent all of Monday morning writing frantically for a class that I actually despise which started at 3pm.  Like the champ that I am, I got the paper done and even got a B+.  What's that?  I just got to spend a week in paradise?  Yeah I'm not too torn up about not getting an A.  That's what Seattle is for.

The next exciting thing that happened was that I had some visitors.  Two of my sorority sisters Annie and Sophie had been spending their spring break in Ireland and decided to take a 2 day detour to come see me.  It was really nice to spend some quality time with some familiar faces and get the scoop on everything that was going on back home.  I also enjoyed getting to play tour guide for a few days and felt like a real local.  We were so lucky because the weather was absolutely beautiful and we spent most of our time walking the city instead of taking the tube.  We went to Hyde Park, Buckingham Palace, Piccadilly Square, Parliament Square, Westminster Abbey, all of the traditional touristy places that I still love going to because they remind me where I actually live.  I am so lucky to be spending these 4 months here and I am always reminded that I need to take advantage of everything I can and see as much as possible.  After two days of lots of walking the girls had to go back to Ireland to catch their flight home but it was a great weekend and got me very excited to see all of my sisters again when I get home!

The next and perhaps most important thing that has happened in the last month occurred just a few days ago on April 1st.  No I'm not talking about April Fools day.  And I'm not talking about Peter's birthday...Happy Birthday P!  I am talking about the McFly concert.  Let me provide a bit of background for any of you who may not know what the heck a McFly concert is and just why it is so important.  McFly is a British pop band who have been around for about 8 years.  They don't really have any US equivilant that I can compare them to but I hate calling them a boy band because they are a far cry from the Backstreet Boys.  They are a group of 4 guys, one drummer, one bass player, and 2 guitars.  They write their own songs and they play their own instruments.  Can you tell how defensive I get over the boy band label?  These are actual musicians we are talking about.  I will add a video to the end of this post just so you can get a taste of the amazingness.  For the past 7 years I have followed them religiously.  I have ever album, know every song....oh but did I mention they are a UK group who has never toured in the US ever?  So when I found out that they were going to be playing London on the 1st I had an absolute fit.  I stayed up until midnight to buy tickets (8am UK time) in November just to ensure that I got the best tickets.  And after months of waiting it was finally the day of the concert.  I somehow managed to get my friend Maggie to tag along and we waited 8 hours in line to ensure that we were right at the front.  When the show started I think my adreneline kicked in so hard that I went into what I am going to call a "joy blackout".  I only remember bits and pieces of the first 5 songs.  The 4th song they played happened to be my favorite song ever and, yes I cried for the whole thing.  It was the concert experience of a lifetime.  They played all the right songs.  I was third from the stage right in the middle.  They lived up to every expectation I had ever had.  It is now the 4th and I think I'm still coming down from concert high.  Life was perfect at that moment.

Coming up in the next month I've got some pretty chill plans.  I am currently in money saving mode MAJOR because I am going on a 2 week trip to Italy, France, and Spain after my semester is over.  I'm also looking forward to my parents coming to visit and for my Mom to cook me food!  I need me some mama home cooking.  The food in my dorm is horrific!  Can't wait!  I promise It will never go this long again without writing but I hope this post has sufficiently caught you up on my goings on over the past month.

Now I will leave you with the epicness that is McFly.  This song was one of their encore songs.  This is the live version because as I learned on Friday, their music is even better live if that was even possible.  ENJOY!