I Write These Words For Me.

Cheers to a good and, hopefully, last semester.

Winter break you have done well to me. 2012 is shaping up to be a big year for me so far. My school schedule as of now:

Monday/Wednesday:
10:45-12:05 Survey of American Literature Part 2
12:15-01:35 Survey of British Literature Part 2
01:45-03:05 Introduction to Astronomy

Tuesday/Thursday
09:15-10:35 Fundamentals of Creative Writing
10:45-12:05 Children’s and Adolescent’s Literature
12:15-01:35 Asian-American Literature

Dropping down these english classes once again. The joys of an english major. Half the people I had class with last semester are in my classes again this semester. Hopefully I can pass classes with better grades this time. Setting myself up for the big time in the fall :]

London, England

London, England

January 10-January 13

The day of the flight, I was still packing my bag since I was working the night before. I was freaking out because I was going overseas with barely any communication back home. Athena’s mom picked me and my mom up and we were on our way to SFO at about 1:30, which was the time we were supposed to be there. We got there and checked in our bags and we walked to our gates. It was nerve wracking leaving behind everyone and going into unknown territory, but I was still excited. Me and Athena went to our gates and then we met up with our group. We loaded onto the plane at 3:30 and our seats had our own entertainment. It was awesome. We were ready for a 9 hour flight! On the way I watched an episode of Glee and The Simpsons, then I watched the movie Hanna. The girl in front of me had reclined her chair so I had to watch my movie at an awkward angle. I tried watching X-Men and Harry Potter as well since I couldn’t sleep. The food they gave us was pretty good as well. We arrived on January 11 at 10 in the morning at London’s Heathrow Airport. It was so surreal that I couldn’t believe I was in a different country.

We met up with Ali, our tour director, and she was just so cute. I absolutely adore her. We waited for our teacher to come up and we were finally on our way. We saw some sights like a little part of the Wembley Stadium on the way to our hotel. It was just so amazing seeing all these places. We arrived at the Norfolk Plaza Hotel, which is in a pretty nice area. Me and Athena ended up rooming by ourselves and we had about an hour and a half to freshen up. After scoping our room, we went to exchange money at a nearby place and we got some sandwiches at a little shop. We had a few minutes before we had to meet up again so we sat in the lobby to eat while waiting. After, we got on the tube/The Underground to go to Trafalgar Square to do some sight seeing. So surreal once again. We did a little sight seeing at all these places and after we got some free time to walk around before dinner. Me and Athena walked around and we found the Apple Store and we wanted to update everyone to say that we made it perfectly fine. After we took the tube and walked to the place we would eat, Little Bay. We went to the downstairs area where we had a long candlelit dinner table. It was just a super cute sight. For dinner, we had an appetizer, main course, and dessert. At that point everyone just wanted to sleep and got full easily. After dinner, we went back to the hotel. We took a shower and just crashed.

The next day I woke up at 4 in the morning and just found some things to do before Athena woke up. I got myself a little ready for the day before she woke up. We got done getting ready, went down to the breakfast area, and ate before we had to meet up. Then we got a bus to do a little guided tour with Stuart/Stewart. We got down and got to take a picture stop which was just so nice. We saw Big Ben, London Eye, London Bridge, Tower Bridge, Millennium Bridge, and Westminster Abbey where Kate and William got married. We ended up by Buckingham Palace to see the changing of the guards. After that happened, we got our own free time and me and Athena went off to go to Abbey Road. We got on the tube after getting directions from Ali. We got off and it was just a short walk from where we got off. It was hard to get a picture since there was a lot of other people trying to get pictures as well and that you had to wait til traffic cleared up. I said fuck it and just went and then Athena had to go as well. After our pictures we went to Big Ben for Athena. Then we went to Millennium Bridge since it was featured in Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince. It took us a while to find it, but we did. We walked across and back to go to the free art museum that was next to it. After, we went to the next best stop: Oxford Street! We shopped for souvenirs and I bought 2 tops from Topshop because I had to. Then we headed back to the hotel for a breather and headed out for a true England meal of fish and chips. After there was a bus stop next to our place and we got our asses onto a double decker bus. We went to the last stop and took the tube back to our place. I was just so off that I wanted to sleep and I did. Athena wanted to go to a pub, but she didn’t want to wake me up.

I woke up at 2 in the morning and took a shower and packed for our trip on the Eurostar to get to Paris. At 6 in the morning we were down in the lobby to go. We got a little packaged breakfast and went down to the bus and we were off to the station. We passed by King’s Cross, which excited me even though I couldn’t go. Obviously a Harry Potter reference. Then we had to get our passports checked and stamped and then we waited for our train to arrive. At about 8:30 we were on the train and heading to Paris with a 2 hour ride. We sat quietly for a while as we were all still tired, but it picked up. We got a croissant for breakfast and finally we were almost there. We arrived at about 11:30 in the beautiful city of Paris.

Anonymous asked: you had dinner with Cameron Quiseng?

Yeah, it was me and a few other people that ate out since he was hungry.

All The Way Tour [01.27.12]

So at first I wasn’t even gonna go to the show since I was supposed to close at work, but I got someone to switch shifts with me. But I did end up going after my morning shift. After work, I went to Athena’s house to get ready and about an hour later, we stopped to get food at Iguana’s where we shared nacho fries and got some burritos for there and on the road. We left for the show around 4ish and I had to grind through traffic. It was totally fine though. We made it at around 5:30 and spent a good amount of time skimming for parking by The Fillmore cuz we didn’t want to walk far at night. When we were at a stop sign, these two young boys passed and I hella yelled “Hi Justin Beiber” as a joke and my windows were closed too and one of them smiled and waved and me and Athena hella bust out laughing. After while trying to get parking, I tried to parallel park twice which didn’t work and finally found the last parking spot behind a bus stop. We put in money for the last 10 minutes before free parking and went along our way. We bought our tickets and I the loving cousin I am treated Athena to some yummy ass Miyako’s ice cream before we headed in. Can I just say how I love Tom, the owner I’m guessing so much. He’s the sweetest man ever! Ice cream that was supposed to pay $6 for ended up being $4.50 and the change was his tip. Every time we hit Fillmore, we will go.

Around 6:30 we headed in to the shit. We freshened up and found a spot in the back of crowd so we could dance our asses off. The After Party went on first. We acted like dumb asses just boppin’ around. The lady near us was hella smiling when we did something stupid. The best part of their set was the Britney Spears cover. Then after that I didn’t care. Next was Hollywood Ending. The best part was their cover song also which was One Direction’s “What Makes You Beautiful.” I could dance to that song all fucking day. I guess it was cuz they had a British bass boy and he influenced the cover of that song. Who knows. After them was Before You Exit. I was a little creeped out that I’m about 2-4 years older than the entire band. They didn’t matter to me at all. Finally AllStar Weekend came on and I admit I haven’t listened to their new record, but I totally am now. I only knew the few songs they sang from Suddenly Yours. I still had a good time though. The drunk girls by us were really annoying though. I did really enjoyed the show because it was so much pop that it reminded me of younger days. And stupidly dancing without a care, yes please.

After the show, we just waited around and Athena talked to the British guy from Hollywood Ending, Chris. The workers were kicking people out so he was really unfocused on her. I’m sorry, but he’s a little weird! After we sit for a few then we see Zach and go to him. It took forever and I ended up being one of the last people to talk to him. Then poor Cameron was stuck in the corner with no way out. I don’t even wanna discuss what went down. He left before we got to him, but he would be outside. About 10 minutes later, we talk to these girls in line and I don’t know how much cooties that guy has on his lips and cheek. Every girl and their moms asked for a kiss! Haha. We were joking that he should kiss my hand or my shoe. Athena ends up saying loudly where Mikey is because he’s her filipino brother and Cameron says he’s part filipino so he could be her brother too, but she made this weirded out noise and he got offended. She admitted that she had a crush on him and he made her night by giving her a box of chocolates, holding her hand, and carrying her for a picture. I was one of the last people to talk to him also before he went on the bus.

We joked around with this filipino guy, a girl he worked with, and her friend and we ended up hanging out with them after for dinner with Cameron. A friendly filipino family dinner! Lol. We tried looking for places and ended up getting in one of the girls’ car squishing in the back and drove around Geary looking for a place to eat. We ended up at Mel’s Diner. His favorite line to the waiters was “What is the absolute best thing to order?” Haha. We all ended up talking over dinner and a little before 1, which is his bus call, we head back to The Fillmore so he can get back on the bus and we can go home. We give him a hug and head on our way. Me and Athena had left over from the diner and this homeless man approaches us of course seeing our boxes and asks if we have leftovers. No doubt not wanting to be followed Athena shoves the box to the guy and we head over fast to my car. We head back home in the dark, creepy fog. And our night is over. Things took a turn for the best I would say :]

Someone take me back to Europe, more specifically London and Paris. I’ve only been home for 2 days and I want to go back asap. All I see on facebook is friends updating about their trip. At least I know we’re all in the same boat. I still gotta update tumblr with my entire trip and pictures.

(Source: parisbeautiful, via courtneytothemax)

In less than a week, I will be in London<3. One of my most highly anticipated places to go is Oxford Street that is filled with almost 300 shops :3
Super excited since it’s a half an hour walk away from our hotel. I am so ready to get my shop on at H&M, Forever 21, Topshop, HMV (a record store), and some cute vintage shops!

helloimstephen:

Jimmy Eat World - Last Christmas

(Source: helloimstephen)

(via courtneytothemax)