This thing Kirsten made me do

So Kirsten posted this blog thing (check it here) that I thought was neat. This is massively long so you really don't have to read the whole thing (unless you're my real friend).

-20 dreams you have

1. to work at a magazine
2. travel to South America
3. live in Seattle or Portland
4. see Saintseneca live
5. see the Eiffel Tower
6. see "Starry Night" by Vincent van Gogh in person
7. Throw a coin in the Trevi Fountain like Lizzie McGuire
8. go to Berlin
9. speak Spanish, French, and German well
10. watch every Woody Allen film
11. go to a midnight premiere of a movie
12. pull an all nighter with my British friends
13. read every book by Ernest Hemingway
14. visit the Museum of Modern Art in New York
15. see my brother graduate from university
16. have my own flat/apartment
17. go vegan for one month
18. get a second job for the summer
19. go on a European adventure with my friend, Micheal
20. never stop dreaming

-19 quotes you love

1. "Perhaps I should not have been a fisherman," he thought. "But that was the thing that I was born for." -Ernest Hemingway in "The Old Man and the Sea"
2. "I have this problem where I want to be everything I'm not." - Touché Amoré
3. "I would never want to belong to any club that would have someone like me for a member." -Woody Allen in "Annie Hall"
4. "I am so clever that sometimes I don't understand a single word of what I am saying." -Oscar Wilde
5. "Everything has a purpose, clocks tell you the time, trains take you to places. I'd imagine the whole word was one big machine. Machines never come with any extra parts, you know. They always comes with the exact amount they need. So I figured if the entire world was one big machine...I couldn't be an extra part. I had to be here for some reason. And that means you have to be here for some reason, too." -Hugo Cabret
6. "Everything tastes of liquorice. Especially all the things you've waited so long for." Ernest Hemingway in "Hills like White Elephants"
7. "Traveling is a fool's paradise. Our first journeys discover to us the indifference of places. At home I dream at Naples, at Rome. I can be intoxicated with beauty and lose my sadness. I pack my trunk, embrace my friends, embark on the sea and at last wake up in Naples, and there beside me is the stern fact, the sad self, unrelenting, identical, that I fled from. I see the Vatican, and the palaces. I affect to be intoxicated with sights and suggestions, but I am not intoxicated. My giant goes with me wherever I go." -Ralph Waldo Emerson
8. "That's what the present is. It's a little unsatisfying because life is unsatisfying." -Midnight in Paris
9. "All morons hate it when you call them a moron." -Holden Caulfield in The Catcher in the Rye
10. "That's the whole trouble. You can't ever find a place that's nice and peaceful, because there isn't any. You may think there is, but once you get there, when you're not looking, somebody'll sneak up and write "F*** you" right under your nose. Try it sometime. I think, even, if I ever die, and they stick me in a cemetery, and I have a tombstone and all, it'll say "Holden Caulfield" on it, and then what year I was born and what year I died, then right under that it'll say "F*** you." I'm positive, in fact." -Holden Caulfield
11. "I don't believe in circumstances. The people who get on in this world are the people who get up and look for the circumstances they want, and if they can't find them, make them." -Vivie in "Mrs Warren's Profession" by Bernard Shaw
12. "Don't you be led astray by people who don't know the world, my girl." -Mrs Warren in "Mrs Warren's Profession" by Bernard Shaw
13. "I can't be running back and forth forever between grief and high delight." -J.D. Salinger
14. "I'm afraid that if you look at a thing long enough, it loses all of its meaning." -Andy Warhol
15. "I put my heart and my soul into my work, and have lost my mind in the process." -Vincent van Gogh
16. "You can judge a true man's character by the way he treats his fellow animals." -Paul McCartney
17. "A man can live and be healthy without killing animals for food; therefore, if he eats meat, he participates in taking animal life merely for the sake of his appetite. And to act so is immoral."
18. "FFS." -Kirsten Bryan
19. "Sweet corn is just corn that is sweet." -Eric Larkin


-18 names you like

1. Andrew
2. Cameron
3. Bruno
4. Ellie
5. Ryan
6. Hugo
7. Cherish
8. Shiloh
9. Ollie
10. Eric
11. Pablo
12. Amir
13. Benjamin
14. William
15. Ferris
16. Paul
17. Kirsten
18. Hannah

- 17 words you like

1. baby
2. rachet
3. hilarious
4. gargle
5. tinny
6. pop
7. tacos (said in a British accent)
8. aubergine
9. Ood
10. plum
11. shack
12. leggo
13. bombastic
14. tabernacle
15. diva
16. eggnog
17. wizard

-16 things you like to do alone

1. drink coffee
2. watch artsy films
3. read
4. sleep
5. dance
6. sing
7. write
8. flip through girly magazines
9. pet cats
10. bake
11. clean
12. knit
13. shop online
14. dream
15. think
16. question everything

-15 things you like to do

1. spend time with the people I love most
2. laugh
3. talk
4. listen
5. eat pizza and burritos
6. shout
7. dance
8. write
9. read
10. watch films that don't suck
11. bake
12. make other people laugh
13. go grocery shopping
14. do make up
15. ride trains

-14 books you've read/want to read

1. The Catcher in the Rye (best book on the planet)
2. The Outsiders
3. The Old Man and the Sea
4. Nine Stories
5. Franny and Zooey
6. The Great Gatsby
7. The Picture of Dorian Grey
8. Macbeth
9. Great Expectations
10. The Importance of Being Earnest
11. Harry Potter series
12. The Sun Also Rises
13. A Series of Unfortunate Events
14. Do Robots Dream of Electric Sheep?

-13 songs you can't stop listening to

1. Animals by Martin Garrix
2. We Can't Stop by Miley Cyrus (no shame)
3. Home Away from Here by Touché Amoré
4. I Bet You Look Good on the Dance Floor by Arctic Monkeys
5. Rory Shield by Sorority Noise
6. Takmit by Saintseneca
7. Just Exist by Touché Amoré
8. Your Graduation by Modern Baseball
9. Still the One by One Direction (still no shame)
10. Head to the Ground by Neck Deep
11. Clairvoyant by The Story So Far
12. Girls by The 1975
13. The Layers of Skin We Drag Around by The World is a Beautiful Place and I am No Longer Afraid to Die

-12 facts about you

1. Ginger
2. Almost 21
3. American
4. living in England
5. in my third year at uni
6. Never been out West
7. My favourite film is Midnight in Paris
8. My favourite book is The Catcher in the Rye
9. I would never want to meet Woody Allen or J.D. Salinger (even though he's dead)
10. Insects and spiders are disgusting
11. Burritos and pizza are my favourite food and I could never choose which is better
12. I can't go to sleep before 1 a.m.

-11 things in your room

1. dirty clothes
2. bed
3. pictures of my family and friends
4. magazines
5. make up
6. shoes
7. my teddy
8. paper
9. The third Harry Potter book
10. pens
11. journal

-10 people you cannot live without

1. my mum and dad
2. my brother, Kevin
3. Micheal
4. Sista Salsa
5. Mandy
6. Bo
7. Kirsten
8. Eric
9. Ryan
10. Hannah

(sorry if you're offended, this isn't a real thing or anything, so don't take it personally)

-9 videos you like

1. Jake and Amir: Reddit
2. Jake and Amir: One Almond
3. Jake and Amir: Brownie
4. Jake and Amir: Road Trip 7
5. Jake and Amir: Laundry
6. Jake and Amir: Vegan
7. Jake and Amir: Rolex
8. Jake and Amir: Bus
9. Jake and Amir: Corduroy Pants (and everything where Jake is a tool)

-8 favourite foods

1. Pizza
2. Burritos with loads of beans and guacamole
3. Tofu stir fry from Sabrina's Cafe in Philly
4. Chips and gravy
5. Black bean soup from Panera
6. Ramen noodles
7. Peanut butter
8. Yogurt and granola

-7 artists you like (musical and painters)

1. Touché Amoré
2. Vincent van Gogh
3. Lee Krasner
4. Bob Dylan
5. Saintseneca
6. Alberto Giacometti
7. Jake Bugg

-6 things you cannot live without

1. Family
2. Friends
3. Music
4. A journal to write in
5. A good book
6. A good laugh

-5 photos with your friends

- 4 places you want to

1. France
2. Germany
3. Italy
4. Argentina

-3 letters written to different people

1. Dear 1st Person,
We are dreamers and schemers. One day we will accomplish all that we've hoped for for 5 years.

Dear 2nd Person,
You're an absolute gem! I am so glad to have met you and will be sad when we must be separated. Come to America and you can live in my flat.

Dear 3rd Person,
Arivader.....CHI!

- 2 languages you wish you knew

1. French
2. Italian

-1 phrase to describe you

1. Ginger.

A Post

This past weekend all of us Americans went off to visit the Queen at Windsor Castle (who actually was in when we were there). We saw the changing of the guards which takes ages to go through the entire process! Ben, Cait, Landry, Kendra, Sean, and I all went off and looked around at stuff then went off to lay around in the grass at a nearby park. Afterward everybody got Subway and Cait and I got milkshakes form Shakes 2 Go.

The other day Kirsten, Eric and I went to the park which was lovely even though the sun didn't come out until we left. We played on the tyre swing, played with ducks, and climbed around on the waterfall.

Photo by Kirsten Bryan 

Yesterday Kirsten and I had the brilliant idea of making Coke floats. So we went down to Tesco and picked up some Tesco brand Coke and Cherryade and ice cream. They turned out wonderful and everybody who had one seemed to enjoy them. 

Other things that've been going on have really just been doing work. I just finished up my first art history assessment, I've just gotta edit it then it'll be alright. After that I have another assignment for art history which I have to begin. Once that's all done I've got two other assignments to do then I'll be finished with all my uni work! WHOOP WHOOP! 

Today our friends Austin and Jazmin are leaving today for America which is sad. Even though I've only had three months with those kids, I have had amazing moments with them. Luckily they go to college near me so it'll only months until I see them again. 

That is all for now. I dunno when I'll post again but certainly before I go on holiday for April.

There is a sun

Photo cred: Stephen Roberts

Yes, that is a picture of me actually playing football/soccer. I haven't played an actual game of football since I was about 13 so you could say that I'm a bit rusty. But this photo is awesome because it looks like I know what I'm doing and I'm pushing Ben which is just funny.

Today was absolutely lovely out! We didn't even need jackets on it was so warm. Eric, Hannah, Ryan, Brienne, Ben and I walked around the park for a bit and then eventually joined kids from flat 5300. We played a hilarious game of football, I don't think I've enjoyed playing sport like that in ages! People get so competitive at sport but this round wasn't at all.

(This photo is my favourite of the three of us ever taken.)

Oh yeah, and Eric and I went to Cardiff from Friday to Saturday! We stayed with Kirsten and her lovely mother, Cathy. Kirsten showed us around Cardiff and we got to hang out with her and her friends for the evening. Then on Saturday we walked down to Cardiff Bay which was so nice! The entire city was nice for that matter. We went to the Doctor Who Experience which was awesome! We got to "fly" the TARDIS, look at old Who stuff and relish on our favourite episodes of the show.

After a long day around the city and eating chips and Welsh cakes, Eric and I missed our train. Oh joy. We felt incredibly intelligent at that point. But no worries, all was okay. We got on the next train  (£17 later) and made it home by 7 or so in the evening.

So overall a really, really good weekend. Couldn't have asked for a better time. Now this week my roommate from Messiah is coming to visit me for a couple days. I am going to show her the English way of life. Should be a blast.