And so I'm back and I didn't really post at all. Oh well. C'est la vie. It was a great time. I'll write more soon.

And so it begins...

After a long and exhausting plane ride across the Atlantic, I have finally made it to London! My first day/day-and-a-half have been excellent and full of great surprises, though I am barely capable of making it through the day without falling asleep coma-style (today on the benches of the Museum of London while Leah and Emily discussed what bus route to take home).

Yesterday we went to the Portobello Market, saw a lot of Camden, Primrose Hill and Abbey Road, which ended up being kind of disappointing and crowded with tourists but still cool. Emily promised us that the John Lennon memorial wall in Prague is much more epic...but we added our own mark to the wall in London as well.

Later we took a walk through Hyde Park and saw a lot of cool arches and regal architecture. And the rose garden, which, disappointingly had been hit hard by a rainstorm Friday night, but was still nice.

Tomorrow is our last full day in London before we leave for Paris, and then I won't really be able to post very often, but I will when I can. The weather is supposed to be nicer there, and I am so ready to break out my tank tops and see a lot of beautiful plants in Monet's Garden!

Rivers and Roads

We all went out to the Head and the Heart on campus last night, I hadn't heard much of them before and I was hesitant to go because I had a lot of homework, but I ended up being really glad I went...it was awesome. Those guys can sing! and play their instruments! And they're from Seattle!

Trust is a Great Beginning

I wanted to title this post "This Poem Goes Out to the One I Love" but I decided that was too corny. Anyway. I'm all tangled up and emotional today, but I think this poem is beautiful and says a lot of what I cannot. So here's to being honest, and giving things a chance to work out for the best, and being grateful for all the love I've been given in my life.

Credo

Matthew Rohrer

I believe there is something else

entirely going on but no single

person can ever know it,

so we fall in love.

It could also be true that what we use

everyday to open cans was something

much nobler, that we'll never recognize.

I believe the woman sleeping beside me

doesn't care about what's going on

outside, and her body is warm

with trust

which is a great beginning.

Ode to Mother's Day

Five Things I've Learned from my Mother:

1. How to be a good friend.

2. That life is better with a garden. Or at least house plants.

3. How to argue.

4. Paying attention to what's happening is important. In all aspects of life.

5. Sometimes spending time alone is a good thing.

Ira Glass is The Man (the cool one, not the one we want to stick-it-to)

I stumbledupon this today, and thought it was sort of inspirational. Slightly cheesy, but Ira Glass is, like, totally hip so...

April showers kill all the flowers & etc...

It's only the beginning of May and I'm so ready for school to be over! I can't bring myself to do homework and I find staying in bed or lounging around in the living room so much more appealing than sitting in class. It's (occasionally) too nice out to spend all my time trying not to fall asleep during lecture!

Last weekend my favorite Olympians, K. & A., came up to visit from Olympia (duh...) to see The Tallest Man on Earth play at Western and to have a little fun with their BFFs L. and I. It was great to see them as they always bring the fun and also a lot of tasty wine. Unfortunately, L. had to work all day on Saturday so it was only the 3 of us traipsing around Bellingham...but we had a great time anyway.

We spent some of Saturday at the Bellingham farmer's market, which started up a few weeks ago, and is a great one to visit if you ever get the chance! Though it's still mostly just a lot of root vegetables at this point (alas, no carrots yet) it's still fun to go and see all the awesome stuff the other non-vegetable vendors have. We also had breakfast at The Mount Bakery, which probably delivers the best breakfasts in Bellingham, and headed down to Marine Point to hang out with the seagulls for a while because it was unbelievably nice weather outside.

After another great meal with L. and her boyfriend, we parted ways and they all headed off to see Tallest Man and I went home. Western was supposed to host two concerts Easter weekend, Tallest Man AND Gogol Bordello (on Friday), but Gogol got cancelled due to a death in one of their families. Of course, I had only bought a ticket to go to Gogol and not to Tallest Man, so that sort of sucked...but....I guess it saved me some money and they'll eventually tour the West Coast again.

More recently, J. and I have been apartment hunting like crazy! We've seen so many houses and apartments in the last weeks I thought I was going to give up. But finally we decided on a nice house with two other girls in the York District, just about a ten minute walk from downtown and a 20 minute walk to campus (or we can catch the bus, of course!). It's a great old house, painted really nice colors, with 4 bedrooms and one tiny bathroom! We will see how that goes, haha, but I'm very excited. The house is just about a three minute walk from a nice little neighborhood market and cafe as well, and has a lot more charm than the boring apartments we were starting to feel resigned to. So that's all great news.

These weeks are also stressful due to midterms, which may or may not give me an aneurism, but I guess that's just the way life goes. T. will be out from Pullman next week to visit (he's already done with school for the year, SO unfair) and we are hoping to make it up to Vancouver to hang out on Granville Island and eat some delicious sticky bread from the bakeries there.

Annnnd....I guess I'll finish up this post with my newest poem, a "ballad" that I wrote for class.

Somebody Wants to Love You, Grace Slick

On evenings clouded gray with rain

he plays old Airplane hits.

The wood guitar that's slung so low,

and vowels from parted lips.

With slatted light the cars go by,

their rumbling sprays and spits;

pale fingers trace the window frame,

he contemplates her lips.

She croons to him through speakers now,

his head bowed low in bliss,

he listens close, raw syllables,

that linger long on lips.

He wonders what the sounds she keeps

enveloped in her kiss,

would taste like mixed with steel guitar

and pressed into his lips.

And then the sun is coming up,

the kettle starts to hiss.

Another night with Grace gone by,

a smile twists his lips.