Goodbye Europe, Hello America!!!

It always feels bittersweet at the end of a life chapter. That is precisely why I was reluctant to post this last blog. I am so grateful that I was given the opportunity to study abroad at Oxford University. I had the most amazing time of my life, and I will never forget the people I met, the places I visited, the events I experienced, and especially all of the hard work I put into my tutorial and gender course that helped me improve my writing while also opening my eyes to the various parts of psychology I had no idea I was interested in, as well as the many problems that still remain regarding gender inequality. As for you, the readers of my blog, thank you for reading my posts! I'd like to say a big thank you to those of you who made my UK experience amazing, to those of you who have always supported me, and to those of you who always tell me to follow my dreams. I am now back in the United States of America where I belong, and I will soon head back to Stanford to teach the children at Bing Nursery for the duration of the summer. With the warmest regards,
Cheerio! (From England)

Au revoir! (From France)

αντίο! (From Greece)

Adeus! (From Portugal)

and HELLO CALIFORNIA!!!

Our Vacation in Portugal!

'Ello from rainy and cold England! I am so excited to be coming home on Saturday! But first - FARO!

The friend that I went to visit in Paris, France (Tiffany) and I wanted to go somewhere nice and sunny before we spend all summer on The Farm, so we decided to take a weekend trip to Faro, Portugal. We arrived late on Friday night, so after taking a taxi to our Best Western, we checked in, grabbed some food, and planned out our weekend.

On Saturday, we woke up and explored the town of Faro. It was nice and quaint, with little shops and restaurants all over the area we were in. There were also plenty of shopping stores (and malls) so we had fun with those. We also had a ton of pastries, gelatto, and snacks before dinner, but we shared our dinner so that we could spend less money. Afterwards, we went out to see how the nightlife is in Faro, but we didn't really like any of the clubs that seemed pretty populated, and we didn't want to waste money, so we decided to party by ourselves! It was quite a nice night, with drinks, desserts, and Gossip Girl episodes. But then we needed to get some rest for our beach day.

Sunday morning we woke up and headed to the Marina to catch a ferry to one of the beaches in Faro. We ended up going to Ilha do Farol, which was really nice. It wasn't too crowded, and the water was so pretty. I'd been missing the beach since England is so cold, Greece didn't really have beaches, and I didn't get to go before leaving San Diego. It was nice to lay out on the sand, cool off in the water, and relax with Tiffany. However, we both got sunburned, so hopefully it turns into a tan soon so that we don't peel! After coming back to the mainland, we both look nice cold showers, went to an Italian place for dinner, and then passed out back in our hotel room from being in the sun all day.

Monday we packed, checked out of the hotel, and went souvenir shopping before catching a taxi to the airport. It was sad to leave, but we'll both be back in California soon, out of this miserable weather. She'll even be at Stanford with me over the summer, so we'll get to hang out when we're not working.

When I got back to the Stanford house, I wrote my last two tutorial papers ever. It was nice to finally finish my tutorial and look back at all of the hard work I've done this quarter, but when it came time to meet with my tutor, I was really sad that it was over. She was very sad that the time flew by as well, but she was also happy with my last papers and gave me high scores on them both! She also asked me to please keep in touch, and said that she might take a trip to California and try to meet up with me at Stanford. I still have two more papers, but I can't believe that the term is almost over.

Our Bing Farewell Dinner was last night, and it was pretty bittersweet to talk with everyone who is still here (some students have already left). Dr. Tyack, the director of the program, sat across from me, and he was testing my proper English accent, having me say words such as "strawberry", "watermelon", "Oxford", "darling", etc. He said I was pretty good! Then we took a jumping picture with him outside of the restaurant, and I think Thuy is going to submit in to the Bing Overseas Study Program Photo Contest. I hope we win!

Here are some pictures from Faro. But seriously, I'll be home this Saturday evening!

Watch the Throne: The Queen's Diamond Jubilee!!!

Guess who saw the Queen of England? THIS GIRL!

A group of Stanford students wanted to attend the Queen's Jubilee Boat Pageant on the River Thames this Sunday, and we heard that the best place to view the boats was across from the London Eye. We woke up very early in the morning to catch the 5:10 Oxford Tube to London (I stayed awake so that I wouldn't sleep through it) and went straight to the best spot. Since there were eight of us, we decided to take shifts to keep our spot reserved. Thuy and I went to grab breakfast (and warm tea) so that we could stay out there the longest. Unfortunately, it was such an ugly day! It was freezing and rainy and I couldn't believe that we had gone for that. But it got better - we met some really nice people that always go to the important events, and we met a lady from Marin County, California (close to Stanford) who had traveled to London for the 50th jubilee, this 60th, and will be there for the 70th, but she also went for Princess Diana's funeral and Prince William and Duchess Catherine's wedding! Since I hadn't slept, I took a short nap under a pancho on the ground (I'm small so my friends all stood around me so that no one would mess with little, sleeping Ari). Eventually, it was time for the Royal Family to be dropped off at their first boat, which we could see from the many big screens set up throughout the crowds. She is so adorable! I hope she lives for a very long time. I also saw Prince Harry and Prince William, but my favorite was Duchess Catherine - she's soo pretty! And they had her wearing this red dress that was beautiful, but she must have been freezing her toosh off... About an hour later, the boats started passing our area, and they had flags from all of the Commonwealth, including the territories that England owns. Some boats with Canada's flag passed by, and there were Canadians in the crowd because they were hooting and hollering for Canada - I said that we probably won't be able to cheer for the U.Ss because I don't think they like us very much, and my friends laughed. Finally, the huge boat with the Royal Family passed, and we got to see them all waving! I tried to take pictures, but it was pretty far away. Nevertheless, it was an amazing experience to see the Queen celebrating her 60 years of reign, and I still can't believe that I was there for the boat pageant.

Next post will be about: Faro, Portugal! Cheers!

Athens, Hydra, and Poros, Greece!!!

GREECE WAS AMAZING!!! But let me just apologize for not keeping up with my blog as much as I did before. I had multiple assignments this week, and I wanted to finish them all before I left for Greece so that I wouldn't have to worry about bringing my laptop. But I finished my reading before we left, and finished my paper when we got back.

First, we woke up very early to leave for the airport on Friday morning. We flew (a very long flight) to the Athens airport, then took the public bus to Syntagma Square to check into our hotel. It was a Best Western, and we didn't have any problems with it. Then we walked to the Acropolis sites and climbed the whole area. It had such an amazing view! Thuy took lots of pictures of us, but I also tried to take landscape pictures. We tried to take our traditional jumping picture, but we actually got yelled at by one of the workers. He said something like, "No AHHH, this Acropolis, not futbol club"... The Acropolis is a sacred site, so he thought we were being disrespectful. After that, we walked through the streets in that area because they had tons of little shops and lots to buy. It reminded me of a Greek Swap Meet - it was super cute. Afterwards, we decided to go back to the hotel and plan out the weekend. We were all pretty exhausted from the morning travels, and we needed to wake up early to catch the ferry, so we went to bed around midnight.

The next morning we went to Piraeus Port to buy our ferry tickets for the Flying Cat (that was seriously the name of the boat). The only available ferry was for 10pm, so we went to find breakfast and waited for the ferry. That ride was pretty long, but also comfortable. When we got to the island Hydra, we were all very excited. It was beautiful! Our hotel was super close to the port, which had all of the stores, restaurants, and bars, so we checked in then left to eat lunch. Afterwards, we took a boat (our private boat) to the beach, but it was super pebbly! It actually hurt our feet, but we went in the water anyway. After a while, we couldn't handle the pain so we all laid out in the sun and fell asleep for about 2 hours, but none of us got sunburned because the clouds protected us. When we woke up, we took the boat back to the port, went back to the hotel to shower, and had a nice dinner on the water. Then we were excited for the nightlife. We ended up getting gelato/ice cream, then bar hopping along the port. The first bar we went to had pretty common but strong drinks. I ordered a "Coco Loco" which consisted of vodka, rum, tequila, coconut milk, oranges, mangoes, and strawberries. It was super strong, but pretty tasty. There was supposed to be a dance party at that bar later on in the night, so we went to some other bars to see what they had. One of my friends thought I would like to try a Jägerbomb, so I ordered one, and it was actually yummy. That was the extent of the night since the first bar's dance party was pretty lame. We went back to our hotel room and threw our own dance party! But then went to sleep since we were going to the second island in the morning.


On Sunday, we woke up and caught another Flying Cat to the island Poros, after doing some souvenir shopping. That was a pretty quick ride, especially since we were wide awake to see the beauty that is Poros. We were so excited to go to the beach and explore this island that we didn't realize how far our hotel was from the port, but we ended up walking about half way. Our apartment was super cute, and the manager was so nice to us. After we checked in, we went straight to the beach, but it was pretty windy and a storm was coming, so we only stayed there for a little while. We were also hungry, so we went back to the apartment to shower, change, and find a place to eat. We found a nice little place and then got ice cream afterward (of course). Then we continued taking pictures and grabbed some coolers for the night, since we didn't want to pay for drinks at bars. We had another dance party while the girls uploaded pictures, then went to bed so that we could wake up and catch some sun before heading back to Athens the next afternoon.


The funny thing is that I was the only one who woke up at 8:30! So I went to the pool to lay out, but I brought my water and grabbed a toastie from the cafe so that I wouldn't be dehydrated. After a while, I went back to wake up the girls and take my shower. When we were all packed, we checked out and the hotel manager got us a cab so that we wouldn't have to walk all the way back to the port with our luggage. We did a little souvenir shopping and picture taking before the Flying Dolphin (bigger boat this time) docked to pick us up. That was a long ride like the first one, so I was able to sleep for most of it. When we got to Athens, we went back to that Swap Meet in Syntagma Square because some girls weren't finished shopping, but we also grabbed some snacks, more ice cream, and waters. Then we took the bus to the airport and said goodbye to Greece. It took a while to get back to the Stanford House in Oxford because of the airline bus schedule, but we finally made it at 3am, and then I started my paper right away. Overall, it was an amazing experience, and I'm so grateful that I was able to go to Greece! Hopefully someday I'll be able to bring my family to the place I visited!

I'm on a Boat: New College Boat Party

Sorry it's been so long again! I've had a pretty rough week. I've been reading for my tutorial, eating more in the dining hall, hanging out with friends, and discovering new places in Oxford (there's a new tea place/cafe that has boba down the street from our house)! On Thursday, after class, my friends Thuy and Akiko went with me to watch an Oxford production on the musical, "Anything Goes" because one of our friends was cast a small role. We arrived early so we went to G&D's down the street and shared a pint of Bailey's ice cream. The musical was actually really good, other than the tapping of one of the main characters...It was a little painful to watch, especially because we've realized that English can't dance, and my friends kept mentioning that I should have auditioned for that part, but the tap dancing was only in one song, and the actress was a really good singer, so that made up for her lack of tapping skills. Afterwards, we met up with a bunch of Stanford people at a pub for Willys' 21st birthday. I had strawberry cider, which was super sweet, and then some of us walked back home to get food at one of the trucks along high street. I got ribs! When we got back to the house, Thuy and I watched the two latest episodes of Glee (yay for winning Nationals FINALLY!) while drinking rose I brought back from Paris and eating chocolate.

Saturday was fun, fun. fun. It was my friend Juany's birthday, so a group of us went to Atomic Burger again, and yes, I got the Frito Bandito again and finished it all! Then we went back to the house, and a group of 6 of us started getting ready for the ball (that turned out not to be as formal as we thought it would be). When it was time to go, we walked over to New College where the buses were parked, and started the journey to London. When we got to London, we walked over to the Thames River and boarded the boat. It was so much nicer than the boat Stanford got for my sophomore formal. The music was great - American: hits, pop, hip-hop, oldies, Michael Jackson, Whitney Houston, Grease, etc. It was a blast dancing with my friends and not worrying about classes. The Thames River was very nice as well; although it was pretty cold outside, it wasn't dark until later, and the river was pretty calm during those 5 hours. It was sad when the party ended and the boat docked, but we had been partied out and were all ready to sleep on the bus. I'm glad I was able to attend this ball!

Paris, France!!!

'Ello from Oxford once again! As many of you know, I was in Paris this past weekend. It was amazing! I really hope I can go back someday, and maybe bring my family as well :)

Thursday right after my gender class (I presented about gender dynamics in the classroom and it went well), Julianne and I took the Oxford Tube to London, and then the subway Tube to her house for the night. The next morning we woke up very early and took a cab (my first time in a cab!) to the San Pancras station for our Eurostar train ride to Paris! The journey was very relaxing actually; I read for my tutorial paper, gazed outside at the view, and took a short nap during the part where the train goes under the English Channel. My friend Tiffany was at the Gare du Nord station waiting to begin my trip.

I purchased a 3 day metro card so that I wouldn't need to keep buying tickets every time we wanted to take the metro, and we ended up using it most of the time, so it was a good investment. First, we went to get her host family thank you gifts for allowing me to stay in their home. I bought the dad wine and the mom flowers, and they were both very nice. After we dropped off my bags, we went to the Musee du Louvre to see the Mona Lisa, the Venus de Milo, and the glass pyramids. Then we walked throughout that area and came to the lock bridge, which is a bridge across one of the rivers in Paris that has locks on both sides. The locks usually have the names or initials of couples, and sometimes dates, so it was cute to look at how many people have gone to that bridge. Afterward, we went souvenir/postcard shopping (I was able to find some great bargains) and I also got some yummy gelato. We stopped by Angelina's, which supposedly has the best hot chocolate in the world, but one we saw the prices, we decided on gelato from a sidewalk booth. It was 8 euros for a cup of hot chocolate...that's more than $10?! When we had found everything we were looking for, Tiffany took me to the Centre Pompidou (pronounced pompydoo) because it has a wonderful view from the top. When we were leaving, a street dancer was impersonating Michael Jackson and dancing to "Billie Jean" so I had to stop and record it. It was almost time for dinner, so we headed back to my friend's host family's house. She lives near the main street in Paris that leads up to the Arc du Triomphe and has a ton of shopping stores, so we walked along there on the way home. Her host mom had made a delicious dinner that consisted of a croissant with cheese (of course), salmon and creme, peas and carrots, more cheese, and chocolate mouse with strawberries. The host dad poured me wine to drink, and I didn't want to be rude so I drank it, but it tasted awful! Then I realized that was the bottle I had just brought them as a thank you, but they seemed to like it, so that's all that matters. Afterward, Tiffany and I got ready to go out, and some friends came over to her house (one, Jordan, is a friend of mine from my freshmen dorm who was very excited to see me, and another, Rachel, was in my Global Catholicism course in the fall who recognized me and became a closer friend to me over the weekend). There was actually another girl named Arielle, but she pronounces it "air-E-L" so I thought everyone was going to say my name incorrectly the whole night, but they instead said her name incorrectly! We hung out in Tiffany's room for most of the night, then decided to go to a club but someone had rented it out for the night, so Tiffany and just went back to the house and caught up with each other until the early morning hours, until we couldn't keep our eyes closed.

The next afternoon (we slept in from the previous long day) Tiffany wanted to take me to the best crepe restaurant in Paris, mainly because she knows I love dessert crepes, but also because she hasn't been yet, and she wanted to try a savory crepe with me. We went to Breizh Cafe and shared a ham, egg, and cheese crepe, which was delicious, then an ice cream and caramelized apple crepe with whipped cream and extra caramel for dessert, which we devoured in less than five minutes. After that, we headed to Moulin Rouge, which I was very excited about (I love musicals) but we found that the streets were full of certain kind of stores that we didn't need to shop at! Good thing we went in the daytime; apparently the streets are laced with women in the night hours... We could see the big church from where we were, so we walked to the Basilique du Sacre Coeur Montmarte. It was so beautiful, and the view from the top of the hill was amazing.  There was a little stage set up, and a puppet show was going on - we thought it was Genesis because it seemed like it was telling the story of how the Earth was made, Adam and Eve, and Noah's Ark, but then it turned into some different story that I couldn't understand because it was in French. We went back to eat dinner, then Tiffany had a whole plan for the night. She wanted to take me to the top of the Arc du Triomphe before sunset (it takes forever to climb those stairs!) so that we could take pictures, watch the sunset, and take more pictures, and then lead me to the lit up Eiffel Tower were Rachel would be waiting with a bottle of wine (that's what people do in Paris, drink wine in front of the Eiffel Tower). First of all, the view from the top of the Arc was amazing; however, the Eiffel Tower is literally one of the most beautiful structures I have ever seen! When it's lit up at night it's incredible, but when it glistens on the hour, it's seriously something that everyone should see at least once in their lifetime (hence me wanting to bring my family here)! We were at the Trocadero since that's one of the best viewing places, and we found a spot to sit near a performer who was playing the guitar and singing to the crowd. Rachel and I knew every song he played, so we sang along with the crowd and the man. Then, a girl made her friend go up and sing Adele's "Someone Like You" (pretty much the hardest currently popular song to sing), and the girl didn't really know the lyrics and was super anxious, so she ran away after people were screaming when the Eiffel Tower lit up. I didn't want the song to end short (like the other songs did when people would stop singing) so I ran up to finish it. I really can't believe I did that, especially with a song so difficult to sing, but I did it, and Tiffany was recording the whole time! It was pretty much the highlight of the trip :) After the man was finished performing around midnight, we went to grab food (I had a double hot dog in a baguette and churros which were both delicious) all three of us walked to the base of the Eiffel Tower to ponder its massiveness. We also had a short girl talk before we headed home. It was pretty much the best night ever.

On Sunday, Tiffany took me to the underground mall in the business district before I had to take the Eurostar back to London. It was a nice relaxing end to an eventful weekend. I was sad to leave, and she really didn't want me to, but I'm glad I had the opportunity to go in the first place. I slept on the ride to London since I hadn't really gotten sleep over the weekend, and we took a cab back to Julianne's house since we had so much luggage. Then we got take out Asian food (coconut rice and teriyaki chicken noodles for me!) and watched a movie with Julianne's younger brother. Afterward I was so exhausted that I fell asleep.

Monday was a "work now; play later" type of day, since I needed to get my tutorial reading done before the two plays we were scheduled to see (with the Stanford group) in the evening. After a morning surprise, I read until it was time to pack and head over to the theater. When Julianne and I arrived, we saw that our friend (who I drew with for next year's housing) had brought us both boba! Mine was a large and my favorite flavor :) The two shows were very interesting - we saw "South Downs" and "The Browning Version" - and then headed back to the Stanford House. I couldn't believe that I hadn't been home since Thursday afternoon, but I got right to unpacking so that I could start my paper. I was able to finish with enough time to sleep for about 4 hours, and I just got back from my meeting with my tutor. He liked this paper again, but he realized that he had drifted away from my primary area of interest, children. I didn't mind, but he cared enough to choose a child-related topic for my next paper, which will be my last with him. He even went through the trouble to bring a book that he felt I will enjoy, mainly so that I would be able to read it within the comfort of my own room/house/friends' rooms/etc but also because he knew the topic would intrigue me. I really wish I could start reading it today, but I have to finish the paper for my gender class first, so that's what I will be doing in the next couple of days. Oh, but I might be attending a BOP (Big Ol' Party) with my roommate tonight, as well as a ball this weekend (it's the cheapest one and it's on a boat!) so I'll definitely take lots of pictures. Here are some pictures from Paris!!