In Memory of Bunni

The woman I have worked for as a personal assistant of sorts died last night. She was not only someone I worked for, but also a good friend.

I went to visit her in January before I left for England, knowing that I would likely not see her again. In my mind, she will remain frozen as she was on that particular evening. She was happy and had friends around her. I will always think of her as someone who loved flowers and gummi bears and silly tv. She hated being alone.

I have been giving a lot of thought about how I should remember Bunni. Since I can not attend the funeral I have this very peculiar need to do something in honor of her. I need to do something for her, as my way of saying goodbye. I will have to think about this some more, but I know more than anything else, Bunni should be remembered through an act of selflessness and goodness.

Coulda, Woulda, Shoulda

Well, I just got back a little while ago from my International Food Festival. It was IN-sane. It was by far the biggest event I have ever planned entirely by myself. We had around 150 people in attendance, and we had to turn about 50 people away at the door. There was so much food and it all looked so wonderful, and then WHAM... gone.

I have really mixed feelings about how the whole event went. I know that I personally invested a huge amount of effort and planning into the event, and yet still there were things I wish I could have known. I would say that 90% of the people in attendance got enough to eat and were happy, but the 10% at the end probably did not. Some asked for their money back because the food was all gone. I just really wanted people to enjoy themselves and feel satisfied, but there was just too many people. I should have sold fewer tickets, but it was so hard to predict how quickly the food would go. I know hindsight is 20/20, but it is still hard to not beat myself up about it.

The good news, however, is that we raised at least £250, which is almost $500 for Action Against Hunger! That is definitely the best part of the night. It will be great to call them up tomorrow and tell them the good news. This is a lot of money for them.

For now, however, I need to stop beating myself up for not being psychic.

You Are Lisa Simpson

A total child prodigy and super genius, you have the mind for world domination. But you prefer world peace, Buddhism, and tofu dogs. You will be remembered for: all your academic accomplishments Your life philosophy: "I refuse to believe that everybody refuses to believe the truth"

The Simpsons Personality Test

Old York!

On Saturday I went with some friends to see the city of York, which is about 2/3 of the way north to Scotland from Cambridge. It was kind of a last minute decision to go, mainly because I didn't have that much that needed to get done this weekend. It was a long trip up and back, but totally worth it!

York has an amazing cathedral, known as the York Minster. It is the biggest gothic cathedral north of the alps. Quite beautiful, and very famous for its stained glass! My friends and I spent about 2 1/2 hours touring the cathedral, and there was still more to see when we left (because our brains were full and our stomachs were empty).

After leaving the cathdral we wandered around the city and walked along its medieval walls. We saw the River Ouse (pronounced ooze... hehe) and lots of Vikings (there was a viking festival in the city on the day we were there, and so there were a lot of viking enthusiaists walking around in full gear)

At 6:00 we had to catch a train back to Cambridge. We had to get back for our college's "Latin Lovers Party", which is what the 100 heart-shaped balloons were for. It was a great party, and I know I had a really good time, despite being exhausted from travelling to York and back!

99 Red Balloons

Last night at 1:30 in the morning I realized that I needed about a hundred red heart-shaped balloons ASAP. I called a couple places and of course nothing was open and I was not able to order my balloons. This is why I love the USA, because only in the USA could you actually order 100 heart-shaped balloons at 1:30 in the morning, Valentine's Day or not.

However, once I did speak with a balloon vendor this morning, the owner of the store offered to personally deliver all of the balloons to me, free of charge. This is why I love the UK, because people here are just so damn nice.

Playing Catch-Up

Sorry to everyone (haha-Theresa especially!) for the delay in updating this blog... this week has been probably the most stressful I have had since I came to Cambridge. I had a big paper due this morning, which was a huge relief to turn in. I cannot even begin to explain how wonderful it was to have that off my chest! I came home and collapsed, having gotten entirely too little sleep over the past few nights. Now, my goal for this evening is to try and catch up on all of the things I have neglected. My room is a mess, with piles of books and papers everywhere, covered by a layer of clothes. I need to restore order back into my life.

But anyway, I will attempt to fill in the blank spots between now and my last post. Groundhog's Day came and went, marked only by a discussion with some other americans about the general humor of the ritual, as well as some debate over the technicalities of groundhog prophecy. The Superbowl Party, however, was great fun! It was held in my college's bar, and a surprising number of people showed up for the start of the game. A lot of them were american, but there were also some non-americans interested in all the fuss. It was a great game and of course I was elated when it became apparent that the Steelers would win. Kick-off started at 11pm, and I think I got back to my room around 3:30 on Monday morning. Kind of a rough way to start off a rough week, but oh well.

I got news mid-week that Paloma and Lourdes are coming to London and Paris for their spring break, and it looks like I will be able to join them in Paris for a weekend! Their trip co-incides with the start of my break, so hopefully I will be able to meet them in London for a day during my last week of classes, and then meet them again the following weekend in Paris! What fun! I am definitely looking forward to seeing them and having some adventures :)

I had, coincidently, decided that I would stay in England for a week after the start of my break, and then fly home to NJ for about a month. I know I had said in my last post that I really wanted to travel, but there was just no where that I was terribly excited about going by myself. Plus, there are some very promising trips in the future (South Africa, Cambodia and now Qatar??) that I thought it would be wise to save my money for. So I had kind of made peace with that decision when I heard from Lourdes and Paloma, and meeting them for a weekend in Paris seems like a perfect compromise.

So aside from massive quantities of schoolwork this week (I am literally starting to get carpal tunnel in my right wrist, which is a scary consideration as there are still a lot of papers in my future!) I joined Cambridge's synchronized swimming team, which is just getting off the ground. And no, I do not have any background in synchronized swimming, but the only prerequisite for the team was being a strong swimmer and being able to come to practice twice a week. So I am doing that and it is fun and good excercise.

Plus, I am still organizing the International Food Festival and dealing with its logistics, as well as with an exhibition in the Cambridge University Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, which my seven classmates and I are organizing. Throw in the never-ending process of grant and fellowship applications, not to mention sleeping and eating and showering, and I have been really really busy recently. Oh yeah, and I like to go out and have fun too.

But anyway, now that my massive paper is done I can take a much-needed breather and get my life back on track. I miss everyone and hope that everyone is happy and healthy. I have also been giving Newmie's "resolution" a lot of thought and decided to make it mine as well. I am going to stop focusing on trying to find the physical place that makes me happy and instead focus on just me making me happy. Thanks for the wake-up call, Newmie, I needed that.

The Happy List

In an effort to put a positive spin on what has developed into an increasingly depressing blog with entirely too much navel gazing, I am going to make a list of all the things I am looking forward to in the foreseeable future (in no particular order):

1. The Superbowl - I organized a Superbowl Party for this coming Sunday night. (yes, it is going to be a very late night!) I have opened it up to anyone and everyone, because I really hope that people actually come watch it with me! I also really hope the Steelers win because a lot of people I know will be happy. And out of all the teams in the NFL, I love the Steelers the best, so I suppose that makes me a fan. And I am not just saying that because the Steelers are in the Superbowl, as it kind of irks me when people pick convenient times to be fans. You all know that I don't love to watch football on a regular basis, but Pittsburgh has a special place in my heart and I like to think of how much Steeler wins, whenever they happen, mean to people there. You gotta love Pittsburgh and its infectious enthusiasm for its sports teams.

2. The International Food Festival - I am also organizing this event, to be held on February 26. In addition to a fun social event here at the college, this is going to be a fundraiser for a very worthy charity. Action Against Hunger does very wonderful work around the world, basically addressing an issue I take for granted all too often- having enough to eat. Very basic concerns like hunger are often overlooked in the big picture of international development. I have learned that the second best thing to being wealthy enough to be a philanthropist yourself is to do charity work on behalf of organizations. It isn't my money, but it sure does feel good to hand over that donation check and know you are the one who made it possible.

3. Groundhog's Day - no matter what country I am in the absurdity of this day always makes me giggle.

4. Time off between March 17 & April 25 - I am still trying to figure out what I want to do with this break. I would ideally like to travel for a week or two, and then fly home for most of April (including Easter!). It is exciting and fun to plan a vacation, and I am open to pretty much anything at this point! I only know that I want to go to somewhere in Europe or N. Africa, spend under $1000, and have it be fun to do on my own. I am looking at some tours, and there was one to Morocco that I was pretty excited about. Unfortunately, it was all booked up. So now I am considering others... Greece/Turkey? Scotland? Ireland? Most days, however, I think I want nothing more than NJ, as shocking as that may sound to some of you. Time at home is so important to me right now, in a way that I can't fully explain. Nonetheless, I know I will regret it if I don't travel at least a little, so I am going to push myself to go through with this.

5. My mom's wedding - This is a big one in my book, for obvious reasons. I can't wait to see my mom so happy and beautiful, and to have everyone together on such a special occasion.

6. Warmer weather, longer days - Each night it stays light out a little later than the night before, and this reminds me that nice, long summer days are on their way. I love the kind of spring days that force people to rediscover how wonderful it can be to be outside. Right now it is cold and grey, but one day when I least suspect it, the weather will be sunny and 60 degrees out. People here will wander around confused about what the glowing ball is in the sky, but happy to be outside nonetheless.

7. Sleep - Coming from a family of champion sleepers, it is crucial to never overlook the wonderous joy of collapsing into a cozy bed. Good night everyone.