nee how? i don't know chinese...

Greetings from Taipei!

We arrived in Seoul a week & a half ago and had a great time-- Korea is super clean and technologically advanced. The food was really yummy... until we ate too much kimchi!

We are now in Taipei and just got back from a 2 day trip in Hua Lien. We went to Taroko gorge (beautiful!) & also went white water rafting. Sooooo, we thought Tiffany, Mark, and Kevin all knew Chinese pretty well... until we came to Taiwan. Kevin is our strongest speaker, but even he doesn't understand everything. The instructions for rafting were yelled out in Chinese, then we watched a video in Chinese, and then... given additional instructions in Chinese. We did not have a guide in our raft with us so Le & I had NO idea what we were supposed to do, and the Chinese speaking people only had a slight idea of what to do (when you hear a whistle blow, that means "be careful!"). Thank goodness none of us fell in the water (everyone else in our raft did though, one guy fell in twice!). Pfft, who needs Chinese? We got life skills-- when the water looks scary, just stop paddling & hold on tightly to rope in the middle of the raft! =)

Sadly, we only have 2 more days in Taipei before heading back to the States. We have a long layover in San Francisco so we are going to make a short excursion out of that as well!

Time to go drink my 1039304th $1 bubble tea drink & eat more green onion pies.

Love from Asia


Gyeongbok-gung palace-- Seoul


Bukhansan Mountain- Seoul


beef & rice-- we've had so many of these bowls in Taiwan, yum!

Asia, baby! nom nom

Woke up this morning and stumbled upon cheap tickets to Asia!

Asia trip 2011-- we're going to Taiwan via South Korea for 2.5 weeks right after the P4s' graduation. I'm sooo excited-- I'm going to be eating so much delicious food in less than one month. We will be in Seoul for 4 days (I think) then heading to our main destination-- Taipei! YAAAYYYY. I've been watching chinese dramas since I was a little girl and have always dreamed about going to Asia to eattttttt (I know, I'm a fatty) so this is definitely going to be A.W.E.S.O.M.E!


So excited. I'm only giving myself one day at home before going on my trip to DC/NYC with my parents, but it's going to be soooo worth it!!

sea turtles & more

Just got back from my vacation in Barbados! It was sooooo nice to just be able to chillax with the family (ya know, I have been sooo stressed in Europe & all, haha). The best part was the nice naps on the beach, naps on the boat, & naps on the bus!


hotel's beachfront


family on the island tour


along another beach on the island tour


before snorkeling


we're on a boat


sea turtles!! the reason I went to barbados!!! there were so many, but it was really hard to take pictures of them since I spent a lot of time trying to chase after them to touch them, lol


getting searched by the Barbados security people (only one in our group) bc I'm a shady girl


Can't believe I'm heading to Atx tomorrow already, but I'm sooo excited to go back. I bought a nice new "executive office chair" for my desk, I have maps/pictures to decorate my place, planning to buy some speakers... it will feel just like home, but better. School, what?? Psha. I'm planning to live it up this semester. Last semester of coursework before rotations!!!

Love,
Loc

what up H-town

Just got back from an amazing time in Houston. I stayed with Amelia for 2 days: we ate, ate, ate, went shopping, ate, ate, and ate some more! Everything was so delicious and I couldn't stop myself even though I was constantly full.

After a full day of eating (no joke) on Friday, I headed into central Houston to see my undergrad ladies from Southwestern. Apparently, after graduating from SU, everyone went to H-town! It was so fun to catch up with everyone and to go out with the ladies again. Saturday afternoon, after a delicious lunch, I convinced the girls to take me to Herman Park. It was such a beautiful day outside and Herman Park is quite beautiful. The best part of the day was all the able girls (Cody just got ACL surgery) decided to roll down the hill, which, apparently, is on the Texan bucket list!


walking up the hill- love this pic


before


prepping- I obviously didn't know what to do


rolling


LOL- somehow we piled onto one another after awhile!


we started to roll again, but not sure how Roshni is perpendicular to us!


posed picture so Cody can have a picture of her "rolling"


After a nice lunch with the ladies at Dena's house, I managed to leave Houston this afternoon and arrived in snowy Dallas just in time for dinner. After one load of laundry, lots of folding & crazy packing, I'm ready for Barbados. Sea turtles- here I cooooooome!


Love & peace,
Locktwo (add me on words with friends!)

Technology is pretty amazing

Last night, after my flight from London to NYC, delta announced that they cancelled my direct flight to Dallas because of the weather conditions from the morning. What does that have to do with flying out at 7pm?? Ughhh. I didn't bring my US phone charger to Europe, so had no way to call my family and was so tired from all the flights. After standing at the delta counter for 30 mins, they said the only thing they could do was put me on a flight in the morning to Atlanta, then to Dallas, but I would have to pay for my own hotel bc this wasn't their fault- wtfffffff?!!

So, went to the hotel counter and the cheapest room is $200 for the night... And then the guy at the counter informed me that I looked stressed! Ya think???!!! Idiot. After a shady, expensive dinner, I had trouble sleeping bc of the time difference. I did manage to borrow the bartender's phone charger so finally got to use my cell to call home. :)

I only have a 30 minute layover in Atlanta; I'm gonna kill someone if I miss my flight home. I know I didn't wanna leave Europe, but that doesn't mean I wanted to be stuck in NYC, lol.

I had breakfast at the airport and checked out the New York skyline, so some good did come out of this. I should be in Dallas by early evening. After sleeping for a few days, I'll be ready to hang out Dallas peeps. I might go to Atx this weekend, but will have to see how jetlagged I'll be.

So, technology is amazing bc I'm in the air on the free wifi, awesome!

Kk, naptime. Btw- my US phone works now, so y'all can call/text my regular number instead of the google voice one. :)

♥ from the sky above Charlottesville

P.s. Sorry for the terrible writing in this post. I'm typing on the itouch and half asleep. Xoxo

Fanny whaaa??

Oh my gosh, just had the most amazing dinner last night with my Bath friends. =] Megan was working, so couldn’t make it, but Sarah and I made dinner (garlic bread, spaghetti, chocolate cake) for her housemates. It was so nice to chill with everyone for my last night in Europe. Love, love, love them.

So, after living in the UK for about 2 months, I realized… English is not English everywhere. I know it sounds weird since I was in England, not some other country, but I was confused A LOT when I first got to Bath. The accents are different and they use different phrases so I had a lot of confusing conversations (and still do).
British Phrases Lesson 101: (I bolded the more interesting ones)

“hiya, you alright?” -- Hi, how are you? (I always thought they thought something was wrong with me… nope, just saying hi!)
“surgery”—general doctor’s office
“chemist” -- pharmacist
“jacket potatoes”—baked potatoes
“chips” – French fries
“crisps” – chips
“biscuits”—cookies
“digestives”-- crackers
“dispensing” – physically labeling a prescription medication
“labeling”—typing an rx and printing out the label
“tea” – dinner
“dinner”- lunch
“school”—elementary school, I think
“college”—high school
“university” or “uni”--- university/college
“trousers” – pants
“jumper” – sweater
“saucy” – cheeky/scandalous?
“cheers!” informal thank you
“tutor”—professor/teacher/mentor
“cashpoint” – ATM
“veg” – veggies
“braces” – suspenders
“suspenders” --- lingerie garter belt (super awkward conversation at the hospital where I said one of the male employees wore suspenders a lot—whoops! They laughed at me for awhile!)
“locum”- traveling/agency/floater worker. Ex. Locum pharmacist- floating pharmacist
“stone”- 14 pounds. Ex—people always say “that weighs a stone” or “I gained 2 stones”
“roll”—sandwich
“bap” – bun
“Fanny/clunge”- vagina (it does not mean butt, so saying “sit your fanny down/fanny pack” is very NOT appropriate)
“bum bag” – fanny pack
”jelly” – jello
“candy floss”- cotton candy
“carpark” – parking lot
“scone” – biscuit
“waistcoat” – vest

So, with this lesson—you will be well on your way to travelling more successfully than I did around the UK. I can’t believe I’m going to be in Dallas soon. It sounds crazyyyyyyy to me! I left for Europe at the end of August after a crazy summer semester and felt so ready to leave Texas behind. But once I got to Europe, I started feeling really homesick (the food/travelling was taking its toll) and wanted to go home ASAP. After settling in and working in Bath, I really started to love life in Europe. It’s soooo different here compared to Texas. I mean, I love Texas and am looking forward to seeing family and friends, but it’s just different here.

I’ve wanted to go study abroad for a long time now, and I’m sooooo glad I did. I mean, it wasn’t easy being away from home, but I finally adjusted and started embracing everything. I realized although life sucks without a cell phone, I can do it. I probably will get on my internet-capable phone as soon as I get home, but whatever—haha, can’t change everything about me. I know I’m not going to come home a totally different person, but I hope that I will be a little different. I learned that I need to be more open to trying things—you’re only young once and I need to be less of a homebody. It’s great to sit at home and watch tv—but there’s so much that’s happening out there and I don’t want to miss anything. No more grandma Loc, lol!

I’m going to be home in Dallas for about a month before going on a cruise to Mexico and then to Barbados with the family. I have lots of plans to fill my time in Dallas—can’t wait! I’m going to start running again, meet up with old friends who I haven’t seen in forever, try to learn Spanish, read my pharmacotherapy handbook to get ready to rotations, figure out where people go out in Dallas and then go there, take a dance class, go shopping, and the list goes on forever (and not in that order). I have many, many goals (been writing them down to keep track) and hope to accomplish at least some of them during the one month home, we’ll see, haha.

♥ from Bath


guy tightrope walking AND playing the violin in Bath city centre

Birthday Happenings. Barcelona Pt II

My birthday in Barcelona this year was sooo awesome—it’s hard to describe the wonderful time I had. =] Amelia made sure to make me feel so special with birthday joy all weekend long!

We did tons of sightseeing for my birthday, had dinner at two awesome restaurants (one Spanish, one Korean), got into the football match excitement (BCN vs. Madrid), saw the most awesome fountain show ever, partied, and I even got cake! =]



Two nights ago, Amelia and I went out for tapas. We had loads of tapas in Madrid (all SOOO delicious), but they were mostly ordered from a menu or from a market. We went to this awesome place in BCN where everyone stood at the bar and they had certain tapas out… and then periodically brought out new tapas that they offered to everyone. We had no idea what we were getting this time since there were no labels/menus, so I was a brave girl and tried some amazing tapas! I have no idea what some of them were still, but it was soooo fun to try them all, not to mention DELICIOUS! Mmm… Hopefully I can find some tapas places in Dallas. =]

If you know me at all, you know I live in a hoodie at home… but when I arrived in Bath, I realized I didn’t pack any hoodies! WHAATTT??? So… Amelia knew how sad I was and she surprised me with a BCN hoodie for my birthday—it is so soft and awesome!!! I am so happy I decided to do my birthday in Spain this year—best decision ever!

I’m sitting at the Barcelona airport waiting to fly back to Bath right now. We had a scare this morning because I got an e-mail saying my flight might be cancelled because of the snow in the UK. I freaked out of course, and then realized the email said it was only a possibility, not definite. I’ve been waiting at the airport all morning now to make sure everything is still good to go, or else I don’t know what I would do. Spending the night in Bath tonight before taking two trains to London Heathrow Airport tomorrow morning. I booked my trains to be right on time for my flight, so I hope there are no delays tomorrow!


so awesome

♥ from Barcelona

UPDATE: my flight is delayed (of course), so I just started to chat with the people next to me—turns out, Gatwick (the other London airport) is closed due to the snow today and they’re not sure about Heathrow. I’ve been panicking about leaving Barcelona, but maybe I won’t be able to fly out of the UK anyway. I already bought my train ticket from Bath to London though; ugh, I hate wasting tickets (money). Let’s just hope I get out of Barcelona and get to Bath okay. Will have to worry about my flight home to Dallas once I get to Bath. Upside: I get to see SNOW!