Oh, you're actually curious about... me?

Okay, so I've gotten a few complaints that I don't really talk about how I am. So here it goes... I'm doing GREAT!! I'm loving my classes, my friends (both British and American, and for that matter the German, Brazilian, Chinese, and French ones too), and surprisingly the weather!! We've had an amazing string of beautiful warm sunny days here in Swansea, which is FANTASTIC!!!

Classes you ask? Okay, so I'm taking computer graphics I (I know, I already took cgII last semester, so what am I thinking? Well, I really liked the professor (I had him for database systems in the fall) and we're coding our own version of photoshop, so how could I resist?), operating systems, I'm still in the computer graphics lab, ancient science and technology (which ROCKS!!), and social psychology and brain behavior (which I just found out that 100% of my grade rests on a single essay and no exam. Woot!!) As you can see I'm still a very diligent note taker.Oh, yes, very diligent indeed (I took these in brain behavior today ^_^)Oooh, and Dad guess what? You know the pen twirlly thing you taught me (like a few years back)? And then taught me to spin it backwards? I've ALMOST got the backwards part down! I'll try recording it when I really have it :)

But other than that, some friends and I are planning an awesome three week backpack across German/Mediterranean adventure over our month long easter break! Okay, I guess that's about it.

Amsterdam!!!

So last weekend some friends and I signed up for a school offered trip to Amsterdam!! And after the 15 hour bus ride we arrived exhausted bright and early Friday morning to begin our two day tour of the city. Take a look, the city was sooo beautiful!But that morning was rainy... (you can see my friends in this one, from left to right, we have Rosie, Austin in the grey jacket, Mia, and Courtney with the umbrella)
On our way to our first stop we found this!! (It's the I am/sterdam sign!)We started with the Van Gogh museum where we were just in time to experience the grand opening of "Colors of the Night" exhibition where Van Gogh's Starry Night and other night/twilight themed painting were on display. Since we weren't allowed to take photos inside here's some pictures of us outside enjoying the rain/ice/snow! Some of us enjoyed it more than others :)
The rest of that night we just took it easy and walked around the city taking pictures... we loved the canals and how everyone rode these cute one speed carrier bikesand moreand moreThe next morning we took this awesome three hour walking tour around the city. We started at the National Monumentand Royal PalaceThen stopped at the Old Church at the center of the red light district (more on that later for those of you who don't know what that is)And stopped at places like the biggest house in Amsterdam (it's cool cuz housing taxes were based on the width of the front of your house, not the back or how tall it was. So Dutch houses were really skinny in front, a bit wider in the back, and really tall)And learned some cool facts! We were all wondering why all the houses were leaning forward, and learned this cool fact. In Amsterdam, they don't have cellars because since Amsterdam was created by draining water through dikes, everything underground becomes really really damp. As a result, the driest place to store anything was at the very top of the house. But since the houses were super narrow, how the heck did they plan on actually getting anything up there? Well, the solution was to install a hook at the top of the house, get some rope, and hoist everything up to the top and pull it through a window, a practice still used today. But if the houses weren't leaning, everything would bump against the house on the way up. Cool huh? Here's one of the hooks on some random house...and some hoisting in live action! (kind of...)We even stopped at the Amsterdam's most famous coffee shop (aka marijuana joints, and no Dad, we didn't try any) featured in Ocean's Twelve (not that I've seen it, but hey)And just to clear up some facts, the possession of marijuana is NOT legal in Amsterdam, but it is tolerated. Meaning it has to fall under three criteria. It cannot promote harm (well, if you smoke it, that's your choice and walking around with it in your pocket isn't hurting anyone), it has to be subtle (shops can't openly advertise the marijuana on their signs. Instead if you see things like "Coffee: Feels Good!" and pictures of Bob Marley, it's probably a marijuana joint), and finally, it has to make good business (well, that's kind of obvious).

Here's just some more cool pictures of the cityand moreand more
After we finished up with that one, we came back a few hours later to hit a tour of the Red Light District. And for those who don't know what that means, let me explain via the quote of a resident kindergartener; it's where girls sell boys kisses. Out of respect for the girls' privacy, we were asked not to take any pictures, so sorry, but I do have some cool facts about it. Amsterdam legalized such selling of such kisses because they realized that even if they made it illegal, it would still go on anyway, and if anything, they would have virtually no power to protect the women. So by legalizing it, the city was able to provide each woman with security and medical assistance, along with other things.

We all had a really great time but we all wished we could stay another day or two since we didn't have a chance to hit the Anne Frank house or take a bike tour. It was such a cool city and we all met some really great people!

Weekend at Naomi's

Yay, I finally found my camera cord (it had fallen under my bed and I was panicking cuz I KNEW I had brought it back to Swansea) and yay to Apple's iPhoto. It's some really cool software (most of it excessive and never used, but still, some really cool features) . You can sort photos based on its recognition of people's faces and how similar photos look. Like if you've taken a bunch of pictures in a field and have a bunch inside a building, it can recognize that they're different events and automatically separate them (I actually ended up turning this off because it got really annoying when I wanted to group my weekend's photos together, but still, it's pretty cool!)

But okay, so this trip was actually the weekend before last...

So my awesome friend Naomi invited me to stay with her and her family in outer Swansea for the weekend (we took the bus north for about an hour) and I had a GREAT time!! First off, it was absolutely breathtakingly gorgeous (the pictures don't do it justice)!! Her parents took me to one of the many castles (unfortunately the name escapes me) close by and we lucked out with a rare sunny day. Take a look, this is from the top of the castle...And here's me and Naomi! (I tried to get her parents in it too, but they insisted it be just the two of us)Some pictures of the castleHa! I got her parents too!more of the castle (because it was really cool!)Oop, here we are again, now how'd that get in there?And more of the countryside because it was just so amazing...But the best part it yet to come!! (well, for me anyway) Naomi's ultra talented dad makes violins and he was gracious enough to let me try them out! And not only that, Naomi's little sister, Abby, a very talented violinist herself, and I spend the afternoon dishing out our best on these amazing violins. It was fantastic. Naomi's dad snapped a quick picture of us doing the Vivaldi..And after two and a half days of watching british movies, making pancakes, and dishing out Bach, Vivaldi, Mozart, and Wieniawski together, I though things couldn't get better until... Naomi's dad let me take home a violin!!!!!!! AHHH!!!!! It's so amazing!! as you can see, I was extatic. I snapped a photo of it as soon as I got back. So now I'm an official member of Swansea University's musician's society.I can't tell you enough just how fantastic, amazing, and loving everyone in Naomi's family was. Thanks guys, you're the best!!