Week 11

This week has been less exciting but hey can't have a fantastic week all the time! On Wednesday i thought the world was going to explode, people running around being frantic about a storm which i had clearly missed the anticipation of. However, once the storm arrived that was also called by some "the real twister" i was disappointed. It was what we call in England, rain. 

Thursday came and my next presentation topic is now Gender Violence within Satanic Horror Films, which as exciting and interesting as it may be it is also a little bit heavy and depressing at times. At least i will understand what i am talking about this time, unlike last week!

Friday saw the weekly visit to Mimi's for food and cocktails, Fettuccine Alfredo and Cocktails to round the week off. Unfortunately i had a meeting at 10am on the Saturday to discuss Satan. It was with the same professor i had breakfast with the week before so she is starting to see my drink pattern now. 

The weekend consisted of work which was kind of dull but now i have a dip in my work schedule which is pretty cool so i can do more things like knitting and watching paint dry. Sunday was good though as my trip to Las Vegas has been booked for end of May so that is something to definitely look forward to. 

On Tuesday i saw my first Quidditch practice it was a "bring your own broom" occasion so i just watched and took photos. Apparently ground Quidditch is quite popular amongst American Universities! and the golden snitch is a person running around the entire campus. She ran past me but i didn't manage to get a photo quick enough. 

Week 10

Firstly, Week 10? WHAT?! The time is going far too fast for me!

With Spring Break over and Mid-terms still in session this meant i had a lovely week ahead of me catching up- Oh the Joys!
Thursday i went to see Gnomeo and Juliet which has taken me like forever to get someone to go see it with me. The final viewing was on Thursday so i wasn't going to miss out on it. I do wonder what William Shakespeare would have thought to it. I guess we shall never find out.

Naturally after a long week my roomie and I decided the best thing to do was to go down to Mimi's for cocktails, the best thing is we have been in so often now they remember us and the drinks we want, which is great as now we are getting free drinks! The desert Martini's are nice but very sickly! Vanilla Ice Cream, Brandy and Amaretto. My personal favourite is the raspberry lemonade martini or the mangopolitan. http://www.mimisrestaurant.net/home.html

Meet the Mangopolitan

Yummy Raspberry Lemonade Martini 

Monica

Me

Bar staff at Mimis

Almond Joy

The Ice Cream thing.

Saturday morning, after the cocktails, was a 9am start for me going to Tops Diner on Route 22 for breakfast with my Media Violence Professor. It was very typically American and the food was delicious which made a nice change to even have breakfast and not school food! My professor is really nice, friendly and has a great sense of humour. The upside of getting up so early, aside from a yummy breakfast, was that i was up and alert to do my essay. Apparently, the leaving the Christmas decorations up all year is because they use the tree and tinsel for different holidays. So at the diner they had Easter eggs on the tree. 

The best breakfast you will ever have in PA!

Me and Phillipo at Tops Diner. [the professor took the photo]

Sunday was a boring working day but i went to Standing Stone for dinner which was the only time i left my room all day! We were under the impression that spring had finally arrived.....incorrect, aside form being forecast snow, Monday was like a monsoon in the morning and naturally i was ready to strangle Punxutawney Phil again. Lucky for the little creature the sun arrive midday with a glorious 18C so all is forgiven unless it snows. Monday night i joined Knitting Club and by the time i got out of that at 8pm it was warmer still and humid, actually felt like i was in a foreign country.

Tuesday was very stressful as i had a presentation to do on a book i didn't understand....here is a snippet of the book.... 

“If, as Martyn Lee argues, youth can be seen as the ideal representative, socially and ideologically, of Fordisms strategic enshrinement of consumption and that the same time as its most telling site of cultural contradiction, then how does the structural crisis of Fordism and the advent of a regime of flexible accumulation impact youth both as a social subject and as an ideological figure?”

I still have no idea what the book is about!

Also this is the "drive-thru" bank they have!!

Week 9

On Tuesday evening we went to go see The Lion King at Mandalay Bay and it was absolutely amazing! I would recommend anyone to go see it if they have chance! The rest of the time in Vegas was predominantly spent wandering the Strip going to see Bellagio fountains on a night amongst other novelty hotels and sunbathing during the day. Was a good chill out few days rather than running around a city being worn out. Also on the last day whilst waiting for the Taxi to take us to the airport, I tried my luck once more at the slots and won again =)

Time to Say Goodbye is my favourite one.

Friday it was goodbye Las Vegas and Hello Chicago. Whilst flying out up to Chicago we flew over the Grand Canyon which was pretty fun, although I have seen it before the last time I was in the area (2009), was good to see it by air. To be honest, I was gutted to see the back of Vegas but Chicago is amazing. I loved it. Not sure at the moment which I prefer- Chicago or New York but at any rate it is a nice city. For those of you who don’t know, The Blues Brothers is my favourite film that’s why I have a general attraction to Chicago. On the Saturday they celebrated St Patrick's day by dying the river green and having a parade around lunch time. The dying of the river green was really weird when they first started as it was a radioactive green but once it spread and settled it was a nicer green. Apparently the history of it was 4 men who funded it themselves and started the tradition. One of the men lost his life to cancer recently so there were banners in his honour. I am curious as to how long the river stays green. 

On Sunday it was spent roaming the city and a trip to what used to be Sears Tower, now Willis Tower AKA Skydeck. The queue was too long and over an hour to wait for the trip so i didn't bother as it was already late afternoon. 

Monday was a long day as i was up at 5am for my flight and then a lot of waiting around at train stations and stuff. 

My lonely breakfast at the Airport. Maple syrup and bacon.