So, yesterday we found out that our ward was closed due to an outbreak of d&v (diarrhoea and vomiting for all of you non medics....) Now, this is not great news for everyone on the ward, or indeed any unsuspecting medical student who swipes in and inadvertently exposes themselves to norovirus. Its quiteeeee good news for us because it means we cant go in, which means we can lie in instead. Having said that, its come at a pretty good time. I am absolutely exhausted, I've had the same bug twice in two weeks and I spent all weekend in bed- not because I wanted to, but because I had the cold sweats/burning up combo. Not sexy. not productive. I tell you, this is hard work.
Not that I didnt expect it to be, or that I don't want it to be- its nice to feel like youre really earning your knowledge, but bloody hell, 4 months without so much as a long weekend is hellish. Now here we go, you say, moaning away, but seriously, I'm not getting paid and Im working evenings and weekends. I'm in a lecture theatre in Monday morning at 8am, we watch the sun come up during the second lecture.
Having said that- I do love the fact that things are s-l-o-w-l-y coming together in my mind. Snails Pace. But still. Its satisfying to actually get things right when a consultant asks you to list all the things that can cause hypercalcaemia, for example, instead of just wildly panicking and selecting whatever the last disease process that you read and blurting it out complete with wild gesticulations demonstrating whatever other symptoms might come with it and lots of ''y'know, y'know that thing....''s.
And how many people can say that they spent their morning trying to (unsuccessfully) catheterise a plastic penis?!
Exactly.
Medical School is fun.
Wednesday 7 December 2011
Thursday 3 November 2011
Madness on the Wards
Well, it has been rather a long time since I wrote, and for this i do apologise. Having said that, it would have been irresponsible of me to concentrate more on this and less on not causing long-term damage to the people on the wards..
Anyway, I have been on my ward for almost 6 weeks now and I have to say, its a million times better than the last 3 years of flicking bits of corpse at each other and pretending to be listening to lectures. (That was obviously a joke...i never flicked anything..)
I am on a gastroenterology ward and everyone's reaction is 'errrrrrrrghh poooo!' but actually there isnt much poo around, or even that much wee... or sick. So thats a nice start. The doctors in who's way we are getting are really good- especially our consultant who says things like ' getting your arm fixed is now our most pressing concern' and 'now youre under our team, you'll be our greatest priority'..Seriously, Ive never seen anyone with a manner quite like his. I aspire to be as liked as him- he's pretty inspirational. Whats more, he actually seems to LIKE patients, which you may think is a pretty basic requirement, but you would be surprised!
We have been taught many things and the learning curve on which i have travelled has been exponential. I can now tell the difference between prostate cancer and benign prostate hyperplasia on a plastic bottom (key skill!), i can take blood samples and i have got over my initial awkwardness of asking people how much they drink and exactly what their diarrhoea looks like. I know youre now going 'ohhh thats gross' but you really would be quite surprised at both how important that question is and how much you can tell from colour, appearance and quantity ( eggcup, coffee mug, cereal bowl-ful?)
The thing about my ward is that we have quite a few alcoholics on there, we have discovered Boddingtons under beds and seen people as jaundiced as Homer Simpson. We had to present an interesting patient on the Student Grand Rounds, which is a hospital equivalent of 'Patient Show and Tell' and we picked a pretty classic case of decompensated liver disease (this is when people who are chronically alcohol dependent suddenly find themselves jaundiced, with massive bellies filled with fluid and rather vile bowel habits. Basically, where the body was compensating for the alcoholic trauma to the liver, it suddenly starts failing...anyway, the gentleman we interviewed was so nice- he was really quite traumatised by his hospitalisation and adamant he was going to give up drinking. I genuinely think he didnt know that his 3 cans of 9% beer a day were doing him damage. To be honest, I was surprised at how little that seems. however, when you work it out- were talking 80+ units a week.
Anyway, he recovered quite well over a period of time and was moved off the ward to another..(i think the hospital just moves patients to other wards nearer the main entrance, until miraculously, one day they get up and leave, instead of discharging them..) He was now under the community alcohol team and seemed well on his way to a new life.
Monday morning we turn up for rounds with the registrar. Bad news, He's back. Were all shocked, genuinely thinking he had made a great turnaround. Whats more- hes gone mad!
You need to bear in mind that he was such a gentle man, softly spoken and happy to help anyone who needed to practice taking a history...he had been rampaging around the wards trying to set off fire alarms and swiping at peoples ankles with his walking stick.
One of the problems with decompensation is that the liver cant help to get rid of all of the toxins you get from metabolising food, so they build up and can affect your brain.
He could have got some kind of spontaneous infection in the fluid in his tummy, which could have affected him...
These are both reversible, he will recover but it really shook us all up I think. We had gotten to know him so well and yet suddenly things took a sharp u-turn. Things could have been a lot worse but it shows how difficult it can be to get attached to patients...
Probably thats lesson 1 of hospital medicine.
Number 2 is to wear shin pads around bed 21 to avoid bruises.
P.S.
Listen to this, its amazing
Anyway, I have been on my ward for almost 6 weeks now and I have to say, its a million times better than the last 3 years of flicking bits of corpse at each other and pretending to be listening to lectures. (That was obviously a joke...i never flicked anything..)
I am on a gastroenterology ward and everyone's reaction is 'errrrrrrrghh poooo!' but actually there isnt much poo around, or even that much wee... or sick. So thats a nice start. The doctors in who's way we are getting are really good- especially our consultant who says things like ' getting your arm fixed is now our most pressing concern' and 'now youre under our team, you'll be our greatest priority'..Seriously, Ive never seen anyone with a manner quite like his. I aspire to be as liked as him- he's pretty inspirational. Whats more, he actually seems to LIKE patients, which you may think is a pretty basic requirement, but you would be surprised!
We have been taught many things and the learning curve on which i have travelled has been exponential. I can now tell the difference between prostate cancer and benign prostate hyperplasia on a plastic bottom (key skill!), i can take blood samples and i have got over my initial awkwardness of asking people how much they drink and exactly what their diarrhoea looks like. I know youre now going 'ohhh thats gross' but you really would be quite surprised at both how important that question is and how much you can tell from colour, appearance and quantity ( eggcup, coffee mug, cereal bowl-ful?)
The thing about my ward is that we have quite a few alcoholics on there, we have discovered Boddingtons under beds and seen people as jaundiced as Homer Simpson. We had to present an interesting patient on the Student Grand Rounds, which is a hospital equivalent of 'Patient Show and Tell' and we picked a pretty classic case of decompensated liver disease (this is when people who are chronically alcohol dependent suddenly find themselves jaundiced, with massive bellies filled with fluid and rather vile bowel habits. Basically, where the body was compensating for the alcoholic trauma to the liver, it suddenly starts failing...anyway, the gentleman we interviewed was so nice- he was really quite traumatised by his hospitalisation and adamant he was going to give up drinking. I genuinely think he didnt know that his 3 cans of 9% beer a day were doing him damage. To be honest, I was surprised at how little that seems. however, when you work it out- were talking 80+ units a week.
Anyway, he recovered quite well over a period of time and was moved off the ward to another..(i think the hospital just moves patients to other wards nearer the main entrance, until miraculously, one day they get up and leave, instead of discharging them..) He was now under the community alcohol team and seemed well on his way to a new life.
Monday morning we turn up for rounds with the registrar. Bad news, He's back. Were all shocked, genuinely thinking he had made a great turnaround. Whats more- hes gone mad!
You need to bear in mind that he was such a gentle man, softly spoken and happy to help anyone who needed to practice taking a history...he had been rampaging around the wards trying to set off fire alarms and swiping at peoples ankles with his walking stick.
One of the problems with decompensation is that the liver cant help to get rid of all of the toxins you get from metabolising food, so they build up and can affect your brain.
He could have got some kind of spontaneous infection in the fluid in his tummy, which could have affected him...
These are both reversible, he will recover but it really shook us all up I think. We had gotten to know him so well and yet suddenly things took a sharp u-turn. Things could have been a lot worse but it shows how difficult it can be to get attached to patients...
Probably thats lesson 1 of hospital medicine.
Number 2 is to wear shin pads around bed 21 to avoid bruises.
P.S.
Listen to this, its amazing
Friday 2 September 2011
Starting school.
Today, I started my hospital placement and have been reflecting on how many times i have done something similar to this and how every time i do, its still really scary.
I know that when i first started school I went with my best friend at the time (and we wore matching tracksuit bottoms sets, mine pink and his blue) and my teddy bear, Charlie. Moral support at its best. I assume we did a half day and then got taken home and gradually eased in...within weeks im sure we were all taking it in our stride. including the bear. But then, he takes everything in his stride.
Starting secondary school was probably similar, except i looked like a boy so that was a bit awkward (mainly in hindsight) and i was exceptionally keen in every way and you dont get that far on the social scale when you love homework.
By the time i started university you would think i would be used to the whole 'new people new places' thing..i hated manchester for the first few weeks. And then i pulled myself together and now when i come to this city, it feels like im coming home. a different home, but still, home nonetheless. I'd pretty much got the whole uni thing down, lectures and pbl alllll good. And yet again I find myself out of my depth, in 'The Greenest Hospital in the UK', shiny new building, the chattering of the Future's Doctors and feeling like i would quite like to to do a runner and get back into bed. I know, i know its fine, i'll settle in, soon ill be strutting around like i own the place, but still, its a little daunting. I could have done with Charlie and his bear-like charm and moral support.
I know that when i first started school I went with my best friend at the time (and we wore matching tracksuit bottoms sets, mine pink and his blue) and my teddy bear, Charlie. Moral support at its best. I assume we did a half day and then got taken home and gradually eased in...within weeks im sure we were all taking it in our stride. including the bear. But then, he takes everything in his stride.
Starting secondary school was probably similar, except i looked like a boy so that was a bit awkward (mainly in hindsight) and i was exceptionally keen in every way and you dont get that far on the social scale when you love homework.
By the time i started university you would think i would be used to the whole 'new people new places' thing..i hated manchester for the first few weeks. And then i pulled myself together and now when i come to this city, it feels like im coming home. a different home, but still, home nonetheless. I'd pretty much got the whole uni thing down, lectures and pbl alllll good. And yet again I find myself out of my depth, in 'The Greenest Hospital in the UK', shiny new building, the chattering of the Future's Doctors and feeling like i would quite like to to do a runner and get back into bed. I know, i know its fine, i'll settle in, soon ill be strutting around like i own the place, but still, its a little daunting. I could have done with Charlie and his bear-like charm and moral support.
Saturday 13 August 2011
Harry Potter on Broadway, and other such delights
New York City is one of the most exciting places in the world. We arrived at our final destination, sweaty and grubby, but in one piece. Devastatingly, i dropped my Obama mug at the Washington bus station and it shattered into a billion pieces, just like the American economy. I was extra specially annoyed because hannah has successfully carried a Harry Potter memorobelia mug all the way from bloody orlando and managed not to break it- typical! I have just searched ebay for a replacement, it is severely lacking in any type of quality tat relating to the US president. Anyway, as i was saying, we arrived and got the metro up to our broadway hostel, annoyed that we had to cash in our Dolla coins in the ticket machine as it couldnt possibly be useful enough to take notes...so we arrive, check in and find our room to be most prison-like of them all, with a bunkbed, sink and window...this is the official title of the room as we did actually spend time ranking them...well thats what you get when you spend two months with just each other for company...we also ranked the craziest people we'd met on holiday, so feel free to ask me about it!
So, we got some pizza from this place called Sal and Carmines, which was just around the corner and it just so happened to be recommended by everyone, including that guy that plays the facebook guy in that film about facebook..anyway it was soo good i think we had a slice a day for our whole stay. Then we had a glass of wine and planned our attack on the cheap ticketing system of broadway.
At 7 am we got up and out to go and get tickets to see a show- its friday today so a prime viewing day, and we go to some theatre and queue up with a load of harry potter nerds (they werent actually, they were quite normal looking) and somehow manage to get standing tickets for that nights performance for a measly 32 dolz. Which is pretty good if you take into consideration the fact that the people sat in front of us would have to add another hundred to their tickets for the pleasure of their view.. Anyway, shortly after that we wander into times square and have a little wander around and then we navigate our way up to the Metropolitan Museum as, joy of joys, the Alexander McQueen exhibition is stillll showing, despite having been scheduled to close just 3 days before. Well, lucky us, we had the pleasure of queueing on 'Closing Weekend'...But that wasnt even the start of it. Museums in America are expensive. we completely take for granted that you can walk into the manchester one near the uni, or the bristol one at the top of park street and check that your favourite mummy exhibition from your childhood, is thankfully still there. in NYC,and indeed everywhere bar washington, you have to pay up to $25 for that privaledge...boo. BUUT, every cloud has a silver lining, some of the new york ones are 'recommended', which means when the snotty looking cashier asked us how much we would be paying to see this world famous McQueen exhibition, we say 'Five Dollars each please'. He was not impressed, but whatever, its culture, were students, he should be thankful were in museums and not out looting and rioting.
So then we queued for 2 hours to get in to see everything and then we queued the whole way around to see everything, (anyone sensing a theme?) All that said, it was wonderful, he was incredibly talented and its sad to think he will never again spray a model with paint on a catwalk.
By now my feet felt like they were on fire, we were both limping around like we'd wet ourselves so we decided to WALK HOME THROUGH CENTRAL PARK. we got lost. eventually made it back to have an hours 'foot rest' before we went back out to see DANIEL RADCLIFFE AKA THE REAL HP on broadway. Our seats were actually brilliant and he was also brilliant. The show was about a guy following a book called 'How to Succeed in business without really trying' or something along those lines, it was pretty funny and hp had a good singing voice too...must be magic! (sorry) anyway, so if any of you are in NYC at any point before december i urge you to get up at the crack of dawn and go down to get tickets. So that was fun, we also managed to fit in a drink at a local bar and chat to some locals who were telling us all about new york in the snow.
The next few days we spent trawling around various shops trying to get presents and things like that...which was fun if not tiring. It was super hot there as well which didnt help matters, and neither did our riding the metro all the time- black crispy bogeys all round!
Hannah and I have both been to NYC before which is why we didnt do 'classic tourist things'...also because theyre expensive and we would rather spend our money on bulk buying Reeces peanut butter cups. anyway, we went to 30 Rock(erfeller plaza) and looked thorough all the NBC tv paraphanalia. I almost bought some House Fridge magnets. . . . . . On our final night we went to this lovely little bar called 'Sip' and drank a massive jug of sangria in celebration of surviving all the nut jobs of america..was pretty good..and on our last day we went to the illusive schnitzel shop which we had been hunting for some time and had schnitzel and potato salad for breakfast....The joys of avoiding wholegrain! Anyway, we somehow got to JFK, it took us 2 hours and checked in about 4 times before we could wander duty free and spend our last, worthless dollars on super reduced alcohol and Key Lime Pie flavoured chewing gum (fyi it was vile)
2 films and 3 episodes of 'Jamies food revolution' later we landed at heathrow and i have subsequently not been able to get up before midday...DAMN YOU JETLAG!
Thursday 4 August 2011
'That White House isnt very white....oh, its the Treasury.'
So, we are in Washington D.C, not Washington State, and its so much better than i expected! This isn't really fair, but we kinda added it in as a filler because New York is so expensive...anyway, were staying in a place called the Loftstel. Its weird. There's some crazy woman who was convinced i was speaking Arabic when i was telling Hannah that according to US Weekly David Beckham was paying Usher to teach his children how to dance. AND, then she had the bloody cheek to tell me i should change my name because the new leader of Al-Qaeda's daughter-in-law is called Lucy. She can do one.
Anyway, to add to this were staying in a room in the basement with no windows with the most sullen, po-faced girl ever, who also happens to run the hostel. A lot of people seem to live here so all her stuff is spread all over the room and there's nowhere to put anything, which is annoying...i feel that using all of her expensive products is the only way to deal with this. (joking)
On our first full day we hit up the Organic Supermarket round the corner which is the nicest place everrrr, and we got a little picnic lunch of ham sandwiches and crisps and went off to the metro to be proper tourists and sight-see!
Once we had communicated that we wanted to go to the mall (pronounced Moll) we set off and popped out the other side in the biggest area of free tourist attractions imaginable. it would be bliss if you had a small and irritating child to entertain for half-term. We firstly hit up the Natural History Museum for the tarantulas, diamonds and originally, the rest-room.. We saw the Hope diamond (yes please) and Han persuaded me to see the Tarantula feeding which was pretty cool, except for all the annoying small children who were getting in the way and shouting out answers. Like, obviously arachnids have 8 legs duhhhhhhhh. idiots. We didn't get to hold the cockroaches but LUCKILY saw on in the bathroom last night to make up for it. I especially enjoyed the dead body/forensic section. mmm.
Next we had our picnic, which was excellent, and embarked upon our epic hunt for the White House, which was more difficult than we originally expected. after mistaking the Treasury for it, we eventually find the shining white building and take more comedy photos, to add to our collection of those taken at the Washington Monument..
Today we continued our challenge to see as many of the free (and educational) attractions as possible, starting with Congress which looks kinda like the White House but bigger, and then the Library of Congress, that is the biggest library in the world..it has 520 miles of bookshelves dontya know!? It was pretty stunning inside, much gold leaf and the likes. Its actually quite strange seeing old buildings over here, seeing as its quite a young country. Nowhere else we've been has had anything like it. After the libe we had lunch outside congress and then wandered into the Botanical Gardens which were beautiful. Had to take temporary refuge in a childs wendyhouse during the rain- pretty comical sight, hands and knees and all! It started tipping it down so we stayed and checked out the medicinal plants section and the primeval section too, did all the sniff tests of spices from around the world which, from the height they were set at, weren't for adults, but whatever. Finally it stopped raining so we went to get some comedy Obama related souvenirs and then headed all the way down the Mall to the Lincoln Memorial, past the Declaration of Independence memorial and the Vietnam Memorial...god they love remembering things here. Anyway, by the time we were looking up at ol' Linc in his giant chair, it was pissing it down and we took shelter there, and in the gift shop where they had fake old money and Martin Luther King's speech (that's where he gave it..full of interesting facts today!) We took on the rain and plodded all the way back to the metro, only to have our journey interrupted by OBAMAS HELICOPTER FLYING PAST THE WASHINGTON MONUMENT AND THEN LANDING AT THE WHITEHOUSE!! OHHH EMMMM GEEE! made my day. i waved. obviously.
So, now were preparing for our final city, which is meant to be mega hot, by washing our pants and drinking hot chocolate..any tips for NYC feel free to contact..
Lots of love, not long now!
Anyway, to add to this were staying in a room in the basement with no windows with the most sullen, po-faced girl ever, who also happens to run the hostel. A lot of people seem to live here so all her stuff is spread all over the room and there's nowhere to put anything, which is annoying...i feel that using all of her expensive products is the only way to deal with this. (joking)
On our first full day we hit up the Organic Supermarket round the corner which is the nicest place everrrr, and we got a little picnic lunch of ham sandwiches and crisps and went off to the metro to be proper tourists and sight-see!
Once we had communicated that we wanted to go to the mall (pronounced Moll) we set off and popped out the other side in the biggest area of free tourist attractions imaginable. it would be bliss if you had a small and irritating child to entertain for half-term. We firstly hit up the Natural History Museum for the tarantulas, diamonds and originally, the rest-room.. We saw the Hope diamond (yes please) and Han persuaded me to see the Tarantula feeding which was pretty cool, except for all the annoying small children who were getting in the way and shouting out answers. Like, obviously arachnids have 8 legs duhhhhhhhh. idiots. We didn't get to hold the cockroaches but LUCKILY saw on in the bathroom last night to make up for it. I especially enjoyed the dead body/forensic section. mmm.
Next we had our picnic, which was excellent, and embarked upon our epic hunt for the White House, which was more difficult than we originally expected. after mistaking the Treasury for it, we eventually find the shining white building and take more comedy photos, to add to our collection of those taken at the Washington Monument..
Today we continued our challenge to see as many of the free (and educational) attractions as possible, starting with Congress which looks kinda like the White House but bigger, and then the Library of Congress, that is the biggest library in the world..it has 520 miles of bookshelves dontya know!? It was pretty stunning inside, much gold leaf and the likes. Its actually quite strange seeing old buildings over here, seeing as its quite a young country. Nowhere else we've been has had anything like it. After the libe we had lunch outside congress and then wandered into the Botanical Gardens which were beautiful. Had to take temporary refuge in a childs wendyhouse during the rain- pretty comical sight, hands and knees and all! It started tipping it down so we stayed and checked out the medicinal plants section and the primeval section too, did all the sniff tests of spices from around the world which, from the height they were set at, weren't for adults, but whatever. Finally it stopped raining so we went to get some comedy Obama related souvenirs and then headed all the way down the Mall to the Lincoln Memorial, past the Declaration of Independence memorial and the Vietnam Memorial...god they love remembering things here. Anyway, by the time we were looking up at ol' Linc in his giant chair, it was pissing it down and we took shelter there, and in the gift shop where they had fake old money and Martin Luther King's speech (that's where he gave it..full of interesting facts today!) We took on the rain and plodded all the way back to the metro, only to have our journey interrupted by OBAMAS HELICOPTER FLYING PAST THE WASHINGTON MONUMENT AND THEN LANDING AT THE WHITEHOUSE!! OHHH EMMMM GEEE! made my day. i waved. obviously.
So, now were preparing for our final city, which is meant to be mega hot, by washing our pants and drinking hot chocolate..any tips for NYC feel free to contact..
Lots of love, not long now!
Saturday 30 July 2011
Country livin'
NASHHHVILLLLEEEEEEEE! So, here we go. Its awesome here. Our hostel is about a 20 minute walk away from 'downtown', which is where all the ho' downin' occurs. On our first day we just walked there and looked through all the crazy memorabilia shops..took some comedy photos with a carbon fibre Elvis statue and got some lunch in a bar (its the only place to have lunch in Nashville- they seem to have got it right!) There was a band a playin and we celebrated not being tired and ravaged by bugs. The bassist in the band was amazing, someone mentioned something about him being in a film about Elvis, everyone here is trying to make it, in the fame sense..y'know, the old chestnut about every waiter being a budding young star.. well our waitress was a sullen old cowboy boot who didn't deserve the tip that we HAD to give- compulsory tipping defies the point, i think i even made some kind of old lady comment to Han about how she'd get a surprise if she waitressed with that attitude in England.
Seriously, Hannah and i might as well have gone on a tour to Napa Valley, were such oldies. Our favourite phrase is 'one of my pet hates is........' needless to say, if someone had given me a quarter every time either of us had said that we'd be flying to NYC...
Anyway, the second day we decided we must see the Country Music Hall of Fame, (i was secretly hoping for a big busted shrine to DP, nothing of the sort occurred however..) A very nice lady in the ticket booth said she could tell we were English because we were so polite.. (in truth she could tell we were English because when she asked for our zip code, we said we were from England) but anyway, she was nice. The hall of Fame is 3 floors of memorabilia, cowboy boots, fringed shirts and even Elvis's Golden Cadillac (complete with 40 coats of opaque crushed diamond and fish scale paint). It was coooool! i learnt quite a lot about the Hank Williams Clan, there was an extensive display on him, and Han got all elbow bargey excited at the Taylor swift things, small girls HAD NO RIGHT TO STAND IN FRONT JUST BECAUSE THEY WERE SMALLER! (joking, she was nothing like that) they had some of Dolly's stuff and many people enjoyed our little country dance at the interactive Dolly station...We had a good day.
Today we went to Elliston Place, Lonely Planet says its nice, but in fact, its just a row of shops. Most of the streets of most of the places we've been are deserted, but i think its just because noone walks anywhere. well, you know what they say about mad dogs and Englishwomen. We went to an old fashioned 'soda shop' and got the traditional meat n'3 which, we discovered to our dismay, was as close to a school dinner that I've got to in 13 years..but not necessarily nasty. Were all for trying things, so we got some mac'n'cheese, which was disappointingly out of a packet, and some fried okra and turnip greens (quite bitter) and coleslaw, han had crab cakes and i had baked ham. it was all fine, the piece de resistance was the Vanilla Soda we shared, some kind of weird ice cream soda combo that was, obviously, delicious!
Then we got a coffee at this old Frat house called Cafe Coco which was full of those funny triangle flags that you see in college dorms in movies. It was good coffee too for a change. We are bracing ourselves for a longggggggggggggggg greyhound journey to Washington DC tomorrow evening, and then, tea at the Whitehouse!
Love you all, see you sooooooon!
XXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Seriously, Hannah and i might as well have gone on a tour to Napa Valley, were such oldies. Our favourite phrase is 'one of my pet hates is........' needless to say, if someone had given me a quarter every time either of us had said that we'd be flying to NYC...
Anyway, the second day we decided we must see the Country Music Hall of Fame, (i was secretly hoping for a big busted shrine to DP, nothing of the sort occurred however..) A very nice lady in the ticket booth said she could tell we were English because we were so polite.. (in truth she could tell we were English because when she asked for our zip code, we said we were from England) but anyway, she was nice. The hall of Fame is 3 floors of memorabilia, cowboy boots, fringed shirts and even Elvis's Golden Cadillac (complete with 40 coats of opaque crushed diamond and fish scale paint). It was coooool! i learnt quite a lot about the Hank Williams Clan, there was an extensive display on him, and Han got all elbow bargey excited at the Taylor swift things, small girls HAD NO RIGHT TO STAND IN FRONT JUST BECAUSE THEY WERE SMALLER! (joking, she was nothing like that) they had some of Dolly's stuff and many people enjoyed our little country dance at the interactive Dolly station...We had a good day.
Today we went to Elliston Place, Lonely Planet says its nice, but in fact, its just a row of shops. Most of the streets of most of the places we've been are deserted, but i think its just because noone walks anywhere. well, you know what they say about mad dogs and Englishwomen. We went to an old fashioned 'soda shop' and got the traditional meat n'3 which, we discovered to our dismay, was as close to a school dinner that I've got to in 13 years..but not necessarily nasty. Were all for trying things, so we got some mac'n'cheese, which was disappointingly out of a packet, and some fried okra and turnip greens (quite bitter) and coleslaw, han had crab cakes and i had baked ham. it was all fine, the piece de resistance was the Vanilla Soda we shared, some kind of weird ice cream soda combo that was, obviously, delicious!
Then we got a coffee at this old Frat house called Cafe Coco which was full of those funny triangle flags that you see in college dorms in movies. It was good coffee too for a change. We are bracing ourselves for a longggggggggggggggg greyhound journey to Washington DC tomorrow evening, and then, tea at the Whitehouse!
Love you all, see you sooooooon!
XXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Friday 29 July 2011
Asheville- yogurt weaving capital of the U.S
So, i havent writtten for a while and im so hot and sweaty this is going to be a short one...Theres a heatwave in the US atm and were not talking weston-super-mare beach weather, were talking 105 at 5pm in the afternoon. Asheville, North Carolina originally made its way into our itinerary after someone told us James Franco (actor) does a creative writing course there. after lonely planet had confirmed it was a nice place to go we went there. We stayed at a really cool hostel that had a suit of armour and a vegetable patch and even hooks in the bedrooms so you could hang things up..which is a rarity over here. On our first day we went for brunch at a place called Sunny Point and i ate GRITS for the first time. apparently a southern delicacy they are in fact just a corn based porridge that is a bit, well, gritty...but nice, with cheese and sausage...and this thing called a biscuit that is in fact just a scone...MMMMMMMMM. SO thats one thing off the list...we basically didnt do anything the whole time we were in asheville because it was so hot...someone told us there was a great 'drumming circle' we could go and join in (someone would probably lend us a drum..) DO I LOOK LIKE ID LIKE TO JOIN A DRUMMING CIRCLE?! obviously i do, but i dont.
We got the bus into town on our second day, and id just like to say, i cant wait to get back to the uk- there are so many weirdos in america. Its like, i use the bus in Manchester probably 2 times a day 5 days a week and have only ever encountered Crazy Bus lady 10 times (the name says it all) and also there was this one weird bearded man who went on about when he was a student in the 70s...but thats it. Han and i havent got on a bus, greyhound or other, without some weirdo bobbing around. GODDDDDDDDDD.
anyway, we went into a weaving cafe where baby yoga was probably compusory and using non biodegradable coffee stirrers was illegal. we had a nice cup of coffee and looked around the town, which is an artists central, then got back on the bus and hid at our hostel for the rest of our time there...We did go out for drinks one night, met another nutter at the bar with his young ukranian wife (he had a massive white beard and i thought he might have been Dumbledore in disguise)...Han had gone to the toilet and he asked me if i believed in crop circles or deja vu, which in my opinion are entirely different, so i said not really, and then he told me that i should because they were real and then started harping on for the entire rest of our drinks which was quite annoying, because it meant we had to get another one after to carry on our OWN conversation. ANd then as we paid the bar tender gave us one 'on him' and we had to drink that so as not to be rude, so i blame my sore head the next day on ashevilles reputation for being the 'politest place in the states' or something.....
anyway, it was nice, but were in Nashville now and im quite happy being in counrty music heaven, at least the nutjobs here have good taste in music...
DOLLY 4EVA xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
We got the bus into town on our second day, and id just like to say, i cant wait to get back to the uk- there are so many weirdos in america. Its like, i use the bus in Manchester probably 2 times a day 5 days a week and have only ever encountered Crazy Bus lady 10 times (the name says it all) and also there was this one weird bearded man who went on about when he was a student in the 70s...but thats it. Han and i havent got on a bus, greyhound or other, without some weirdo bobbing around. GODDDDDDDDDD.
anyway, we went into a weaving cafe where baby yoga was probably compusory and using non biodegradable coffee stirrers was illegal. we had a nice cup of coffee and looked around the town, which is an artists central, then got back on the bus and hid at our hostel for the rest of our time there...We did go out for drinks one night, met another nutter at the bar with his young ukranian wife (he had a massive white beard and i thought he might have been Dumbledore in disguise)...Han had gone to the toilet and he asked me if i believed in crop circles or deja vu, which in my opinion are entirely different, so i said not really, and then he told me that i should because they were real and then started harping on for the entire rest of our drinks which was quite annoying, because it meant we had to get another one after to carry on our OWN conversation. ANd then as we paid the bar tender gave us one 'on him' and we had to drink that so as not to be rude, so i blame my sore head the next day on ashevilles reputation for being the 'politest place in the states' or something.....
anyway, it was nice, but were in Nashville now and im quite happy being in counrty music heaven, at least the nutjobs here have good taste in music...
DOLLY 4EVA xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Sunday 24 July 2011
Insult to injury...
So....Charleston, South Carolina...
After what turned out to be a 24 not 21 hour bus journey, complete with 3 changes of buses and a 5 hour layover in a bus terminal not even out of Florida (complete with weird ticket doling out guy who started hitting on us because i said he had harry potter glasses) we arrived in Charleston. This is the place that the Civil War of America started, there is a Port Moultrie, which Hannah practically wee'ed herself over, and its meant to be a beautiful place where Americans holiday themselves.
If any of you watch the news ever you will see that there is currently a heatwave in america and our 40 degree highs of Las VEgas are being beasted by the impressive 108 degrees F that we are having to cope with...
Anyway, the journey was CRAP, and we arrived to our nice hostel in an old colonial house to find a CRAZY CAT LADY in our dorm. SHE HAD A CAT. I HATE CATS. well, it was a kitten, which was even more retarded than a normal cat, it didnt have any pavlovian reflexes yet-i.e. foot=>kick. anyway, we napped and then got up and went to this cool local bar, it was my kind of local, next door. we had some drinks and sat in a hammock and watched a folky type band 'jam'... i got majorly eaten, probably because i was sat on an ants nest or something, because when i say we were in a hammock, the combined weight of me and han meant we were sat on the floor with a kind of mesh blanket underneath us.. anyway, i got bit on the ass. not cool.
We headed home and went to bed, the cat was safely locked in its basket, luckily for it..the next morning, hannah wakes me with wailing cries 'IVE BEEEEN RAVAGED BY BUGS'. now i think, ok, i got bit on the ass, maybe shes now got a matching one. No, she has literally been ravaged, there are trails of bites all down both of her legs. poor thing, i joke no more about it.
So we got some benadryl and went to try and explore, down king street which is the main shopping street.,..unsuccessful exploring really because with both of our itchy legs and the heat combined we just couldnt cope. So having purchased some dinner and an iced coffee in a gourmet food shop we struggle home, to our alcoholic lemonade and eggplant thing that was pretty nice. We went to bed super early, after listening to the Woes of this girl who we have named Shakras seeing as she is somewhat of an earth lover. boy issues. also she had just auditioned for American Idol, but sadly didnt get through. anyway, after a lot of talking about auras and alignment and being in 'different spaces' (hannah's boyfriend would say she was a yoghurt weaver, an expression which i love. think 'eat, love, prey') we went to bed with fingers crossed for less inflamation tomorrow.
This has not occured. its still there! hannahs legs are impressivly lumpy, although my ass-bite has been reduced. Today, has been as much of a fail as yesterday, we made it to see 'Rainbow Row' which is a row of colourful colonial houses. we agree weve seen better in bristol, and head back to the pharmacy to see if anything will sort what hannah has named 'niknak' legs (google them, theyre a type of deformed, fluoro orange crisp..) shes now dosed up on antihistamines. we retreated and ate noodles and are leaving tomorrow.
Not the most successful visit. Please can more of you cross your fingers for us, it didnt seem to work last time. come on slackers, its not as if were swanning around and youre at work all day!
LOve you all xxxx
After what turned out to be a 24 not 21 hour bus journey, complete with 3 changes of buses and a 5 hour layover in a bus terminal not even out of Florida (complete with weird ticket doling out guy who started hitting on us because i said he had harry potter glasses) we arrived in Charleston. This is the place that the Civil War of America started, there is a Port Moultrie, which Hannah practically wee'ed herself over, and its meant to be a beautiful place where Americans holiday themselves.
If any of you watch the news ever you will see that there is currently a heatwave in america and our 40 degree highs of Las VEgas are being beasted by the impressive 108 degrees F that we are having to cope with...
Anyway, the journey was CRAP, and we arrived to our nice hostel in an old colonial house to find a CRAZY CAT LADY in our dorm. SHE HAD A CAT. I HATE CATS. well, it was a kitten, which was even more retarded than a normal cat, it didnt have any pavlovian reflexes yet-i.e. foot=>kick. anyway, we napped and then got up and went to this cool local bar, it was my kind of local, next door. we had some drinks and sat in a hammock and watched a folky type band 'jam'... i got majorly eaten, probably because i was sat on an ants nest or something, because when i say we were in a hammock, the combined weight of me and han meant we were sat on the floor with a kind of mesh blanket underneath us.. anyway, i got bit on the ass. not cool.
We headed home and went to bed, the cat was safely locked in its basket, luckily for it..the next morning, hannah wakes me with wailing cries 'IVE BEEEEN RAVAGED BY BUGS'. now i think, ok, i got bit on the ass, maybe shes now got a matching one. No, she has literally been ravaged, there are trails of bites all down both of her legs. poor thing, i joke no more about it.
So we got some benadryl and went to try and explore, down king street which is the main shopping street.,..unsuccessful exploring really because with both of our itchy legs and the heat combined we just couldnt cope. So having purchased some dinner and an iced coffee in a gourmet food shop we struggle home, to our alcoholic lemonade and eggplant thing that was pretty nice. We went to bed super early, after listening to the Woes of this girl who we have named Shakras seeing as she is somewhat of an earth lover. boy issues. also she had just auditioned for American Idol, but sadly didnt get through. anyway, after a lot of talking about auras and alignment and being in 'different spaces' (hannah's boyfriend would say she was a yoghurt weaver, an expression which i love. think 'eat, love, prey') we went to bed with fingers crossed for less inflamation tomorrow.
This has not occured. its still there! hannahs legs are impressivly lumpy, although my ass-bite has been reduced. Today, has been as much of a fail as yesterday, we made it to see 'Rainbow Row' which is a row of colourful colonial houses. we agree weve seen better in bristol, and head back to the pharmacy to see if anything will sort what hannah has named 'niknak' legs (google them, theyre a type of deformed, fluoro orange crisp..) shes now dosed up on antihistamines. we retreated and ate noodles and are leaving tomorrow.
Not the most successful visit. Please can more of you cross your fingers for us, it didnt seem to work last time. come on slackers, its not as if were swanning around and youre at work all day!
LOve you all xxxx
Tuesday 19 July 2011
Miami Heat
So, we have been in south beach for 3 whole days, we added an extra one on the end because we couldnt face the idea of the 21 hour bus journey that we will be making tomorrow (wish us luck). Miami is super cool, C.S.I and other bad crime dramas, where i get all my American Info from, really doesnt do it justice. Were staying in an area with the largest collection of art deco buildings in the world..though dont quote me on that, i think its what the guidebook says. People rollerblade around in bikinis. its that sort of place. We have mainly been at the beach and eating as many vegetables as possible, a difficult task here in the south i tell you! Yesterday we went to the museam of erotic art because it was hot and we wanted to do something that involved air conditioning that wasnt in the hostel. It was pretty amazing...and embarrassing when we found ourselves walking down the street afterwards with our EROTIC MUSEUM ENTRY stickers still on. fail.
Its really weird here, weatherwise, without fail every afternoon theres a massive thunderstorm with lightning and everything. the beach gets evacuated, i guess because crispy electrocuted surfers probably wouldnt do too much for the tourism industry.
ANyway, we went sunbathing all morning as someone gave us a beach umbrella, and this evening we are going for a nice cuban meal to prepare ourselves for this bus journey.. will stay away from the cocktails this time.
Anyway, wish us luck please, see you on the other side, in sugar-sweet charleston
xxxxx
Its really weird here, weatherwise, without fail every afternoon theres a massive thunderstorm with lightning and everything. the beach gets evacuated, i guess because crispy electrocuted surfers probably wouldnt do too much for the tourism industry.
ANyway, we went sunbathing all morning as someone gave us a beach umbrella, and this evening we are going for a nice cuban meal to prepare ourselves for this bus journey.. will stay away from the cocktails this time.
Anyway, wish us luck please, see you on the other side, in sugar-sweet charleston
xxxxx
Sunday 17 July 2011
Welcome to Miami
Well, its certainly been a while. sorry about that but internet has been awkward to acquire to say the least. We have been to New Orleans and Orlando since i last wrote so ill try and fill you all in from what i can remember.
New Orleans was amazing. It was so humid though it was basically impossible to look nice at all because you were sweating so much. everywhere, all the time. The guidebook warned of the dangers of Post-Katrina new orleans but we didnt really have any problems. You can tell areas are dodgey, but only in the same way as any other city has 'unsavoury' areas. We mainly just wandered around looking at the beautiful french colonial style buildings of the French Quarter, sampling the delights of the creole influenced cuisine- Crispy crawfish, gumbo and jambalaya. yummm. also we had coffee in the oldest coffee house in the city and i may have bought some to bring home. not a wise move considering the size of the can.
One night we went to see Rebirth Brass Band which is a favourite of mine- ive seen them at a couple of festivals- but they have a weekly slot at this cool little club and seeing as in the entire 4 weeks weve been here we havent been out, we thought we'd maximise on this opportunity. turns out not to be such a wise move when you have to check out of your hostel by ten am.
Our bus to Orlando wasnt smooth to say the least- firstly they didnt have any room so we had to come back the next morning- which was inconvienient to say the least- and secondly, when we did get on we had a crazy bus driver who introduced herself like this 'Hello. i am mama, not big mama, small mama, fat mama, thin mama. just mama. i am your mama, you ARE my babies. we will leave now'..scary. anyway, she was so obsessed with being punctual that she threw a little girl off the bus because her dad wasnt back yet from the break...after that, she was 'not so cool mama', to us at least.
Orlando. Well people generally come here for only 1 reason, and that certainly isnt to appreciate the fine city. just as well because its not fine. its like the ass of florida. Thats probably not fair, there are 2 reasons and its mostly an either/or situation- Universal or Disney! We picked Universal, and more specifically their Islands of Adventure. now dont judge us, but this had a lot to do with the Harry Potter experience that is the newest installation to the park. It was incredible. they have made a Hogsmeade and a Hogwarts and you can drink butterbeer and have your photo taken with the driver of the Hogwarts express..you can send postcards by Owls and buy Bertie Botts every flavour beans. The ride itself was pretty cool, you wander through the castle before you get on and they have taking and moving portraits and 3d harry, ron and hermione telling you all about the adventure youre about to go on. We were like little kids! Theyve also got Dr Seuss Land, jurassic park (very cool) and several Marvel Comic rides though just as we were about to embark on the Incredible Hulk Mega Coaster the skies opened and there was a massive thunder and lightening storm. apparently they dont send guests up when theres a chance of lightning strike- which i think could be an added fun risk to the ride. Anyway, instead we bought tickets for the new HARRY POTTER MOVIE (are you sensing a theme yet?) yes, we got a bit carried away, and the only showing was at 11.20pm so by the time we had laughed and cried and clapped our way through it was 2am and the sugarrush of a day was all a bit too much. as was our 8am wakeup. but anyway, ive never been in a cinema where the excitement was so palpable, there were whoops and oohs and aahs and basically a standing ovation at the end. cool. So anyway, we were meant to get up early and get an early bus to miami but couldnt face it, and it was just as well seeing as there was no local bus and it would have been impossible for us to make it on time. things (especially lie-ins) work out for the best! Anyway, weve just got into Miami and are at quite a nice hostel which make a change from the dive we were in in Orlando..Were setting ourselves up for a couple of days on the beach to get rid of our tourist tans!
Lots of love xxx
New Orleans was amazing. It was so humid though it was basically impossible to look nice at all because you were sweating so much. everywhere, all the time. The guidebook warned of the dangers of Post-Katrina new orleans but we didnt really have any problems. You can tell areas are dodgey, but only in the same way as any other city has 'unsavoury' areas. We mainly just wandered around looking at the beautiful french colonial style buildings of the French Quarter, sampling the delights of the creole influenced cuisine- Crispy crawfish, gumbo and jambalaya. yummm. also we had coffee in the oldest coffee house in the city and i may have bought some to bring home. not a wise move considering the size of the can.
One night we went to see Rebirth Brass Band which is a favourite of mine- ive seen them at a couple of festivals- but they have a weekly slot at this cool little club and seeing as in the entire 4 weeks weve been here we havent been out, we thought we'd maximise on this opportunity. turns out not to be such a wise move when you have to check out of your hostel by ten am.
Our bus to Orlando wasnt smooth to say the least- firstly they didnt have any room so we had to come back the next morning- which was inconvienient to say the least- and secondly, when we did get on we had a crazy bus driver who introduced herself like this 'Hello. i am mama, not big mama, small mama, fat mama, thin mama. just mama. i am your mama, you ARE my babies. we will leave now'..scary. anyway, she was so obsessed with being punctual that she threw a little girl off the bus because her dad wasnt back yet from the break...after that, she was 'not so cool mama', to us at least.
Orlando. Well people generally come here for only 1 reason, and that certainly isnt to appreciate the fine city. just as well because its not fine. its like the ass of florida. Thats probably not fair, there are 2 reasons and its mostly an either/or situation- Universal or Disney! We picked Universal, and more specifically their Islands of Adventure. now dont judge us, but this had a lot to do with the Harry Potter experience that is the newest installation to the park. It was incredible. they have made a Hogsmeade and a Hogwarts and you can drink butterbeer and have your photo taken with the driver of the Hogwarts express..you can send postcards by Owls and buy Bertie Botts every flavour beans. The ride itself was pretty cool, you wander through the castle before you get on and they have taking and moving portraits and 3d harry, ron and hermione telling you all about the adventure youre about to go on. We were like little kids! Theyve also got Dr Seuss Land, jurassic park (very cool) and several Marvel Comic rides though just as we were about to embark on the Incredible Hulk Mega Coaster the skies opened and there was a massive thunder and lightening storm. apparently they dont send guests up when theres a chance of lightning strike- which i think could be an added fun risk to the ride. Anyway, instead we bought tickets for the new HARRY POTTER MOVIE (are you sensing a theme yet?) yes, we got a bit carried away, and the only showing was at 11.20pm so by the time we had laughed and cried and clapped our way through it was 2am and the sugarrush of a day was all a bit too much. as was our 8am wakeup. but anyway, ive never been in a cinema where the excitement was so palpable, there were whoops and oohs and aahs and basically a standing ovation at the end. cool. So anyway, we were meant to get up early and get an early bus to miami but couldnt face it, and it was just as well seeing as there was no local bus and it would have been impossible for us to make it on time. things (especially lie-ins) work out for the best! Anyway, weve just got into Miami and are at quite a nice hostel which make a change from the dive we were in in Orlando..Were setting ourselves up for a couple of days on the beach to get rid of our tourist tans!
Lots of love xxx
Saturday 9 July 2011
We don't call 911.
We are in Texas. Home of gun wielders and 72oz steak. More specifically we are in San Antonio, home of the Alamo, for all of you that have ever sat through that film on new years afternoon because youre still so bloated from christmas day that you cant be bothered to stand up and find the remote youre probably sat on. Having said that, its pretty cool seeing it still standing and seeing where the women and children hid and stuff- for all of those with no clue as to what im talking about, i assume Wikipedia has a good and brief synopsis for you.
Hannah has not been too well, there was a discrete projectile vomiting session just before we left albuquerque (thus, overall, new mexico was not a success..) and a bus ride from hell afterwards. We arrived in Texas, slightly worried about getting shot by hill-billies, sweaty and shell shocked and had to get a taxi to our hotel as we had forgotten to write down the address..it was 4 blocks down the road, but anyway.
For those of you wondering how a student can afford a hotel, the answer is Hotwire. i cant remember what its called in england but basically they dont tell you the name of the hotel, you just pick your destination and the proximity of the hotel to things you want to see, and its discounted cos they want to fill rooms...Anyway, were staying in Hotel Indigo, and its at least on a par with the Luxor, it has a pool and loungers and pool towels, especially and only for the pool and we both have double beds and theres even a fridge in our room and Aveda products in the bathroom! So its the perfect place for us to recoop.
On the first day we didnt do much except watch this amazing programme called 'The first 48' which follows real life cops as they try to catch murderers in the first 48 hours after a crime is committed. its the same thing that we were watching in vegas when we terrified ourselves. blatantly we are now addicted.
The second day was better, we went on the Riverwalk which is just out the back of our hotel and is really nice. Basically just a walk along the river but kinda romantic, with lots of trees and bridges and mosaics, and further on bars and restaurants and shops selling fake guns for children of all kinds. Some of my favourite things that we saw- various religious based tee-shirts, with god slogans on, like 'Called to Duty' instead of Call of Duty, and also some fairly racist bumper stickers, something along the lines of 'if you can read this, thank god for an education, also thank the military for keeping it in english' or something anti-mexican... BUT, the most golden treasure that i would have bought if it wasnt 6 dollars was a fridge magnet in the shape of texas with a plastic gun stuck to it stating 'we dont call 911'. how responsible. i suppose when youre selling miniture shot guns for kids, messages like that dont really make much difference...
We discovered an amazing restaurant called Casa Rio which has THE BEST salsa i have ever tasted. i dont even eat salsa much but honestly, this is something to write home about. hence i am. Han and i think we have devised all the ingredients, although much bribery of the waiter would not make him tell us the recipie...
Today we went to the Mercardo, a massive mexican import market with plenty of tat and treasures in equal measures. have bought some plastic mexican bunting, very useful. but cool. (sorry mum.) we also went into this cool bakery but didnt know what anything was so couldnt optimise on it. also discussed the difficulties of buying gifts when you have to carry them around for a month. so for some of you lucky readers, i might just write down a description of what i would have bought you and you can make do with that. This afternoon we lay by the pool and tried very hard to get rid of our stupid tourist tan- think short marks, and shoe marks...very sexy. and then we went for mega mexican at our fave little riverwalk food place. Then drank premium marguritas. Thank god were feeling better!!!
Heading to New Orleans tomorrow night, much looking forward to that now were back on form.
Peace out.
Hannah has not been too well, there was a discrete projectile vomiting session just before we left albuquerque (thus, overall, new mexico was not a success..) and a bus ride from hell afterwards. We arrived in Texas, slightly worried about getting shot by hill-billies, sweaty and shell shocked and had to get a taxi to our hotel as we had forgotten to write down the address..it was 4 blocks down the road, but anyway.
For those of you wondering how a student can afford a hotel, the answer is Hotwire. i cant remember what its called in england but basically they dont tell you the name of the hotel, you just pick your destination and the proximity of the hotel to things you want to see, and its discounted cos they want to fill rooms...Anyway, were staying in Hotel Indigo, and its at least on a par with the Luxor, it has a pool and loungers and pool towels, especially and only for the pool and we both have double beds and theres even a fridge in our room and Aveda products in the bathroom! So its the perfect place for us to recoop.
On the first day we didnt do much except watch this amazing programme called 'The first 48' which follows real life cops as they try to catch murderers in the first 48 hours after a crime is committed. its the same thing that we were watching in vegas when we terrified ourselves. blatantly we are now addicted.
The second day was better, we went on the Riverwalk which is just out the back of our hotel and is really nice. Basically just a walk along the river but kinda romantic, with lots of trees and bridges and mosaics, and further on bars and restaurants and shops selling fake guns for children of all kinds. Some of my favourite things that we saw- various religious based tee-shirts, with god slogans on, like 'Called to Duty' instead of Call of Duty, and also some fairly racist bumper stickers, something along the lines of 'if you can read this, thank god for an education, also thank the military for keeping it in english' or something anti-mexican... BUT, the most golden treasure that i would have bought if it wasnt 6 dollars was a fridge magnet in the shape of texas with a plastic gun stuck to it stating 'we dont call 911'. how responsible. i suppose when youre selling miniture shot guns for kids, messages like that dont really make much difference...
We discovered an amazing restaurant called Casa Rio which has THE BEST salsa i have ever tasted. i dont even eat salsa much but honestly, this is something to write home about. hence i am. Han and i think we have devised all the ingredients, although much bribery of the waiter would not make him tell us the recipie...
Today we went to the Mercardo, a massive mexican import market with plenty of tat and treasures in equal measures. have bought some plastic mexican bunting, very useful. but cool. (sorry mum.) we also went into this cool bakery but didnt know what anything was so couldnt optimise on it. also discussed the difficulties of buying gifts when you have to carry them around for a month. so for some of you lucky readers, i might just write down a description of what i would have bought you and you can make do with that. This afternoon we lay by the pool and tried very hard to get rid of our stupid tourist tan- think short marks, and shoe marks...very sexy. and then we went for mega mexican at our fave little riverwalk food place. Then drank premium marguritas. Thank god were feeling better!!!
Heading to New Orleans tomorrow night, much looking forward to that now were back on form.
Peace out.
Tuesday 5 July 2011
Happy 4th of July....
We are not really having a happy independence from ourselves. It started out not that well at approximately 1.55pm on the 3rd and has continued to be hilarious to those who arent us, pretty much ever since.
1) we have to arrive an hour before our bus to check ourselves in as we have an 'all america discovery pass' which enables us to use the Greyhounds whenever, wherever, for 60 days. So we turned up at the station, the lovely Mitch, from our hostel dropping us off, we checked in, dumped our bags in the line with others waiting for our bus and retreated to read our books. When the time came to board we stood with our bags for an hour before eventually getting them on. we boarded the bus and..there were 2 free seats but these were half occupied by 2 large ladies who were also filling their own seats, and im not talking occupied as in with hand luggage, im talking excess BODY. NOT COOL. I guess this is a problem that is faced a lot in America, with the new 'supersize everything' culture, but at the very least supersize the seats too. So. we couldnt go. We off loaded our stuff and ranted and then walked to the trainstation where we were politely informed, thank you maa'm that the next train to Albuquerque was in the morning.
We took refuge in a microbrewery where we tried many different types of ale and then went back to the bus station to catch the 7.50 bus. An hour early obviously.
2) Bags back in the queue, bus is half an hour late. Sigh sigh huff huff. Anyway, the bus arrived, people got off, we got on. There might be a problem with it. we got off, we got on. At 10pm we set off, approximately 3 minutes down the road the bus does a massive U-turn and heads right back to the station. We get off. The mechanic turns up 45mins later. The bus is a write off but its fine, one is going to be sent for, coming from Phoenix, 3 hours away, so feel free to get on the bus and just relax. ma'am. By now it is midnight, we should have been at our HOTEL with Tempur-pedic beds and a 40inch flat screen tv 2.5 hours ago.
3 hours later and we get on the new bus, sleep terribly, if at all, and by 10am we get to Albuquerque, New Mexico.
3) We decide to treat ourselves to a taxi as it is hot and we are exhausted. There arent any.
4) We turn up at the hotel, sweating and exhausted, to find we've traveled into a new time zone and although breakfast (included) is 6-10, it is now 11am.
5) So, we have spent most of this holiday trying to catch up on sleep. We eventually did venture out to an All You Can Eat Brazilian Meat Grill and are now so full we can hardly move. Happy 4th July everyone.
Love you all
1) we have to arrive an hour before our bus to check ourselves in as we have an 'all america discovery pass' which enables us to use the Greyhounds whenever, wherever, for 60 days. So we turned up at the station, the lovely Mitch, from our hostel dropping us off, we checked in, dumped our bags in the line with others waiting for our bus and retreated to read our books. When the time came to board we stood with our bags for an hour before eventually getting them on. we boarded the bus and..there were 2 free seats but these were half occupied by 2 large ladies who were also filling their own seats, and im not talking occupied as in with hand luggage, im talking excess BODY. NOT COOL. I guess this is a problem that is faced a lot in America, with the new 'supersize everything' culture, but at the very least supersize the seats too. So. we couldnt go. We off loaded our stuff and ranted and then walked to the trainstation where we were politely informed, thank you maa'm that the next train to Albuquerque was in the morning.
We took refuge in a microbrewery where we tried many different types of ale and then went back to the bus station to catch the 7.50 bus. An hour early obviously.
2) Bags back in the queue, bus is half an hour late. Sigh sigh huff huff. Anyway, the bus arrived, people got off, we got on. There might be a problem with it. we got off, we got on. At 10pm we set off, approximately 3 minutes down the road the bus does a massive U-turn and heads right back to the station. We get off. The mechanic turns up 45mins later. The bus is a write off but its fine, one is going to be sent for, coming from Phoenix, 3 hours away, so feel free to get on the bus and just relax. ma'am. By now it is midnight, we should have been at our HOTEL with Tempur-pedic beds and a 40inch flat screen tv 2.5 hours ago.
3 hours later and we get on the new bus, sleep terribly, if at all, and by 10am we get to Albuquerque, New Mexico.
3) We decide to treat ourselves to a taxi as it is hot and we are exhausted. There arent any.
4) We turn up at the hotel, sweating and exhausted, to find we've traveled into a new time zone and although breakfast (included) is 6-10, it is now 11am.
5) So, we have spent most of this holiday trying to catch up on sleep. We eventually did venture out to an All You Can Eat Brazilian Meat Grill and are now so full we can hardly move. Happy 4th July everyone.
Love you all
Sunday 3 July 2011
Is this hotel pager friendly?!
So we went to vegas, and it isnt true about what happens there staying there, as i am going to write about it. Han and I had 'ambiguous tummy bug' (correct medical terminology) caught in LA and so when we eventually arrived in Vegas we were a bit overwhelmed and had to hide in our room like hermits for the best part of the first morning. It is the most insane place you will ever go, it would only be madder if you were partying with Charlie Sheen. Besides the bug it was 40 degrees CENTIGRADE outside and our english skin was not coping well. The Luxor, where we stayed, is a giant glass pyramid complete with sphinx, and the beds were so comfortable it is a wonder we ever got out of them. To us mere backpackers the sight of the Ice bucket indicated true luxury. By the time we managed to extract ourselves from the room we quickly came to realise that everything in Vegas is expensive, food, internet, food, drinks, so naturally we turned to gambling...Not really but we did a bit and at one point were up $7 but soon got a bit too enthused and ended up satisfied with minus 3 dolla in the kitty. not bad for first timers, but its definately not true what they say about beginners luck.
We also checked out the other main hotel/casino complexes- which were pretty cool- we saw the water show at the bellagio and the internal canals of the Venetian. Obviously we tried to get onto the roof of Caesar's Palace too....(we didnt actually) but we spent a lot of time going on about The Hangover. I did like vegas but its a place of extremes, there are men handing out flyers for prostitutes to any man, whether or not they are with wife/gf/partner, and on our last night we moved downtown to stay nearer the bus station as our bus was EARLY and the hotel was 3* but seedy. It was that sort of 'i dont really want to touch the bed' seedy, but actually fine. Hannah checked the door was locked about 5 times after we acidentally watched 3 hours of real life crime/cop shows. didnt sleep to well. Then the next morning we basically had to fight our way onto the bus outta there and it was full of weirdos. It was a lonnng journey.
Anyway, we are alive and in Flagstaff which is an adorable town, and have just got back from the Grand Canyon. Seriously, everyone has to see it. It should be the law or something. Our guide made us walk up to the first viewing point covering our eyes, you can only see it for the first time once, and trust me, its incredible. words cannot actually describe the enormity or beauty of it so im not going to go on about it too much. We did a small hike down from the rim to the OohAhh point (actually called that) and saw some people with their cats on leads showing them the view- for CHRISTS sake what is wrong with america?! anyway, i said we should dangle them over the edge and fish for Condors, this suggestion got mixed reactions. anyway, its been an amazing day, i will show you all photos when i return. We are going to cook dinner now and tomorrow we head to Albuquerque for the 4th of July! (no real reason for picking there except we didnt want to do a 26 hour bus ride)...,
Adios amigos, sending love to you all
We also checked out the other main hotel/casino complexes- which were pretty cool- we saw the water show at the bellagio and the internal canals of the Venetian. Obviously we tried to get onto the roof of Caesar's Palace too....(we didnt actually) but we spent a lot of time going on about The Hangover. I did like vegas but its a place of extremes, there are men handing out flyers for prostitutes to any man, whether or not they are with wife/gf/partner, and on our last night we moved downtown to stay nearer the bus station as our bus was EARLY and the hotel was 3* but seedy. It was that sort of 'i dont really want to touch the bed' seedy, but actually fine. Hannah checked the door was locked about 5 times after we acidentally watched 3 hours of real life crime/cop shows. didnt sleep to well. Then the next morning we basically had to fight our way onto the bus outta there and it was full of weirdos. It was a lonnng journey.
Anyway, we are alive and in Flagstaff which is an adorable town, and have just got back from the Grand Canyon. Seriously, everyone has to see it. It should be the law or something. Our guide made us walk up to the first viewing point covering our eyes, you can only see it for the first time once, and trust me, its incredible. words cannot actually describe the enormity or beauty of it so im not going to go on about it too much. We did a small hike down from the rim to the OohAhh point (actually called that) and saw some people with their cats on leads showing them the view- for CHRISTS sake what is wrong with america?! anyway, i said we should dangle them over the edge and fish for Condors, this suggestion got mixed reactions. anyway, its been an amazing day, i will show you all photos when i return. We are going to cook dinner now and tomorrow we head to Albuquerque for the 4th of July! (no real reason for picking there except we didnt want to do a 26 hour bus ride)...,
Adios amigos, sending love to you all
Monday 27 June 2011
'You are natural stars'....really?!
Since i last wrote weve done LOADS!! we went to see the Giants play on our last night in San Fran..they won, blatantly because we are such supportive fans!! The atmosphere was amazing, we were soon chanting along, especially when this guy called 'The Beard' came on...hes pretty badass. Baseball is basically just jumped up rounders, so it was fairly easy for us girls to understand.
The day after we vacated our lovely room, said goodbye to the girls that broke the shower and banged the lockers at 7am with a little door slam and headed for our FIRST greyhound journey...which was surprisingly ok, even though the engine overheated and we sat on the side of the Freeway for about 30 mins! One thing we have learned- Americans are SUCH complainers, they feel like everyone owes them something...we sat stoically british not moaning even when someone fully reclined their seats onto our laps...we just talked very loudly about how INCONSIDERATE some people can be. The message was received.
L.A. what to say?? its huuuge. not really worth coming sans voiture. which is a shame as we dont have one. We have two really sweet english girls in our dorm, its like a taste of home. And a crazy lady who sleeps naked and gets annoyed when we pack up our day stuff at 11am- as if it was crazy early and we were disturbing her. How about going to bed earlier then, missy?!
Our first day we spent exploring this place called 'The Farmers Market' which is like a huge outdoor shopping complex with Abercrombie and Fitch (plus models!) and Victoria's Secret and this weird doll shop called All American Girl where you buy a doll that looks like you and then you buy matching outfits for you and your doll and theres even a DOLL HAIR SALON with GROWN WOMEN styling doll hair. creep AS. As we were walking back we saw a sign for a Tim Burton exhibition at the LACMA so we went even though it was HELLA expensive and there wasnt even student discount. But there were his scetches and animations and Edward scissorhand's costume complete with scissorhand and catwoman's costume from Batman, definitely glad we went.
On our way back we discovered this place called Whole Food Market and joked about seeing Jennifer Anniston there as she blatantly does her weekly shop in this place- i was in heaven. i cant even describe it to you just fresh fruit and veg and things like Kale chips and you can have sushi made up and there are about 10 salad bars and samples to try...anyway weve basically been back every day. its AWESOME but expensive. last night we had rotisserie chicken and $12 worth of salad, but it was worth it. (thats right mother, SALAD.)
Yesterday we hit.the.beach. its 2 buses away but we wanted to see all the skaters and muscle men. to be honest, it wasnt that great, as soon as we got to the beach it was cloudy, but we did see a cool skate competition including some wheelchair skaters who were amazing. We also found this nice bar to drink in, and an english waiter who actually poured FULL pints. They seem to like leaving at least 1.5cm s of head on the beer and im a student, i want my money's worth!
Today we walked up to Hollywood Blvd, from our santa monica hostel. it was a mission. but we took cheesy walk of fame photos and talked about what we would do if we met Bradley Cooper (a recurring theme of this trip!) I got to stand in George Clooney's footprints, if only he had been there.....(Hannah thinks George is an eternal batchelor and you never could pin him down, i say he hasnt met the right lady yet. and yes i know hes like a million years older than me, but like fine wine, he ages so well!)Also some chinese ladies asked us to take photos of them and then be in the photos because we are 'natural stars', HA! obviously dont know us. weve only just stopped smelling of garlic.
Anyway, we took a detour via wholefoods to get some sushi and then back on Melrose Avenue where our hostel is, we thought we would stick our noses in Fred Segal, department store loved by the stars, and play 'imaginary shopping', where you imagine you have enough money to buy things...anyway, as we were leaving, guess who walked in? LIV TYLER. COOOL CELEB SPOT!!! first of the trip to (apart from mario lopez who was in 'saved by the bell' and that doesnt really count)
Anyway, beloved admirers, tomorrow were heading to VEGAS! oh. yes.
sending much love xxxx
The day after we vacated our lovely room, said goodbye to the girls that broke the shower and banged the lockers at 7am with a little door slam and headed for our FIRST greyhound journey...which was surprisingly ok, even though the engine overheated and we sat on the side of the Freeway for about 30 mins! One thing we have learned- Americans are SUCH complainers, they feel like everyone owes them something...we sat stoically british not moaning even when someone fully reclined their seats onto our laps...we just talked very loudly about how INCONSIDERATE some people can be. The message was received.
L.A. what to say?? its huuuge. not really worth coming sans voiture. which is a shame as we dont have one. We have two really sweet english girls in our dorm, its like a taste of home. And a crazy lady who sleeps naked and gets annoyed when we pack up our day stuff at 11am- as if it was crazy early and we were disturbing her. How about going to bed earlier then, missy?!
Our first day we spent exploring this place called 'The Farmers Market' which is like a huge outdoor shopping complex with Abercrombie and Fitch (plus models!) and Victoria's Secret and this weird doll shop called All American Girl where you buy a doll that looks like you and then you buy matching outfits for you and your doll and theres even a DOLL HAIR SALON with GROWN WOMEN styling doll hair. creep AS. As we were walking back we saw a sign for a Tim Burton exhibition at the LACMA so we went even though it was HELLA expensive and there wasnt even student discount. But there were his scetches and animations and Edward scissorhand's costume complete with scissorhand and catwoman's costume from Batman, definitely glad we went.
On our way back we discovered this place called Whole Food Market and joked about seeing Jennifer Anniston there as she blatantly does her weekly shop in this place- i was in heaven. i cant even describe it to you just fresh fruit and veg and things like Kale chips and you can have sushi made up and there are about 10 salad bars and samples to try...anyway weve basically been back every day. its AWESOME but expensive. last night we had rotisserie chicken and $12 worth of salad, but it was worth it. (thats right mother, SALAD.)
Yesterday we hit.the.beach. its 2 buses away but we wanted to see all the skaters and muscle men. to be honest, it wasnt that great, as soon as we got to the beach it was cloudy, but we did see a cool skate competition including some wheelchair skaters who were amazing. We also found this nice bar to drink in, and an english waiter who actually poured FULL pints. They seem to like leaving at least 1.5cm s of head on the beer and im a student, i want my money's worth!
Today we walked up to Hollywood Blvd, from our santa monica hostel. it was a mission. but we took cheesy walk of fame photos and talked about what we would do if we met Bradley Cooper (a recurring theme of this trip!) I got to stand in George Clooney's footprints, if only he had been there.....(Hannah thinks George is an eternal batchelor and you never could pin him down, i say he hasnt met the right lady yet. and yes i know hes like a million years older than me, but like fine wine, he ages so well!)Also some chinese ladies asked us to take photos of them and then be in the photos because we are 'natural stars', HA! obviously dont know us. weve only just stopped smelling of garlic.
Anyway, we took a detour via wholefoods to get some sushi and then back on Melrose Avenue where our hostel is, we thought we would stick our noses in Fred Segal, department store loved by the stars, and play 'imaginary shopping', where you imagine you have enough money to buy things...anyway, as we were leaving, guess who walked in? LIV TYLER. COOOL CELEB SPOT!!! first of the trip to (apart from mario lopez who was in 'saved by the bell' and that doesnt really count)
Anyway, beloved admirers, tomorrow were heading to VEGAS! oh. yes.
sending much love xxxx
Wednesday 22 June 2011
Stinky Girls
So. Fisherman's wharf was gastronomically fantastic. As you can probably tell, we love food. We ate calamari and fresh crab and a breadbowl full of clam chowderrrr and lolled around like the sealions that frequent the docks there. It is so hot here its incredible, 30 degrees for the past few days, have some nicely pinking shoulders, will surely return a bronzed goddess (cough cough). Yesterday we took a trip through chinatown, much tat plus some rude postcards that we should have bought if we hadnt already got some. grrrr. we ended up in North Beach, no beach but a cool little place where the Beat Poets were first published. we hit up the City Lights Bookshop and got some cute little thangs. After this we decided it was lunchtime (were already getting a bit sick of stodgey pancakes for breakfast) and we had previously stumbled across The Stinking Rose. Google it. It was incredible, both me and Hannah had already read about it in different places, but it is dedicated to garlic. If any of you have encountered me as a young child you would probably know my affinity to Boursin, the french garlic and chive cream cheese. Well, quite frankly i was in heaven. We ate roast garlic in oil, squashed onto freshly baked foccacia, shrimp and tomato stew (with garlic) and a salad (with garlic) we passed on the garlic icecream for dessert..no, im not lying. The only problem is, now we actually stink! 24 whole hours later and we reek to high heaven! this is good because the girls who have moved into our dorm were crashing around at 7am and subsequently broken the shower, so revenge is sweet(ly stinking)!
Today is our last day in SF. We love it. The grande finale is watching the Giants Baseball game tonight..i know, i know...baseball is chronically boring to watch..many people have said. but so what? we have matching vest tops and an appetite for sport, beer and hotdogs! (dont worry, san fran is hilly as. were burning about a billion calories a day, for any reader worrying about the potential for an ever expanding waistline!)
Tomorrow we embark upon our Greyhound bus adventure, and at 8 hours, our transfer to LA will probably be the shortest journey we make- dreading it...but its fine, weve got magazines and snacks.........
I joke.
Much love xxxxx
Today is our last day in SF. We love it. The grande finale is watching the Giants Baseball game tonight..i know, i know...baseball is chronically boring to watch..many people have said. but so what? we have matching vest tops and an appetite for sport, beer and hotdogs! (dont worry, san fran is hilly as. were burning about a billion calories a day, for any reader worrying about the potential for an ever expanding waistline!)
Tomorrow we embark upon our Greyhound bus adventure, and at 8 hours, our transfer to LA will probably be the shortest journey we make- dreading it...but its fine, weve got magazines and snacks.........
I joke.
Much love xxxxx
Monday 20 June 2011
Observations from SF
San Francisco has a massive meth problem. it is incredibly sad and difficult to see. Bristol isn't exactly drugs free or anything but seeing people wander around aimlessly with their eyes glazed over muttering is new to me. seriously its like a zombie invasion.
Hannah and I have moved to a more central hostel not far from Union Square, where we spent our third day just wandering around. Checking out Macy's and all of the sexy boys, err i mean clothes in abercrombie..mm. This place is completely different from the Mission (which is where Santana grew up, thanks dad for that fact) its metropolitan and commercial but pretty cool nonetheless. Our Hostel is on Taylor Street, Taylor street is in fact a massive hill...so that was fun lugging our packs up here...the hostel is cool though, apart from the prison like bunk beds which require gymnastic skills to enable you to get to bed every night. i have none of these skills, im sure its a sight to be seen!
yesterday we hit up golden gate park and bridge, loving being a tourist! The park is kind of confusing, it has several very large roads running through it- JFK drive, martin luther king jr drive etc etc, so not necessarily tranquil..we got overtaken by a segway tour, and discovered a sunday lindy hop class on one of the 'sidewalks'. we watched for a bit but retreated in fear that someone might ask us to join in. Cute though.
We decided to hit up the Japanese tea garden and accidentally wreaked havoc by knocking down a bamboo railing trying to avoid getting knocked down by a toddler pushing her own buggy. Sunday is not a good day for sightseeing. We discovered this yet again at the golden gate bridge where on more than one occasion a bike angrily and narrowly avoided ploughing through us...well im sorry, but putting a pedestrian and cyclist path along the side of the bridge is the most retarded idea since chocolate tea pots. (i do wish they existed though..) we took some photos and noted alcatraz (tours need to be booked 2 weeks in advance so no luck on visiting that, though tbh the cells are probably not that much different from our hostel room..) and then headed back to the hostel, via a convienience store where we bought some Bud Light- only because they have labels that you can write messages on- which we duely did (rude ones), then drank up, and went to bed- in apprehension for our amazing day today- HELLO fishermans wharf- HELLO fishtastic food. Hello Tacky SF gifts and Postcards! WOOO
Sending love overseas xxxxxxxxxxxx
Hannah and I have moved to a more central hostel not far from Union Square, where we spent our third day just wandering around. Checking out Macy's and all of the sexy boys, err i mean clothes in abercrombie..mm. This place is completely different from the Mission (which is where Santana grew up, thanks dad for that fact) its metropolitan and commercial but pretty cool nonetheless. Our Hostel is on Taylor Street, Taylor street is in fact a massive hill...so that was fun lugging our packs up here...the hostel is cool though, apart from the prison like bunk beds which require gymnastic skills to enable you to get to bed every night. i have none of these skills, im sure its a sight to be seen!
yesterday we hit up golden gate park and bridge, loving being a tourist! The park is kind of confusing, it has several very large roads running through it- JFK drive, martin luther king jr drive etc etc, so not necessarily tranquil..we got overtaken by a segway tour, and discovered a sunday lindy hop class on one of the 'sidewalks'. we watched for a bit but retreated in fear that someone might ask us to join in. Cute though.
We decided to hit up the Japanese tea garden and accidentally wreaked havoc by knocking down a bamboo railing trying to avoid getting knocked down by a toddler pushing her own buggy. Sunday is not a good day for sightseeing. We discovered this yet again at the golden gate bridge where on more than one occasion a bike angrily and narrowly avoided ploughing through us...well im sorry, but putting a pedestrian and cyclist path along the side of the bridge is the most retarded idea since chocolate tea pots. (i do wish they existed though..) we took some photos and noted alcatraz (tours need to be booked 2 weeks in advance so no luck on visiting that, though tbh the cells are probably not that much different from our hostel room..) and then headed back to the hostel, via a convienience store where we bought some Bud Light- only because they have labels that you can write messages on- which we duely did (rude ones), then drank up, and went to bed- in apprehension for our amazing day today- HELLO fishermans wharf- HELLO fishtastic food. Hello Tacky SF gifts and Postcards! WOOO
Sending love overseas xxxxxxxxxxxx
Saturday 18 June 2011
Tequila Tequila!
So. If you have spoken to me about my trip at any point i will probably have mentioned the 8 dolla margaritas we were planning on consuming. well ladies and gentlemen, it is done!!!
We started our day feeling a little shell shocked and nervy. this wasnt helped by our complete inability to get water to come out of the shower head instead of the tap, so we had baths before an exuberant breakfast of coffee and bagels with PB&J! We ventured out to explore the Mission, the area we are staying in and mainly wandered along Valencia street which is full of funny little shops selling weird ass taxidermies of unicorns and rabbits with antlers...also cool bookshops with books on Freud and magazines about meat...having got the impression from our customs scenario and the receptionist at the hostel that Americans were less than friendly, our day was brightened by a gay man saying 'Hi ladies, how are you?!!'We passed time repeating phrase like 'excuse me maa'am, can you step off the sidewalk' in terrible american accents, but the true piece de resistance was when we cracked out the 'queens english' in an icecream parlour and got the giggles- 'i must get some money out of my purse to pay this fine young fellow'...it was funny if you were there, ok?
we headed back to our hostel after lavender honey and cinnamon and snickerdoodle cups from the Bi-Rite Creamerie and got ready to CELEBRATE us being alive and functioning and also me passing my exams...!! 3 years to go ahh yeeeaaah! (failure wasnt really an option considering i would have had to fly home for the re-sits, i think hannah was understandably as nervous as me when i was getting them!)
So, these margaritas weren't just any, they were PINT sized, and that is no exaggeration...we drank them in the window of the Latin American club on 22nd and Valencia, people watching and admiring the power ranger pinatas hanging from the ceiling. I am not exaggerating when i say it was probably 50% tequila, and it took us at least an hour to drink, but we battled on! Then came back to the morrocan style bar at our hostel and drank Stella for comfort and went to bed, but not before booking ourselves a hostel to stay in at the Grand Canyon in 2 weeks time-eeeeee! exciting stuff.
Sending love to my devoted readers and fans XXXX
We started our day feeling a little shell shocked and nervy. this wasnt helped by our complete inability to get water to come out of the shower head instead of the tap, so we had baths before an exuberant breakfast of coffee and bagels with PB&J! We ventured out to explore the Mission, the area we are staying in and mainly wandered along Valencia street which is full of funny little shops selling weird ass taxidermies of unicorns and rabbits with antlers...also cool bookshops with books on Freud and magazines about meat...having got the impression from our customs scenario and the receptionist at the hostel that Americans were less than friendly, our day was brightened by a gay man saying 'Hi ladies, how are you?!!'We passed time repeating phrase like 'excuse me maa'am, can you step off the sidewalk' in terrible american accents, but the true piece de resistance was when we cracked out the 'queens english' in an icecream parlour and got the giggles- 'i must get some money out of my purse to pay this fine young fellow'...it was funny if you were there, ok?
we headed back to our hostel after lavender honey and cinnamon and snickerdoodle cups from the Bi-Rite Creamerie and got ready to CELEBRATE us being alive and functioning and also me passing my exams...!! 3 years to go ahh yeeeaaah! (failure wasnt really an option considering i would have had to fly home for the re-sits, i think hannah was understandably as nervous as me when i was getting them!)
So, these margaritas weren't just any, they were PINT sized, and that is no exaggeration...we drank them in the window of the Latin American club on 22nd and Valencia, people watching and admiring the power ranger pinatas hanging from the ceiling. I am not exaggerating when i say it was probably 50% tequila, and it took us at least an hour to drink, but we battled on! Then came back to the morrocan style bar at our hostel and drank Stella for comfort and went to bed, but not before booking ourselves a hostel to stay in at the Grand Canyon in 2 weeks time-eeeeee! exciting stuff.
Sending love to my devoted readers and fans XXXX
Friday 17 June 2011
San Fran-a-rama
Well i think its safe to say that Hannah and I both experienced some kind of emotional apocalypse yesterday....By the time we finally got into bed over here at about 9pm we had been up for 25hours....we had been subjected to all security measures under the sun short of a cavity search (thank baby jesus for that!) including in depth questioning on our financial situations, dog search, full baggage dissection including underwear inspection (jokes..) by the time we had passed those tests of strengths we had to re-check our baggage and have our passports re-checked. To add to insult I was then subjected to a skin test for drugs and GSR and put through the body scanner...minus shoes and belt and dignity. Not gonna lie, almost cried. We then ate peanut butter M&Ms and mint chocolate chip chewing gum and hannah drank a strawberry lemonade that was 90% sugar....
Another 5hour flight later with a personality-less property lawyer sandwiched between us and a few Royal Wedding questions later and we arrived in San Fran. Got some kind of underground train to The Mission (an area) and checked into our hostel.
Feeling much better this morning, after 1.5 bagels with PB&J (peanut butter and jelly) and 2 coffees. AMERICA ARE YOU READY FOR US?????!
(will reply to emails later, my lovely family members) xxx
Another 5hour flight later with a personality-less property lawyer sandwiched between us and a few Royal Wedding questions later and we arrived in San Fran. Got some kind of underground train to The Mission (an area) and checked into our hostel.
Feeling much better this morning, after 1.5 bagels with PB&J (peanut butter and jelly) and 2 coffees. AMERICA ARE YOU READY FOR US?????!
(will reply to emails later, my lovely family members) xxx
Thursday 26 May 2011
That's all folks.....
SO. there we go, officially, another year over....not 'technically'...technically I've only been at uni for 8 months and 2 of those have been spent on holiday. But, the other day i went on a 'taster day' at the hospital i will be working at for the next 3 years (as of september) and i tell you what, it feels like starting school again!
I need to get shoes and smart clothes and, ok maybe not stationary any more, but a stethoscope at least! Its that nervous excitement combined with a hella lot of anticipation.
Im the first of my house to finish my exams, and am quick-scarpering it on sunday to save them the annoyance of having me loping around, getting up at midday and going back to bed half an hour later having eaten breakfast. Its a bit of a strange and emotional time actually, because this was us all 3 years ago
And this is us now
and its really sad to think that we wont be living together any more and that people are moving away and I'll be in manchester for the next 3 years.
Its pretty amazing to see how far we come and that were still friends. I am proud.
I need to get shoes and smart clothes and, ok maybe not stationary any more, but a stethoscope at least! Its that nervous excitement combined with a hella lot of anticipation.
Im the first of my house to finish my exams, and am quick-scarpering it on sunday to save them the annoyance of having me loping around, getting up at midday and going back to bed half an hour later having eaten breakfast. Its a bit of a strange and emotional time actually, because this was us all 3 years ago
And this is us now
and its really sad to think that we wont be living together any more and that people are moving away and I'll be in manchester for the next 3 years.
Its pretty amazing to see how far we come and that were still friends. I am proud.
Sunday 22 May 2011
This is how I'm feeling:
I dont know what it is that baby sea lions do all day, play in the sea and annoy their parents who are lolling around on the beach, but this one is tiiiired and is entirely representative of how I am feeling with regards to revision at least:
http://www.todaysbigthing.com/2011/05/11
(apart from anything its soO cute and makes me laugh out loud every time I see it)
http://www.todaysbigthing.com/2011/05/11
(apart from anything its soO cute and makes me laugh out loud every time I see it)
Tuesday 17 May 2011
Cooking Club
Now, revision time is not exactly my favourite time of year. you get bored and restless and drink too much caffeine and spend a lot of time just opening the fridge and staring at the contents and then closing it again, only to repeat half an hour later.
This semester has been gastro-crazy. in terms of the G.I tract i mean. its all excretions and secretions and sphincter control, not exactly sexy. But one thing that i do really like about revision time, is that EVERYONE i live with is doing the same fridge-gazing as me. Most people are in and tucked up in their rooms and pop out for meals and hot drinks and to disperse the cabin fever a bit.
Today I had cooking club with Paul, which was nothing more than both of us going into the kitchen together and spending that 'allowed' time off to eat, together.
My housemates are all applying for jobs and going for interviews as well as doing exams, i cant imagine how stressful that is. Also were getting to that 'its nearly time to say goodbye' stage, which is pretty sad. I would say though that I've probably seen them all more in the last 2 weeks than i had in the previous 2 months, so that's EPIC WINNING. And then next year we shall have to have Cooking Club and all meet up. YES PLEASE.
This semester has been gastro-crazy. in terms of the G.I tract i mean. its all excretions and secretions and sphincter control, not exactly sexy. But one thing that i do really like about revision time, is that EVERYONE i live with is doing the same fridge-gazing as me. Most people are in and tucked up in their rooms and pop out for meals and hot drinks and to disperse the cabin fever a bit.
Today I had cooking club with Paul, which was nothing more than both of us going into the kitchen together and spending that 'allowed' time off to eat, together.
My housemates are all applying for jobs and going for interviews as well as doing exams, i cant imagine how stressful that is. Also were getting to that 'its nearly time to say goodbye' stage, which is pretty sad. I would say though that I've probably seen them all more in the last 2 weeks than i had in the previous 2 months, so that's EPIC WINNING. And then next year we shall have to have Cooking Club and all meet up. YES PLEASE.
Thursday 14 April 2011
medical schmedical
This summer i may be one step closer to finding Clooney!!! I'm going to the USAiiiii! (he'll probs be in lake como as usual but whatevs)
I am very excited about this, especially since i went to my oldie bestie local pub with my oldie bestie Hanhan the other night and we talked about our trip and how we do really need to get on with booking things.
But anyway, i seem to have mainly written about having fun recently and am acutely aware that very few medical references have been made.
Well, to be honest i have found the gastro-intestinal tract not my favourite part of the body. Especially when our anatomy demonstrator (so calm, so kind) is chopping up poo-filled bits of duodenum and making us clean them out as punishment for not watching closely enough during dissection...
I sent a text to a few of my friends saying this,
'if youre ever having a bad day, be thankful youre not cleaning out a dead persons dissected intestines and having to poke poo lumps down the plughole with your finger'
i take my own advice occasionally when im feeling miserable, and am thankful that i am not back at that sink......
But that is the last dissection i will be doing for a while at least. WE.HAVE.FINISHED this year.
again i will say, what a joke. we still have 2 'early experience' visits to gps/hospitals and a few straggling lectures from when the lecturers were striking about their pensions, but it is the 14th april and i am on holiday!
this means i should be doing some work, but i am taking a (self awarded) well deserved break!! i have my anatomy book here so will have a gander at that, and i also have some of my case notes so might look at those, but i am content with doing practically nothing, for today at least!!!
I am very excited about this, especially since i went to my oldie bestie local pub with my oldie bestie Hanhan the other night and we talked about our trip and how we do really need to get on with booking things.
But anyway, i seem to have mainly written about having fun recently and am acutely aware that very few medical references have been made.
Well, to be honest i have found the gastro-intestinal tract not my favourite part of the body. Especially when our anatomy demonstrator (so calm, so kind) is chopping up poo-filled bits of duodenum and making us clean them out as punishment for not watching closely enough during dissection...
I sent a text to a few of my friends saying this,
'if youre ever having a bad day, be thankful youre not cleaning out a dead persons dissected intestines and having to poke poo lumps down the plughole with your finger'
i take my own advice occasionally when im feeling miserable, and am thankful that i am not back at that sink......
But that is the last dissection i will be doing for a while at least. WE.HAVE.FINISHED this year.
again i will say, what a joke. we still have 2 'early experience' visits to gps/hospitals and a few straggling lectures from when the lecturers were striking about their pensions, but it is the 14th april and i am on holiday!
this means i should be doing some work, but i am taking a (self awarded) well deserved break!! i have my anatomy book here so will have a gander at that, and i also have some of my case notes so might look at those, but i am content with doing practically nothing, for today at least!!!
Monday 11 April 2011
Old friends for the win
so as i had previously stated i was pretty excited as it was FRIIIIIIIIIIIDAY (gotta get down its frrrrrrrrrriiiday..i hope youve all watched the video).
Well i have had the most brilliant weekend, the weather was lovaleey and we had our first barbeque of the year. what was best though, was this-
LOOK! its my homegiiiirllsss. well some of them, the others were sorely missed, but seriously, this sort of thing when 4/6 of us are together is as RARE as hen's teeth. especially now people are graduating/qualifying a-go-go. so we made the most of it and gorged ourselves on charred meat and potato salad and a few cans of stella (for old times sake).Im meant to be packing to go home for easter now- also winning!
Friday 8 April 2011
So bad, its good...
its kinda like magic the way that some things can be so bad theyre amazing. not everything works in this way, for example, driving.
Theres a much discussed song (over the mediums of youtube and facebook) called 'Friday' by rebecca black. now, when she sings it, its terrible, but, when its sung like this.............
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n5Asg5ww_Iw
ITS FRICKING AWESOME.
im so exciitteeeed cos some of my homegirls are coming to visit! EPIC WEEKEND PLANNED! WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
Theres a much discussed song (over the mediums of youtube and facebook) called 'Friday' by rebecca black. now, when she sings it, its terrible, but, when its sung like this.............
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n5Asg5ww_Iw
ITS FRICKING AWESOME.
im so exciitteeeed cos some of my homegirls are coming to visit! EPIC WEEKEND PLANNED! WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
Friday 1 April 2011
That Friday feeling!!
Today, for the first time in ages, i have THAT FRIDAY FEELING!! this is no April fools, i genuinely am feeling great. And who doesn't, for it is the end of the week you may ask? well yes, but recently my weeks have been so all over the place that it really makes no difference whether its Friday or not.
I blame our total lack of contact time with the university for this, i have never felt so unproductive as having to be in uni, in the 'second' year of my degree, for only 9 hours a week...It means everything seems to get put off, because there's so much time to do it, or you do something that should take one hour in 2.5 just because you can, so you feel like you're wasting time even when you are working.
But today is the last 'official' Friday of our semester, i know, its ridiculous, its only April, and this week for the first time in a long time, although Ive been incredibly busy, Ive actually got on with things....
Having said that i have just spent the last hour in bed watching 'Junior Doctors: Our lives in their hands' a recent BBC phenomenon taking the medical school at least, by storm..
It basically is following 6 junior doctors in their first year of hospital jobs, and its really great to see what you're getting into. However its also a hot and controversial topic of conversation.
you see, they live in a huge and beautiful house in Newcastle (merci beaucoup BBC) and spend their whole lives moaning about EVERYTHING! Up to episode 5/6 (where I'm up to..) they make junior doctors at least, look terrible!! moan moan moan, inappropriate comment about nurses, moan, drink on camera, drunk on camera, moaan, blah blah NHS, blah blah moan, paperwork, moan, arrogant comment about own abilities, moan, alcohol, moan etc etc etc.
Christ, no one wants to hear it, its your bloody job and your getting paid for it. yes its hard, you knew it would be etc etc etc
I know its a steep learning curve, and I'm not saying i don't moan (indeed i spend a vast amount of my time with my medic friends complaining about the medical school, but when you're paying £3300 a year to teach yourself, you'd probably have something to say about it too...) it just seems very unprofessional.
Ive heard whisperings that they re all been brought up in front of the GMC for misrepresentation of medical professionals, amongst other things...hardly surprising when they let themselves be filmed drinking dirty pints out of frisbees or out with the nurses to help the 'ward atmosphere'. my arse.
Obviously its fine to do these things (unless you re Jon who shouldn't consume anything more than water and lettuce for the next 6 months) but it seems to me its just a schoolboy error to be filmed doing them.
The episode i just watched was filmed in October, okay so they re going to have a bit more experience now, but if i ended up in the Newcastle Victoria Hospital and one of them walked towards me with a needle i would wonder what they'd been up to the night before....I know that's not necessarily fair, but equally this is how i expect to be judged when I'm working on the wards, and therefore what is the point of broadcasting your daily life for people to ACTUALLY see how many jagerbombs you drank???
Having said that, episode 6 seems to show them coming into the real world a bit more, and Adam (arrogant and nurse 'appreciating') seems to have found some humility somewhere...
Its interesting watching, anyway, i would recommend it.
Anywayss, it was my Homegirl Holly's birthday last night, so I'm heading to Mac to celebrate with her : ) should be fun, but we'll leave no trace......!
I blame our total lack of contact time with the university for this, i have never felt so unproductive as having to be in uni, in the 'second' year of my degree, for only 9 hours a week...It means everything seems to get put off, because there's so much time to do it, or you do something that should take one hour in 2.5 just because you can, so you feel like you're wasting time even when you are working.
But today is the last 'official' Friday of our semester, i know, its ridiculous, its only April, and this week for the first time in a long time, although Ive been incredibly busy, Ive actually got on with things....
Having said that i have just spent the last hour in bed watching 'Junior Doctors: Our lives in their hands' a recent BBC phenomenon taking the medical school at least, by storm..
It basically is following 6 junior doctors in their first year of hospital jobs, and its really great to see what you're getting into. However its also a hot and controversial topic of conversation.
you see, they live in a huge and beautiful house in Newcastle (merci beaucoup BBC) and spend their whole lives moaning about EVERYTHING! Up to episode 5/6 (where I'm up to..) they make junior doctors at least, look terrible!! moan moan moan, inappropriate comment about nurses, moan, drink on camera, drunk on camera, moaan, blah blah NHS, blah blah moan, paperwork, moan, arrogant comment about own abilities, moan, alcohol, moan etc etc etc.
Christ, no one wants to hear it, its your bloody job and your getting paid for it. yes its hard, you knew it would be etc etc etc
I know its a steep learning curve, and I'm not saying i don't moan (indeed i spend a vast amount of my time with my medic friends complaining about the medical school, but when you're paying £3300 a year to teach yourself, you'd probably have something to say about it too...) it just seems very unprofessional.
Ive heard whisperings that they re all been brought up in front of the GMC for misrepresentation of medical professionals, amongst other things...hardly surprising when they let themselves be filmed drinking dirty pints out of frisbees or out with the nurses to help the 'ward atmosphere'. my arse.
Obviously its fine to do these things (unless you re Jon who shouldn't consume anything more than water and lettuce for the next 6 months) but it seems to me its just a schoolboy error to be filmed doing them.
The episode i just watched was filmed in October, okay so they re going to have a bit more experience now, but if i ended up in the Newcastle Victoria Hospital and one of them walked towards me with a needle i would wonder what they'd been up to the night before....I know that's not necessarily fair, but equally this is how i expect to be judged when I'm working on the wards, and therefore what is the point of broadcasting your daily life for people to ACTUALLY see how many jagerbombs you drank???
Having said that, episode 6 seems to show them coming into the real world a bit more, and Adam (arrogant and nurse 'appreciating') seems to have found some humility somewhere...
Its interesting watching, anyway, i would recommend it.
Anywayss, it was my Homegirl Holly's birthday last night, so I'm heading to Mac to celebrate with her : ) should be fun, but we'll leave no trace......!
Wednesday 30 March 2011
Well, i thought i'd be LESS busy this semester, but it turns out i was wrong....not for the first time... I managed to pass my january exams, which is obviously nice for me....
APPARENTLY semester 4 is a doss la la la laaaa. this is not the case, apart from the fact i have hardly ANY time in uni (seminars and dissection and the likes) i seem to have no time spare....
I have been learning to drive, needless to say, evidently from my ripe old age of 22, that i have been putting this off (for approx 5 years...) but it slowly dawned on me one morning in february, that this would be the last chance in a while that i would actually have the time to learn, and, its scary stuff. My instructor is somewhat a saint. i have no idea HOW he doesnt completely freak out every 5 seconds, but its helpful that he doesnt. Ive only nearly killed us both twice, and considering ive been learning for quite a while, thats pretty good!
Been doing some volunteering as well, initially to boost my 'Portfolio' but actually i've been really enjoying it so that'll hopefully continue next year....
SOoooooo, really I am coming to the end of this year already, which to 'normal people' is a joke...and to me it seems like for the price i pay to be on this course i am being severely short-changed.....i have 1 case to finish (meant to be doing that now....) 2 sessions of dissection, a hospital visit, a gp visit and orientation at my hospital for next year, 2 exams and......thats it. what a JOKE.
However, it does mean that i can make maximum use of the summer- im heading to the US with my homegirl hannah, we have 7 weeks to get from San Fran to NYC. HOW EXCITING! and then i have to come home, find somewhere to live, buy some clothes and shoes that i can wear in hospital and join the REAL WORLD.
Maybe i should stop complaining about having so little to do, i think im gonna get a serious reality check.
APPARENTLY semester 4 is a doss la la la laaaa. this is not the case, apart from the fact i have hardly ANY time in uni (seminars and dissection and the likes) i seem to have no time spare....
I have been learning to drive, needless to say, evidently from my ripe old age of 22, that i have been putting this off (for approx 5 years...) but it slowly dawned on me one morning in february, that this would be the last chance in a while that i would actually have the time to learn, and, its scary stuff. My instructor is somewhat a saint. i have no idea HOW he doesnt completely freak out every 5 seconds, but its helpful that he doesnt. Ive only nearly killed us both twice, and considering ive been learning for quite a while, thats pretty good!
Been doing some volunteering as well, initially to boost my 'Portfolio' but actually i've been really enjoying it so that'll hopefully continue next year....
SOoooooo, really I am coming to the end of this year already, which to 'normal people' is a joke...and to me it seems like for the price i pay to be on this course i am being severely short-changed.....i have 1 case to finish (meant to be doing that now....) 2 sessions of dissection, a hospital visit, a gp visit and orientation at my hospital for next year, 2 exams and......thats it. what a JOKE.
However, it does mean that i can make maximum use of the summer- im heading to the US with my homegirl hannah, we have 7 weeks to get from San Fran to NYC. HOW EXCITING! and then i have to come home, find somewhere to live, buy some clothes and shoes that i can wear in hospital and join the REAL WORLD.
Maybe i should stop complaining about having so little to do, i think im gonna get a serious reality check.
Friday 11 February 2011
This bus smells like the dead...
I think I've finally got used to dissection. Ive stopped noticing that its weird to be stood, scalpel in hand, in a room full of the living slowly stripping down cadavers to their very core. Its not strange that some of the bodies are hemi-faced, or mono-legged. Our demonstrator took us through the basics of an abdominal exam on Thursday and said 'What is the first thing you would notice if this lady (gestures to our cadaver) came in for a check up?' and someone answered 'We'll i think the abdominal exam would be the least of her worries, she's quite clearly got no lungs...'- The first years have started their semester on Cardiorespiratory fitness you see...
Our demonstrator is very softly spoken and sweet natured. She is training for her exams to become a surgeon and is a proverbial font of knowledge. She finds us very funny, our morbid humour is not above her although never in a million years would she make a lighthearted remark about the dead...
She asked me to find the transversus abdomonis muscle and when i say 'find it', literally, dig away with a knife until it is discovered.
'Dig' perhaps is not the appropriate word because it is actually an incredibly delicate task navigating your way through the skin, fatty tissue layer and fibrous layer to reveal the different muscles of the abdominal region. My friend Sam said he felt physically inferior to the 90 year old man he dissected who could only be described as 'Tonk' or 'Ripped'- a 6 pack to rival the best apparently!
Anyway, the most important thing about me completing this task was not that I found the muscle, but was that I could do it. Slicing an ex-human no longer bothers me!
In fact its got to the point where I need to remember that discussing this weeks anatomy session is not appropriate in a restaurant that sells slow-braised pork resembling human flesh long retired. People LOVE hearing about it, i often get asked 'have you cut up dead people recently?' and its funny to see the response when you reply 'why yes, i spent Thursday morning knee deep in gangrenous intestines'...people have a morbid fascination for these things, but providing a little too much detail is an easy thing to achieve.
I went to the doctors today and was sat in the waiting room reading a book my uncle got me for Christmas-
Was this too far too? Its brilliant, and it was in my bag and my iPod was out of battery. But i did get plenty of funny looks, especially from those closer to the grave than me...(can i say that?!)I was on the bus with my friend Kyle the other day, she was telling me that she had had to iron her lab coat for her exams as it had been shoved in a drawer for Christmas, having been newly washed, and then crumpled. The hot iron brought out the fatty, phenol-y, formaldehyde-y smell and filled her living room with 'essence of Dissection Room'..Gross....
It truly is an original smell, it gets into your hair and wafts around you for many hours. On my way back from the doctors i kept getting drifting whiffs of the exact scent as i was sat on the bus...i couldn't see a medic (post-d.r the buses, filled with anatomically accurate medical students often smell...interesting) or an abandoned lab coat.....
Must have been my mind playing tricks on me.....
Thursday 3 February 2011
Long time coming.....
Sorry fans, i know its been ages, I've been pretty busy, what with reading ENTIRE neuroscience textbooks over my Christmas holidays and the likes....Here's an UPDATERRRRRR on my life since i wrote about never being able to understand the brain-
APPARENTLY i was meant to have some holidays- they seem to have not materialised between finishing on the 19th of December and the commencement of my DEATH EXAMS almost exactly one month later. Seriously its the most stressed i have ever been, we finished them a week ago and it seems like a lifetime already. I am sleep deprived and utterly exhausted, how am i ever going to cope with night shifts? I clockwatch from about 6pm until it gets to an 'acceptable' time to go to bed! We have gone from exams straight into 4th semester, which is all about the digestive system...which is not gripping, i no lie when i tell you today i had an HOUR lecture on mucus. yes folks, snot.
The exams were hardd but i think the work i did paid off, i put everything into them, i think i have been running on caffeine, adrenaline and sugar....not a health combination, you don't have to be a health care professional to tell me that (at least i gave up alcohol though hey?!?!) and now i am seriously crashing and burning.
I went to see hol in mac after my first two just for a break and could not put a coherent sentence together, i had nothing interesting to talk about and found it nigh impossible to make a decision about dinner, let alone about what i wanted to do for the day....So we went on a crazyfun road trip to a place called Wizard's Walk and ran around the forest with her housemate Malcolm duelling with giant staffs made from sticks and played 'Guess Who in 20 Questions' and i came home feeling slightly more normal...
Holly and her housemates are only here until September, and my housemates are all graduating in June and its slowly sinking in. I'm pretty sad about it all to be honest, were just in the process of getting tickets for their Graduation Ball, which i am apparently allowed to go to, and i cant stop thinking about how much these last 3 years have been excellent and how much i am going to miss them all
This is us at the festival at our student union last Saturday, with an assortment of friends, relatives, girlfriends and boyfriends....It was an 'Out of this World' theme....dunno really what half of them are wearing!But i am very excited for all of them and very proud of how hard they work and i know we will be in contact for years to come and they will probably come to me for medical advice and i can go to them when i need to be made sane again by normality. I'm grateful at the moment i have 24/7 access and will be making the most of it....expect better costumes in the summer!
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