Friday, September 25, 2009

It tastes like grass.

Being home is WEIRD.

Well, I actually haven't gone home yet. I am still at my parents' house and plan to go to my house later today, when I have finished doing my laundry and pulled myself out of bed.

Last night I fell asleep at 9 pm and today I woke up at 6 am. Jet lag is annoying.


Where did i leave off in my blogging.. hmm..

Right, so Monday morning I woke up in Johnny's hotel room in Camden, with Emma already long gone to get to her classes on time. Johnny and I headed over to the Marylebone station around noon so I could meet with Alex Hinksman, who is a friend of mine that I met through Luke Conard, since Alex helped out quite a bit with ALL CAPS and Spattergroit and is pretty much just a great person in general. We all then went to Barbican where we met Emma again for her lunch break and I got to experience Pizza Express.

Emma had to return to school and the two boys and I decided the adventure for the day would be Madame Tussaud's wax museum. We were bothered right away by how expensive it was (even using these 2-for-1 coupons I had!) but literally 5 minutes inside the doors we decided it was completely worth it. The wax sculptures were AMAZING. We spent all day taking photos with "celebrities", we got to sit inside the Big Brother interview room and talk to a voice who asked us questions and gave us challenges, and waited in line for the more "popular" celebrities, like Zac Efron, Michael Jackson, and Obama. xD

There was this scary part where we had to walk through a haunted house of sorts where real actors were inside jumping and snarling at us.. I warned the guys that am really, really wimpy and can't even walk through the Haunted Houses they make around Halloween time (the ones here sponsored by radio stations and stuff), but they were like "Kristina come on, it won't be that bad!"

…it was that bad.

I distinctly remember hearing both Johnny and Alex saying "This is really horrible. This is actually terrible," as we made our way through; I sandwiched myself between them and remember linking arms with Johnny and holding on to Alex's hand with a death grip. It was so, so scary. I can't even - WHY would they build that? Why would people walk through it? Never again. Traumatized. I'm not exaggerating.

Then the museum ended with an actual ride, in cars on a track like the ones at Disneyland for Peter Pan and Pinnochio and stuff. We sat in cars shaped like London taxis and got a history of Great Britain, about the plague and the Victorian era and everything, and since it was nearing my last day in the UK and I was trying to seep up as much British culture as I could before returning home, I really enjoyed it.

Then we met with Emma again, had dinner at an all you can eat Chinese buffet, and at this point Johnny left us to go work on Hat Trick things. The three of us remaining headed in to Covent Gardens to hang out in a pub and meet up with Chloe from "A Basilisk in Your Pasta". She was so fun! We had drinks and chatted for awhile, took a few pictures… it's always fun to meet someone from a fellow Wizard Rock band, especially one from another country!

That night I went back to Rosi's, where we watched 5-6 episodes of Gossip Girl from last season and chatted and I was able to have a casual, relaxing last evening in London. It was nice, and incredibly bittersweet.

Tuesday morning I woke up early, I showered (well, Rosi's shower is broken so I kind of shoved my head under the bath faucet and did the best I could) and then she took me to Kingston where I did some last minute shopping at Primark and Topshop and my other favorite store, Miso (or maybe it's called Republic, I can't remember now). I bought about 20 pounds worth of British candy (and Millennium shortbread, thank you blog readers for tipping me off about that!) to take home and either share with people or hoard all to myself, I haven't decided yet.

Then we went back to Rosi's town, meet up with Emma, and had the most fun at Vodka Revolutions that we possibly could have. We had 2-for-1 vouchers so we bought cocktails and pitchers (and more cocktails and pitchers) and we had a very proper leaving celebration (for me, but Rosi leaves for Exeter soon and Emma just started at Conti, so we're all starting new chapters of our lives). I am going to miss those two girls so much.

Emma took the bus with me over to Heathrow where we were going to just stay up until my flight the next morning (6:30 am) but we ended up sleeping in Starbucks for about 2 hours. Emma and I had a weepy and teary goodbye, and I started my journey home.

I barely remember even going to Amsterdam Schipol, but I hardly slept on the direct flight from there to Seattle. I had the little individual screen to watch movies (thank goodness) so I watched Adventureland (weird movie) and part of Monsters vs. Aliens (until I got bored) and then I watched a pretty good movie called Sunshine Cleaning or something about two sisters who clean up after crime scenes.

I cried when I saw my mom and dad. it was so overwhelming, being back at SeaTac, having someone to carry my bags for me for once, them taking me immediately to Denny's and buying me whatever I wanted, giving me the hugs I know they've been dying to give me for over a month now… it was so good to see them. My mom took me to Jamba Juice on the way home too.

I secretly made fun of the woman in front of us for ordering a wheatgrass shot to my mom… so when we got up to order and I said my usual "I'll have a Peach Pleasure", my mom threw in, "and a wheatgrass shot, please."

She drank it, looked at me and said, "It tastes like grass."

"I don't really know what you were expecting," I replied.


I'll continue on later. Being home so far has been fun. Weird and disorienting, but a lot more comfortable and a lot less lonely than I anticipated.

25 comments:

Unknown said...

Good to hear you had a fun time over in Europe. I'm very Jealous. I finally voted for you on the blog to Antarctica competition and I hope you beat that guy from portugal. I'm actually moving up to Seattle in november so I hope to randomly bump into you sometime in the city. Keep on doing what you are doing!

hannah said...

Personally, as far as the shorbred goes anyway, hoarding is the way to go.

xx

Wyatthaplo said...

I really liked adventureland. :)

Kristen said...

It's great to hear that your last days in Europe were good ones. I've never been too far from home (at least not without a travel companion), so it's hard for me to imagine what it would be like to be away from everything for that long. I do think that you've inspired me, however, to take a chance and go where I've always wanted to go- New Zealand. You've shown me that, while things may change and every possible thing that could happen goes wrong, we can persevere and emerge stronger. =)

Stefan said...

OMG sunshine cleaning was amazing! It's from the same producers as Little Miss Sunshine. they have some sort of disease where they can only make movies with sunshine in the title. but they are all awesome movies so who cares?

Robyn said...

I loved Adventureland!

Hayley Hoover said...

I know I sound like a freak, but I like wheat grass. Jess bought me a little pet wheat grass pot for my dorm, and I eat it raw while I study. It tastes like grass, yeah, but it's great for you and makes me feel unique and healthy.

Sara said...

I remember going to that haunted house thing in madam toussands! I sandwiched myself between two friends the whole way!! Gosh that was like my scariest experience ever! xD I'm glad you had some fun days before leaving the uk!

Emily said...

Glad that your trip home was safe and successful; it's always weird coming back. I'm kind of nervous to go home from college!

It's crazy that your trip is already over, I remember when you were leaving and 2 months seemed like forever!

Ajayrious said...

I know what you mean about scayness in Madame Taussauds.

When i went to New York i had jetlag on the first day and was very tired and emotional and thought Madame Taussauds would cheer me up. However just the opposite happened.

These guys kept jumping out at me and made me cry and i couldnt get out of there quick enough.

*hugs*

seurat2 said...

Okay, I wasn't going to say it but peer pressure has got to me - I liked Adventureland too, and own the dvd. Sunshine Cleaning is also a good film. So glad you are back home and getting lots of hugs and love. And congrats to Rosi and Emma and others for taking such great care of you. And glad to see you modified your youtube page and someone deservedly got punted off, I was waiting for that to happen.

aubriane said...

Did anyone else notice "sac efron"?
I really hope that's just what you call him.

Ravenclaw2313 said...

Sounds like the last bit of your trip was pretty awesome. I am exactly opposite when it comes to haunted houses. I love it when they involve real people. Wax museums on the other hand terrify me. I can't handle all those realistic still people.

You had some fun times, and hopefully that makes you happy. Glad that you got such a wonderful welcome coming home too. Welcome back to the US!

bassrocks9 said...

Aww... your parents sound really nice and wonderful. And now I really want that shortbread thing, and I barely ever go to Starbucks.
For some reason, the part about you being scared to death by the Haunted House and death-gripping made me smile. I'm strange, sometimes.
And I voted for you like 5 times, so I hope that you win.

Louise Morgan said...

I'm glad you had a good trip home! And I totally agree with Hannah, hoarding is definitely the way to go. :] <3

Anonymous said...

I'm glad you got home to hug your parents! :D

Unknown said...

Glad you made the best of all your time in London and everywhere else. Maybe you'll be traveling to Antarctica soon :P

Crystal said...

I've always hated haunted houses, too. I like watching scary movies, but at least with a movie, I'm just sitting in my room. I can turn on the lights or mute it or even pause it. At a haunted house, you're stuck there until it's over, which I don't like. I like having a way out.

Ana said...

Well, now I know somewhere I should NOT go to in London xD I'm terrified with those kinds of attractions!
And yeah, Adventureland is VERY weird.
Glad you're doing okay so far :D <3

Emily said...

Welcome home, Kristina! I'm so glad the end of your trip was so amazing! I probably would have cried seeing my parents after so long a time so far away too.

Why is there a scary part of a wax museum? That just doesn't make sense to me....

Indigo said...

Glad to hear you're doing well :D

I had a strange dream the other night, where at the end of each of your blog posts, you would recommend a song or a band o_O very random

Natalie said...

I hate the cab-ride thing at the end of the wax works. The dancing plague-ghost girls freak me out, are they still on it? I'm glad I haven't been through the haunted bit you saw, I fear my reaction would have been similar to yours.
I hope you're having a nice time back at home but come back to England soon!

TicTacKitCat said...

I've been through the chamber live in Madame Tussauds as well, me and my friend were crying by the end. I can't believe I've been convinced into going to a fright night with similar things this halloween.

Enjoy the shortbread, it's an amazing creation. xox

Unknown said...

I love the maddame tussaud's in England. It's fantastic though I did NOT go through the scary part. I was warned beforehand.
I heart Primark. I wish we had something that incredibly awesome in America (target does not compare).

Unknown said...

Yay Peach Pleasure! That's my Jamba drink, too :)