Stop where you are- we are going to play in nest 5

Now since we have got here a lot of our nights have been taken up with TopGear, pop tarts and tea but to spice it up a bit every now and then we play cards. Soooo Sunday night we all decided to play cards. Now we were going to play in nest 7 lounge so Helen and the gang went into nest 6 via helens room to pick up phase 10 and hit the deck while I went into mine to get swap. So after successfully getting swap I wonder over to nest 7 and start wondering up the ramp till I hear a stop! Well when you hear people yell stop you tend to freeze on the spot so I did. "We are not playing in nest 7 anymore- people in there, and nest 6 has a social so we going to play in nest 5" they said, righty whooo- so I asked like any other person would, where is nest 5 at which they all stared at me (they tend to do that a lot over here!) I was a little concerned that something was about to pounce on me from behind and they were in too much shock to shout RUN but reassuring myself that I was half way up the ramp above the floor and nothing had passed me or was coming from either direction I decided that that couldn't be the cause for this stare. A little bewildered I asked how to get to nest 5 at which they shouted you live there Em!...

At least it clarified how to get there. That was pretty much how my night continued, after a game of hit the deck and swap we played phase 10 for 3 hours, everyone had scores in the 1000's in the end we had the cards on the table for everyone to see trying to finish the game (we are stubborn). After reading the instructions thought the game is only meant for 2 -4 players so as we had 6 it may explain why it took so long! Good fun as usual think the American air is sending me more ditzy than usual though.

Midnight madness!!!

Well I can see how it got its name. WOW! It was definitely mad but fantastic. Definitely the most American thing I have done since I got here. The doors opened at 10.45 and we got there for 10.30 and there was already a cue. Now before we go on further I should just sat that for some reason all the pics came out really dark in the gym so I have made them lighter only comp but they are still a bit blurry. Now what is midnight madness. Well midnight madness signifies the start of the basketball season. We all got a t-shirt as we walked in and there were loads of free things being thrown into the crowd and competitions and stuff. It was absolute nuts. The Cheerleaders and the Dance team both performed, they were amazing (Rhi you know the film bring it on- just like that no joke!). obviously the basketball teams did some hoops and were introduced but what I won't forget was the unveiling of the new mascot. Now the Basketball team is called the Owls so it makes sense that the mascot is an owl. This is the old mascot.... Now they put the old mascot in a coffin... and took it away and then unveiled the new mascot...

It was soooooo random and absolutely nuts but brill at the same time.

And just to prove we were all there

The reason Helens face is so white is because she was holding the camera. Bless her cotton socks... Well that was my weekend and supper fun it was too.

xxx

On the edge of America 2

Done it again, do not know why I press that publish button instead of the button for pics, its not even in the same place. So I apologize for the spelling on the other blog- it never went through the spell check. Now as I was saying I felt I had to make a stand for us Baggots so.... right button this time hehe

There we go, the Baggotts touched American soil lol. Now it was a lovely day and after the beach we stopped of at the harbor. So I will give you a couple of pics of the sea and the harbor, it really was a beautiful day. We just chilled for the morning, sat and ate our dinner on the beach. Brilliant!

















After our visit to the sea we went into Portsmouth. Here we met one of Pricillas friend's he was really nice and we did what all good girls do. Shop! I was very good though. Below is a picture of the bridge that leads to Main, it really was a fantastic day. To top it of we went to Olive Garden. It is an Italian Restaurant, it was lovely there and the food was delicious. We got back just intime for midnight madness but I will do a separate Blog entry on that. Instead we are going to skip forward a couple of hours. Ok lets just re cap on Friday we did Portsmouth(I may have said yesterday on my other blog, just bare with me I have been working since 9 this morning!) On sat we went to Yankee Candle. Brilliant! It is a good job that we don't have one in England mum because we would never see you and Nan again. You would have loved it. There was room after room of candles and then rooms full of decorations for Christmas. Words can not convey size or amounts of candles it was out of this world. You could even have a go at dipping your own candle. We could have spent a whole day there but we were good because in the afternoon we went to Manchester to a Mall. That was also great fun but I have to admit by the time I got to Manchester I was flagging a bit. Right onto midnight madness.....

On the edge of America

Ok, I am sitting here at 15:53 to be precise on Sunday having just finished my paper for Soc research and I am now listining to train and munhcing on some oh so good Teddy Grahams and I think it is about time I update you all on what has been hapening over here. We have had one full packed weekend but it has been great fun. On Friday Pricilla took me and Sarah to Portsmoth. It was such a fantastic day. We stopped at Rye (no idea how you spell it) beach. It was beautiful, cold but beautiful.
Now me being me decided that I should put my feet in the Atlantic ocean- oh dear! It took 10/15 mins with the heating directly on them in the car to warm them back up. Now Mum, Dad and Rhi I don't know if you will ever get a chance to come here so I decided that we Baggots needed to make our mark.

Pumpkins, Pumpkins, Pumpkins

Well that's it folks! Pumpkin fest is officially over. What a day. It has been soooo much fun. First we went to see Max play rugby but this happened to be the first week she wasn't on the team so we headed down to Main street to see the pumpkins. Somehow we managed to end up in the parade- quite an achievement really.
All 10 of us wondered around Main street. There was lots of little stalls with activities, food and trinkets on them. Some of us (don't worry mum not me- face still the usual color) had faces painted. You guessed it Helen was one of the first in line (bless her.)







Helen also sat in the drivers seat of a fire engine and a pumpkin. We can't keep her away from these vehicles lol























It was really busy and super cold, but that just added to the excitement and fun of the day. The atmosphere was fantastic and you could tell that everyone was enjoying themselves...and it being cold was an excelant excuse for a couple of warm glasses of hot chocolate ( not that we need an excuse that is). Now of course the main reason for pumpkin fest is pumpkins. The street was lined with them and they were all lit up at night. I think (now you know what I am like with numbers so don't quote me on this) something like 24862 pumpkins. It didn't beat the record but I can safely say I have never seen so many pumpkins in once place and can't imagine that I will ever again.

This was one of the pumpkin towers. I have got one of another Pumpkin tower lit up at night. Lets see..... Yes it looks like it is on fire- but do you know how hard it is to take pictures of things that are in the dark?



There was a fire work display in the evening as well (don't worry filmed it so anyone can see it if they want when I get back) and then we went and hunted for our pumpkins. I found Helens and Max's but could I find mine- nope :( but not to worry we have photographic evidence that I did carve one lol.

Have to get some sleep now- all this walking has truly tiered me out. I shall leave you with a couple more pics of pumpkins. Its all going orange....

















Night night all
xx

Pumpkin lobotomy

Yesterday was pumpkin lobotomy and it was great. It absolutely chucked it down. We got soooooo wet it was brilliant- getting wet was half the fun. The quad was full of pumpkins and you picked the one that you wanted and then you carved it. I did a smiley face- I never have been the artists. We had a lovely warm cup of apple cider (non alcoholic- you should have seen the look Helen got when she asked if it had alcohol in hehe). We were meant to go to Homecoming bonfire in the evening but it was canceled due to the weather so we went down main street and looked at all the pumpkins they were putting out. It was soooooo cold but amazing fun. Today is actually pumpkin fest. We are half way through but I will tell you all about that tomorrow because we have fireworks to go to night and the pumpkin count. Can we beat the record???

That is Amy carving her pumpkin and you can see Max hand too hehe
Me and my pumpkin

An ode to Grandparents

Thanks to Helen we have already commented on the fantasticness of mums which naturally led to the wonderfulness of dads but we have to add some more people. Grandparents. They rock! I had a parcel today from my Nan and poppop Bear- and it just meant so much- it is full of chocolate and you can just see the thought that went into it. They are all small pieces of my favorite chocolates- the biscuit we indulge ourselves in now and again as a treat, and green tea for me to dip them in. Grandparents really are wonderful. They are there for you- just like parents, when ever you need them- and my Grandparents are just wicked cool. Nan and Poppop- you really are the best...and the letter was the icing on the cake. Now I would leave you with a pic of my supper cool grandparents however the only ones I have are stuck on my wall (before I entered the 21st century) so I will leave you with a pic of the parcel they sent and you will have to try and imagine what they look like instead.

"Climb every mountain"

Yes people- I did it. Yesterday I climbed a mountain. Now many of you back home will be doubting how mountainish this mountain was- and I hear many of you filling in mountain with the word "big hill" but this was no hill, Oh no it was indeed a mountain. It is true it started with a walk in the forest- steep hill style with rocks appearing more and more frequently and then you had to climb them and then....the trees disappeared and it was bare rock face. Now many of you back home will know that I don't do absailing or rock climbing with a rope never mind rock climbing minus ropes- but I did this. It was actually really cool and great fun. Working out which way to go, where you could put your feet. The group split into 3 groups there was Helen, Sarah Amy and two other people infront then me and Aya in the middle with a man name Michel, he was fantastic- he was a trained rock climber and he helped us find the best ways and kept encouraging us. He really was fab. Behind us was Cat, Sarah M, Rich, Tim and Nina. It took us about 2 and a half hours to get to the top and it was soooo windy once up there but the views were amazing. It was such a fab day. We went up following the white spot route and came down following the white cross route. In a way I think it was harder coming down than going up- we had to climb down this mini waterfall (at which point I twisted my ankle so am walking around with a little limp but nothing to worry about). We let the summit at 3.45 and got back down at 5.30. It was soooo much fun. I would definitely do it again. Below is me Aya and our excellent tour guide around half way up the mountain.







Behind me and Aya that is the very top and we climbed all the way up there.













Just so you can see how rocky it is...and that isn't even the really steep part. So I have proved it was a mountain- now lets
show you some of views. It was beautiful.

















And just to prove that the British got to the top...

The safe removal of Marzipan

Many of you will know how much I dislike spiders. Sooooo it has been a bit of a shock to find them all down the corridor, little ones mainly. I can just about cope with that- as long as they don't come in my room. Now at the bottom of our corridor is a window. Windows here have these grids infront of the glass so there is a gap between the glass and the gird. Now you may ask why you need to know this well...between this grid was a striped rather large spider that has been there for about 5 weeks. True it freaked me out every time I saw it but I could deal with it because there is noooooo way it could get out from there. Then it disappeared. I found it. It had become the guardian of the bathroom for it managed to build it self a web right by the bathroom door. It was hanging in mid air ready to pounce. Now I mentioned this to my room mate and she said we couldn't kill it and that we should name it. A little disturbed and the fact that she was unwilling to rid the earth of this stripy monster I politely told her we couldn't name it. She suggested Marzipan and I told her I didn't like Marzipan so she decided it was a perfect name because I don't like spiders. Un able to obtain help from Lindsey I went on the search for outside help. Rich was quite happy to kill the thing but Lindsey said as it was our pet we couldn't kill it (I do not think a spider should be classed as a pet but still...) so I hired A&S AKA Amy and Sarah. Who got a cup and moved Marzipan to the forest about 3 min walk away form our nest. So, so long farewell Marzipan- I hope you enjoy your new home.

Sorry Folks

Sorry for the delay in posting a new entry on my blog. I have been really busy with papers in this week and Exam, but all that is done now and I can fill you in on our trip to bowling. It was great fun (and personally I think I have a bit of a talent for it hehe). We decided that we would walk there and get a taxi back because according to some people "it just up the road". By now we should really realize that over here everything is bigger than back home, about an hour and a half latter after leaving uni we arrived at the Bowling place- that was an adventure in itself- especially as I fell down the side of the pavement and nearly did my ankle in (actually think I am a walking disaster!) After an hour wait because of the professionally playing we got some lanes and it was soooo much fun. Helen was definitely the closet bowler among us and she had told us that she couldn't bowl- Helen, Helen, Helen hehe. So my bowling talent- well I....errr..... Bowl in rather a unique way. So unique that I got the super score of errr 33- pretty good me thinks. Think Maybe I have found my career path, a professional bowler lol. It was so much fun, I was awful at it but we had a really good time. Oh and if you pop over to Helens blog she has a surprise for you...trust me its worth it x

WOW! Boston...

So here we are Sat 7th Oct and I can now say that I have visited Boston and how great it was. We all had a fab time. After an early start of around 8ish we got into Boston about 10:30 and what was waiting for us...

Our Duck Boat
It was amazing. It took us on a tour around Boston by road and then went in the water so we could see the Boston Sky line. Helen even had a go at driving it.






Boston is known as the windy city and it certainly was that. Our hair went everywhere- We have picture evidence to prove it.








That is Helen and Sarah on the duck boats- very windy.
After our duck boat tour we tried to get into the center of Boston (where the shops are) and we thought it would be fun if we used the tram. Well slightly different to back home you have to have the exact change and non of us had any change on us so we decided to walk. We came across the park- It was lovely so here are the pics...



















Now of course no visit to Boston would be complete without a Boston Cream doughnut

and a visit to the Cheers bar.

















I just wish you could have all been here to see it as well. That is why there are so many pictures and not much writing because I just want you all to see how great it was and what a good time we had. I shall leave you with some pictures of the Boston Sky line and I am quite sure that Helen will fill you in on what was the Boston Tea Party...

Autumn is here...

autumn is official here- well technically according to the calendar it was here about a week ago, but I now have photographic proof.

After venturing outside this morning to make my way to the DC there was a definite chill in the air- actually needed something more than a jumper.

Which is perfect because now if autumn is here then winter and snow cant be far behind. It won't be long till my blogs is full of pictures containing the white stuff- yeah.

Who Knows?

Believe it or not I actually don't have any photos to post- shock horror I know. We are very lucky that we are having any photos though because in true Emma style after less than a week I managed to drop my new camera on the floor- It now comes with a customized rattle but it still works which is the main thing. Nothing out of the ordinary has happened this week, lectures, phase 10, tea, Pop Tarts, Top Gear the usual but we did get our RA to look at the radiator. No joke as soon as he stepped into the room the thing was as quite as a mouse- he looked it over, turned it on, turned it off and nothing. Within half an hour of him leaving the room Grumpy flippin started work again! Not to despair however because after about 40 mins it all went quite....relief.....Oh No because at around midnight when most normal people are trying to get to sleep Grumpy invited the rest of the seven dwarfs round for a party. How does he/it know? It/he only makes a noise at night WHY?????? Any suggestions to how to solve this problem would be much appreciated.

signing off Sleep deprived Em oops Lady Tottingham/ May

P.S Off to Boston on Fri will post lots of pics and info.

So what do you do in the DC?

Many may think that the Dining Common is used for getting and eating food but I can now update you with the real use of the DC. Being able to obtain hot water. Why? Well Helen found these things that look like big yellow, green, blue and red pills- a little concerned we asked her what they were for. Amazing they are ,if you put them in water then they turn into an animal. So you guess what animal you think it will be then you put it in the water and watch in anticipation to see what it will be. It brought a lot of amusement. Picture evidence bellow (because I can lol)

As you can see it took a lot of concentration....

And during the day.....

chilling on the quad.