Diary of a British Bulldog

First Snow of 2011

2011-01-14T09:53:00.001-08:00

Harvard-Yale 2010

2010-11-22T08:08:00.001-08:00

Esther and I

Cambridge

Harvahd Yahd

Halloween

2010-11-22T07:49:00.000-08:00

Lilo and Stitch!

Salt n Pepa

50's pin-up

Connecticut County Fair

2010-11-22T07:45:00.001-08:00

My roommate and her new unicorn

Durham Fair rides

Piglets!

Doing the funky chicken with my Master's children

Llama!

Ecuador

2010-11-22T07:29:00.001-08:00

On of Ecuador's many stunning volcanoes

With my host sister, Doménica

In the rain forest

Butterfly farm in Napo

My wonderful host family

At the equator

On Top of the World...Literally

2010-06-28T20:33:00.000-07:00

As I write this I am in fact roughly 10 000 feet in the air, and I'm not in a plane.

I'm in the Andes.

More specifically I'm in Quito, Ecuador living with a host family for a month while I attempt to improve my Spanish.

Not only have I thus far discovered that my Spanish is awful (there is a seven year old in the family who I can only attempt to understand 60% of the time) but I also can't breathe properly because of the altitude.

We'll see what happens but thus far I'm loving the adventure.

Next week I spend 4 days in the rain forest. Keep your fingers crossed that I'll find a cute monkey I can bring home...

¡Hasta luego!

I've been away far too long...

2010-05-05T12:30:00.000-07:00

I'm an awful human being, I can admit it! I've been away all semester and not filled you in on a single detail. I hope you can forgive me.

It is officially one week until I jump on a plane and head back to beautiful Blighty so I figure now is as good a time as any to reveal all that I been up to this term. (This is also a good excuse to not be studying for finals!)

Rather than write one huge post talking about everything in detail, I will instead give you the condensed version: The ABCs of Spring Semester.

· A is for: Aconticimiento, which is Spanish for events or happenings. There have been a lot of them this term.

· B is for: Bruises. I got a lot of them from attempting to Snowboard in Vermont. It was clearly not a good idea.

· C is for: California. I travelled to California for a few days over Spring Break which was possibly the best fun I have ever had in my life. It was also the first time I saw real sunshine in America – yay!

· D is for: D.C. The other place I travelled to over Spring Break. My Mum and I went to the Capital and saw the start of the Cherry Blossom season and also ate some of the best barbeque food EVER.

· E is for: Ecuador which is where I will be travelling this summer to learn even more Spanish and hopefully visit the rainforest!

· F is for: Froco which is a contraction of Freshman Counsellor. My Froco May is graduating in a couple of weeks which is the saddest news ever. May has been there for me all year long when being so far from home has been extremely difficult. Love you May!

· G is for: General Election. I voted last week in my first ever postal vote. You cannot imagine how excited I am. The British population of Yale have become more British than ever over the past few weeks!

· H is for: Hanging Out. This semester I decided to let myself relax a bit more and have some fun, so that’s what I did. I’ve made so many new friends this semester and gotten into some very interesting situations….

· I is for: Ice-cold temperatures. When I came back from the Winter Break New Haven was experiencing temperatures of between -6˙C and -10˙C I have never been so cold in my life!

· I is also for: Interviews. I’ve been interviewed by a bunch of magazines and newspapers this semester which was rather surreal. Back in March I was featured in an article in The Independent which was rather classy!

· J is for: Just Dance. The name of a party I held to make me feel better about Lady Gaga cancelling her Connecticut concert that I had tickets for. I even had a wig damn it!

· K is for: Kit-Kat. The American version is actually pretty good. It pains me to admit it though…

· L is for: Lady Gaga. I woke up at 4am during Spring Break to get me some tickets to the Birmingham show. I got some. In the front row. The wig is making a comeback!

· M is for: MGMT who played at Yale last week for Spring Fling along with Matt and Kim and The Ying Yang Twins.

· M is also for: Millicent ‘Penny’ Marcus (MPM). The best professor I have had this semester. She teaches a class called Literature into Film where we study film adaptations of texts. My entire class is in love with her for many reasons but mainly because she had us all round for dinner and fed us pasta!

· N is for: New York. The best place to go when you need a de-stress. I finally went on the Sex and The City tour with my best friend Beth which has been our dream since we were 14 years old. Cosmopolitans taste so much better in New York.

· O is for: Oligopoly. A term I learnt in Economics. Yup, Economics. I don’t know what possessed me either, but it’s kind of a lot of fun…

· P is for: Performance. I performed for the first time ever at Yale with my ukulele earlier this semester. I have also attended a lot of amazing gigs featuring Yale bands.

· Q is for: Quirky. The only accurate way to describe my life.

· R is for: Radio. I trained to be a radio DJ this semester and now have a weekly show on the Yale radio station wybcx.com. The show is called I Listen, Therefore I Am and has been the best fun this semester.

· S is for: Simply kicking butt. I am 100% sure that I am in the best residential college at Yale. A few weeks ago we held an event called Medieval (K)Night where we all dressed up with swords, shields, and Viking hats and raided another college, stealing everything we could carry from their dining hall. Only in Stiles could such greatness occur!

· T is for: Thalia and Antonio. My Master’s kids and two of the most amazing 9 year olds I have ever met. Chilling out and watching Animaniacs once a week is a definite must in College.

· U is for: Ukulele. I still play it and have found many other secret ukulele players here. A ukulele orchestra is in the making.

· V is for: Volcano. Iceland allowed me to hold onto my friend Chloe and cousin Emma for five extra days when their flights got cancelled. Good for me. Not so much for them.

· W is for: Wages. I really need to earn some this summer.

· X is for: eXtra words in my vocabulary. I’m becoming dangerously American. True fact. You’ve probably already noticed in this post, right?? My bad.

· Y is for: Yale. It finally feels like home. I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else in the world for my university experience. I still can’t believe how lucky I am.

· Z is for: Zach. The name of the writer and director of the horror film that I’m assistant-directing.

· Z is also for: Ze future! I have 4 finals left and then the summer begins. I promise to be better about keeping you all up to date, especially while I am in Ecuador so stay tuned!

Apologies once again for being away for so long but I hope that this successfully gives you all some insight into this term.

See you all in a week!

Laura

xxx

To the People I Love...

2010-02-15T05:40:00.001-08:00

First, I would like to apologise for being away for so long. It has been a very busy semester thus far but I will update you on my exploits very soon!

For now, I just wanted to wish you all a very happy Valentines Day and send you all some good old-fashioned loving!

I hope that you've all had a day filled with lurve and good times,

Laura

xxx

New Experiences

2009-11-29T20:55:00.000-08:00

This week has been a week of many firsts. Not only have I experienced my first ever Thanksgiving, I have also been to some brand new States and today I have entered my second decade. I have come to accept that after turning twenty today it will all go downhill. Next stop, wrinkles.

After spending the main part of today traveling back to Yale from Brooklyn, I arrived home to find that my suite-mate Brianna had been busy decorating my doorway with various birthday signs and ribbons ready for my arrival which was the best welcome home ever. After lots of cake, ice-cream, presents and cards, we attempted to go cardboard surfing down Science Hill a few blocks away. While the whole surfing down a grassy hill on cardboard wasn't entirely successful (we're trying dinner trays next time) I can't remember the last time I've had so much fun just playing outside. While turning twenty is an ordeal I will have to slowly come to terms with, this has been one of the funnest birthdays ever. I have amazing friends!

The most fabulous suite on the planet!

In addition to turning twenty, this week I had a whole week off school to celebrate Thanksgiving. I spent the first half of my week in Washington DC checking out the museums, the White House and the general amazingness that is DC with the Zax family. It's the first place I've been to in the US that I could really imagine myself living in one day; not only is there so much stuff to do, its amazingly clean and there is a national park right in the middle of the city! Although I didn't get the chance to take much footage, here are some of the things that Laura and I checked out in DC.

In addition to all of the cool museums, monuments, shops and places that I saw in DC, the ultimate activity was buying the sexiest ukulele I have ever seen. That's right, you just saw the words sexy and ukulele in the same sentence. It cost more money than I care to admit to, but with a mahogany body and mother of pearl lining I'm 100% in love. I know, I'm a geek. I'm dealing with it.

Is this not the sexiest ukulele you've ever seen?

After an eight and a half hour coach ride on Wednesday, I arrived in Brooklyn to spend Thanksgiving and the rest of the week with my roommate Deandra's family, the Tans. As usual I ate an abundance of new food, but Thanksgiving was a challenge all of its own. Ever had sweet potato with melted marsh mallows on top? Me neither before this week, but it was pretty awesome - for both me and the racoon that ate the first batch Deandra's Mum made. I'd recommend giving it a go if you're brave enough to take on something truly American. All in, I've had a fabulous week but what makes this week even better is knowing that in three weeks I'll be touching down on British soil. Rule Britannia!

Happy Thanksgiving!

The End is Near...

2009-11-11T20:04:00.000-08:00

¡Hola! ¿Qué tal?

That's right, Spanish! Aside from two months of intensive Spanish and some other fabulous courses in English, Theatre Studies and Philosophy I've also been up to some weird and wonderful things around New Haven. For now though, I will just update you on a couple of things.

I have experienced my first American Halloween!

Shockingly, this was not only my first American Halloween, but also the first Halloween I've ever celebrated, so this year definitely surpassed my expectations. Decorations were up around New Haven from the beginning of October, and ridiculously huge pumpkins were everywhere. I carved my first ever pumpkin - I was impressed by my efforts - in a Stiles College competition. One of the winners of the competition was a pumpkin vomiting its own insides, which was not only hilarious when first carved but proved doubly hilarious when I caught the squirrels eating the pumpkin vomit for days afterwards!

Our fabulous pumpkin carving team - please note the Chinese characters!

Aside from the fun of dressing up, pumpkin carving and eating far too much sugar, I, and about 2000 other Yalies, attended the Yale Symphony Orchestra's (YSO) midnight Halloween show on October 31st. Apart from being blown away by the sheer scale of the show they put on, I was totally impressed by the dance off between Michael Jackson and Lady Gaga on stage; hearing 'Poker Face' performed by a full orchestra was certainly a new experience.

In addition to the fun of Halloween, I have been exploring various parts of New Haven picking up vital, cultural pieces of information on my way. I will now bestow this information upon you; use it wisely. This list is in no way complete, but:

A biscuit in America is a British scone
An American scone is just a really big British biscuit
Tunisia is said: Tooneeesya (try saying it out loud)
Apparently marshmallow tastes good on anything, e.g. sweet potato
Apple sauce is eaten as a snack
Very few people (or at least my suite-mates) can tell the different British accents apart
Many Americans have fantastic taste in tea
Wellies are called rain boots
Chill and legit are adjectives
AMERICAN CHOCOLATE IS AWFUL

Now while these pieces of cultural information are in no particular order, I think we can all concur on which point is the most vital piece of information. As I discover more weird and wonderful American quirks I shall update the list!

In just over a week we will be getting our first break in the semester for Thanksgiving, which I will be spending the majority of in New York with my roommate, Deandra. Living only an hour and a half away from New York, it is of course mandatory that I visit a few times, and naturally video at least one trip for your benefit. So, below I've posted a short video of a weekend I spent in NY with two of my suite-mates. The music featured is by Laura Zax and can be downloaded for free at laurazax.com .

Apologies for the jumbled nature of this update, but I hope you're all looking forward to the

Christmas holidays and more importantly, the Christmas Revue! Although I won't be back in

the country until after your holidays start, I may well surprise you! Good luck getting to the

end of term, and for those of you writing personal statements: I feel your pain.

So, who missed me...?

2009-10-10T17:50:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone,

Apologies for the massive delay in posting anything, the past 7 weeks have been pretty hectic!

To give you a very, very brief update I decided to make a shortish video for you. I will get some more videos up so you can meet my friends and see some of campus etc.

Hope you're all well and enjoying the new school year!

Lots and lots of love

xxxxxxxxxx

Breaking up is hard to do...

2009-08-02T17:42:00.000-07:00

Saying goodbye is something I find difficult to do and unfortunately, it is something that I have had to do a lot recently. There are never enough words to express how truly grateful you are for the years of friendship, how lonely you know you will be without the love of family or how hard it will be to get used to a new way of life.

I have yet to attempt to say goodbye to my family and friends, but already I have felt the deep emotions associated with leaving behind a long relationship. Saying goodbye to Highsted, the community where I have studied and worked over the past eight years, was one of the hardest things I have had to do in a long time.

Many people dread going to school: they hate the work, the responsibility, the effort involved in studying. I was never one of these people. Being at Highsted is something I have truly loved and will always appreciate. I recognise that were it not for the values Highsted taught me or the support offered to me, I would not be faced with the many opportunities ahead of me today.

When attempting to write my final assembly I knew that there were no words that would ever fully convey the many amazing experiences I have had over the past eight years or effectively explain everything I had learnt from my education, but I knew there was one thing every Highsted girl can appreciate. A sense of humour.

Without a sense of humour the world would be a far more difficult place. This is a sentiment, I believe, that is shared by many a Highsted Girl and one that keeps us going in the most stressful of times. Of all the lessons Highsted has taught me, learning to laugh has been the most valuable.

So, in short, thank you Highsted for teaching me to laugh and for letting me share that laughter with you, I've had the best eight years of my life.

Becoming a Freshmoose!

2009-07-05T14:25:00.000-07:00

It is now 96 days since I found out that I was to become a member of the Yale Class of 2013, and in those 96 days many things have happened.

In an extremely condensed list: I have obtained my four year Visa to the United States, opened my first American bank account and booked my flights for this coming August. Whilst fun, these are, in my opinion, pretty boring things to have achieved in 96 days, therefore I won't waste time going into depth about how I managed to sort all of these things out.

Instead, I will share some exciting news I received this week: Residential College and Roommate assignments!

Yale has 12 Residential Colleges (RC) that all of it's Freshmen are randomly assigned to before the start of the year. Ten of the twelve Colleges - Berkeley, Branford, Calhoun, Davenport, Jonathan Edwards, Morse, Pierson, Saybrook, Ezra Stiles, and Trumbull - house their Freshmen together on "Old Campus" so that first year students can get to know each other and the Yale community. The two remaining Residential Colleges - Silliman and Timothy Dwight - house their Freshmen within the college itself to allow their first year students to get to know everyone else in their Residential College.

Old Campus

Being in each RC has its own individual advantages. Branford, for example, is regarded by many to be the most beautiful of the residential colleges, whereas Berkeley is considered to have the best food, but each RC is unique in its own way and therefore I knew I would be happy with any Residential College given to me.

Many of my future class mates shudder in horror when they contemplate the possibility of living in my Residential College, but when I tore open my letter to find out I had been placed in Ezra Stiles College, I couldn't have been more pleased.

Ezra Stiles College, or Stiles as it is more simply known, is - along with its twin Morse College - the youngest residential College at Yale. Built in 1961 by the architect Eero Saarinen, Stiles is, visually, very different to Yale's other Residential Colleges. Instead of the Gothic architecture common to much of Yale, Stiles and Morse were built in the style of Pre-Gothic Tuscan Towers and are considered to be out of place by many students at Yale.

Ezra Stiles College

Personally, I couldn't care if I'd been house in a cardboard box; I'm going to Yale, and that's all that matters! Even if Stiles isn't a big winner on the looks front, it's the people that count and my five roommates - Deandra, Vanny, Madeline, Stephanie and Brianna - seem extremely cool on first impressions.

In addition to that, Stiles is getting a makeover! For the first two years of my time at Yale, Ezra Stiles will be closed for a $150 million renovation, meaning that during my Sophomore year I will get to live in the very cool temporary housing known as "Swing Space". Full details of the renovation can be found here but some of the highlights include an underground gym, a recording studio and a sky bridge linking Morse and Stiles together; pretty cool in my opinion!

So while the appearance of Stiles may not be to everyone's liking, it appears that the college makes up for it in other ways. The community spirit among students in the RC seems to be amazing, this paired with the Stiles mascot of the Moose Giamatti and the smoothie bar in their dining hall means that we are by far the coolest Residential College at Yale.

In addition to this, Edward Norton (Fight Club) and Jennifer Connely (He's Just Not That Into You) were both in Ezra Stiles, AND both the Master and the Dean have dogs running around the College, thus proving that Ezra Stiles rocks!

All in all, I am going to have an amazing four years as a Stilesian.

Go Moose!