New Hampshire recap

To quote Kun, 'Anyway, I'd recap the past week and a half, but usually Arma does that, so I'll just leave it be.' So here you go.

Backtracking all the way to 6 January, I was half afraid that I'd miss my flight out of Paris due to our airport shuttle running half-an-hour late. As it turned out, I didn't have to worry; the flight out was delayed by twenty minutes for reasons unknown to me.

The transfer in Dublin went smoothly, though I hadn't realized that US passport control and customs forms occurred before departing Dublin rather than upon arrival in the States. Most of my seven-hour transatlantic flight was spent watching bad movies and eating semi-decent food. (Czech Airlines and Virgin Atlantic were much better than Aer Lingus, though the latter had the roomiest seating.)

After picking up my checked luggage, I followed the arrows to the exit and immediately found Kun, Kelsey, Jon, and Kun's mother waiting for me. A split-second later, I found myself with an armful of Kun. ^^ Kelsey told us later than we scared a foreigner (and probably ended up running into a few people), but she tried to explain to him that we were just excited because it had been a while since we'd seen each other. The ride back to Kun's house was spent talking and cuddling, with a stop to pick up some Japanese food at Ginger Garden on the way.

Kelsey and Jon stayed until they had to go home, followed by a visit by Tomo who had been busy working earlier.

At this point, I'm not exactly sure what happened on what day - I tend to remember events rather than dates and didn't write anything down until the day I left - but it should be fairly accurate.

Monday was one of several lazy days where Kun and I spent most of the waking hours in the house without changing out of our our pajamas. I think this was the morning we made pancakes, though I might be off by a day or two. However, I know that we watched several scenes from Gankutsuou and random clips from other series on Monday. This was also the day that Kun and Kun's mum gave me their surprise Christmas presents -- a black hoodie and matching black scarf. ('We were worried that you'd be cold here after being in Europe, so . . .') I took to both right away. *hug*

Tuesday started off as another lazy day - aside from going to the local high school to vote in the primaries - but culminated in RENT night for Kun, Kelsey, Jon, and myself. I'd never seen RENT before and only knew one song from it ('Seasons of Love'), so it was an experience. I'm still not sure how I'd rate it, but the only thing I really liked was the character of Angel (so much like Tomo!).

Wednesday we took a break from being lazy and went cosplay shopping at Goodwill. To my surprise, they had at least six pairs of overalls and I was able to buy a nice one that only needs a little altering for Ritsuka [Loveless]. Kun bought some new pants, but we still had items left on our list when we were finished.

For lunch, I treated Kun to Uno's, where I had some very good lemon salmon. For dessert, we ordered a peanut butter cup, which is like a giant . . . well, (non-Reese's) peanut butter cup served with ice cream and drizzled with chocolate and peanut butter sauce. Between the two of us, we barely managed to almost finish it and were on major sugar highs until bedtime.

After Uno's, we went to the mall where Kun found a pair of sunglasses for a cosplay and I bought the second half of Chapter Black [Yuu Yuu Hakusho]. We also bought black hair dye (permanent for me, semi-permanent for Kun) and a bottle of Honeysuckle soap for Kun's newly-finished upstairs bathroom from Bath and Bodyworks.

Once we were back at Kun's house, we decided to do a Death Note photoshoot. We had talked about doing one when I was up after PortCon 2007, but Kun's hair was too short at the time. And so, after dying my hair black and borrowing a white shirt from Kun (mine was packed in my parents' luggage), the photoshoot commenced!

Seeing that we took all of the photos ourself, and that neither of us have read Death Note in full (I stopped reading after that chapter while Kun's never read it), and that we were still on major sugar highs, it was quiet . . . interesting. And somewhat cracked. I kept trying to convince Kun to look serious, or angry, or like a bastard for Light, but it kept turning out looking either drugged or emo. Sadly, we couldn't find any handcuffs, so we improvised with random chains. Somehow, I ended up on top most of the time.

Eventually, we ran out of pose ideas and did I-can't-remember-what until our sugar high finally wore off.

We had another photoshoot on Thursday, 10 January, though this time it was me taking all the photos while Kun cosplayed Quatre and Jon cosplayed Heero (Endless Waltz version) from Gundam Wing. Many doujinshi poses, followed by Fun With Gundams.

I don't remember what else happened on Thursday and Friday, but Kelsey came over for part of it and I'm sure it was much fun.

On Saturday, Kun's parents drove Kun, Tomo, Kelsey, Jon, and myself down to Cambridge and we took the metro into Boston for a few hours. One of Kun's Christmas presents to me was a picture frame, though neither of us had a good group photo to put in it; after eating at a Japanese restaurant together, our mission was accomplished (from left to right: Tomo, Kelsey, myself, Kun, Jon). We also went to several anime/comics/music stores, took more photos in a random rock area, and finished at a Japanese grocery store, where I bought some pocky (chocolate/green tea) and daifuku (strawberry and melon).

Sunday started off as a lazy day, but Kun treated me to the goodness that is Cracker Barrel for a late lunch, which was wonderful. It might even become a new tradition.

We originally had plans to visit Shampoo on Monday, but we first heard from a waitress at Cracker Barrel that there was supposed to be a large snowstorm that day. As it turns out, she was right; Kelsey had no school and only lives a few minutes away, so she came over for the day. Kun's mum made us salmon and chocolate chip cookies (not together) and we watched random things, including part of the second Hunter x Hunter musical.

I was originally scheduled to take the bus to upstate New York early Tuesday morning, but didn't want to leave ever without seeing Shampoo, so I exchanged my ticket for Wednesday morning. By early afternoon, everyone was over at Kun's house, so we headed to Shampoo's to spend a few hours with her. It was really nice to see her again, though this trend of only getting to meet her the day before I leave is somewhat frustrating. Shampoo's cats proved a big hit with Kun (and her cats' toys with Kelsey). We also re-watched videos from past New Year's and PortCons.

Back at Kun's, we had a communal dinner in which we all ate noodles out of one large bowl. ('Screw table manners, we are family!') Laying on the couch afterwards together was one of the happiest moments I've experienced.

I had to say goodbye to Kelsey and Jon Tuesday night. Wednesday morning I said goodbye to Kun's mum, Kun, and Tomo. I love you, and the countdown to next time has already begun . . .

brief post-semester Europe summary [20 December - 6 January]

My mum wrote a summary of our time in Europe while I was in New Hampshire, which I've stolen borrowed and slightly altered for this post. So thank her and her insistence on writing down details for every single day. My own thoughts are at the end and scattered throughout the notes.


London, 20 December - 24 December

• Thursday, 20 December -- Walked to Whiteley's Mall from the hotel and ate Italian.


• Friday, 21 December -- Walked through Kensington Gardens to the Royal Albert Memorial; spent five hours at the National History Museum, which also had an ice rink and booths set up outside for Christmas; briefly visited the Science Museum; spent two hours at the Victoria and Albert Museum; walked to Harrod's and went up its 'Egyptian' escalator; ate fish and chips in Piccadilly Circus; walked through Chinatown.


• Saturday, 22 December -- Spent a couple of hours at the British Museum; attended Evensong at Westminster Abbey; walked along the Thames River to Tower Bridge; ate at Wagamama's (a Japanese chain).


• Sunday, 23 December -- Only in downtown London very briefly due to switching hotels to one closer to Heathrow for our early flight to Prague the next morning; my first London fog.

Prague, 24 December - 28 December

• Monday, 24 December -- Left London at 7:35 AM; got lost trying to find the hotel; walked around Wenceslas Square; ate Italian for dinner.


• Tuesday, 25 December -- Christmas, but everything was open; walked to Old
  Town to see the Astrological Clock and climb up the Clock Tower; had lunch at an amazing crêperie; took a guided walking tour of the Josefov (Jewish quarter); ate dinner at the U Golemu/The Golem restaurant (I had deer leg -- Thief reference).


• Wednesday, 26 December -- Went up Petřín Hill to the Strahov Monastery; visited Prague
  Castle and Charles Bridge; went to a string concert at a church; dinner at a pub.


• Thursday, 27 December -- Walked by myself past the Giant Metronome and Dancing House to Vyšehrad Castle; dinner at Pizzeria Venezia.

Athens, 28 December - 2 January

• Friday, 28 December -- Left Prague at 11:25 AM; wandered around the hotel area and ate at a Greek restaurant.


• Saturday, 29 December -- Went to the Acropolis, the Temple of Dionysus, the Areopagus (Mars Hill), the Agora, and the Athens Flea Market; had dinner at another Greek restaurant.


• Sunday, 30 December -- Spent nearly four hours on the hills around the Pnyx; had lunch at a very pricey restaurant near the Acropolis called 'Dionysus'; stumbled upon a Greek rap concert and festival in the National Gardens; had baklava for the first time.


• Monday, 31 December -- Visited the Keramikos (ancient burial ground), the Temple of Zeus, Hadrian's Library, Plato's Academy, and the National Archaeological Museum; walked past City Hall and saw the New Year's set-up; watched the midnight fireworks from the hotel windows.


• Tuesday, 1 January -- Took the metro to Piraeus (Athens' main seaport); saw the 2004 Olympic Stadium; at lunch at the huge, 4-story Mall.

Paris, 2 January (sort of) - 6 January

• Wednesday, 2 January -- Left Athens over an hour behind schedule; missed connecting flight in Prague; put up by Czech Airlines in local four-star hotel for the night.


• Thursday, 3 January -- Left Prague at 10 AM; ate dinner at a Pizza Hut in Charles de Gualle Airport; walked around the Place des Vosges and Place de la Bastille to the Seine River, though failed to find Victor Hugo's exact house; had Chinese for dinner.


• Friday, 4 January -- Took a one-hour boat tour on the Seine; ate crêpes for lunch; spent over five hours at the Louvre (which has a better Greek vase collection than all of Athens); ate Italian for dinner.


• Saturday, 5 January -- Took the Metro to the Eiffel Tower and walked up to the first floor; ate lunch at an overpriced French restaurant near Notre Dame Cathedral with bad 1990's American pop music playing in the background; visited Notre Dame, thus walking into a wedding by accident (yes, they kept letting tourists in during the wedding).


• Sunday, 6 Janaury -- Left Paris around 10:30 AM; Boston and on to New Hampshire!

My favourite place was London, though I'm not quite sure I'd want to live there. I adored wandering through the ancient and green areas of Athens, which also had barely any security, but the modern city was too much of a contrast for me. Prague was interesting, but not as old as I had imagined (the Jewish Quarter, for example, was completely rebuilt in the 1800s) and rather cold. Paris was my least favourite, though I suspect part of that reaction was from feeling like I had seen all the architecture before after having already visited London and Prague and having just come from Athens' completely different atmosphere; another part was from feeling homesick and longing for New Hampshire. Still, the Louvre was very impressive.

Prague, despite having the least favourable winter climate, easily had the best food; Paris and London had the worst, at least from what we tasted. Athens had the nicest public transportations, followed by London; Paris had the worst and was insanely crowded and complicated, though we didn't go on Prague's because we couldn't figure it out (everything was in Czech). Athens was also the easiest place to get around in general because almost everything was bilingual. (Most things in Prague were bilingual [or trilingual -- Czech, English, and German], too, except for the transportation systems and the non-tourist areas. I also omit London since I don't known how easy it is for foreigners to get around there seeing as English is my native language.)

Both London and Athens had wide areas of green space, whether they were hills, ancient areas, or parks. On the other hand, the modern side of Athens was somewhat cramped and appeared the most unpleasant of the four cities on the outside.

Our nicest hotel was in Athens, though the neighbourhood was the most seedy and the bathroom in our London hotel was probably better. Airport-wise, London had the worst, while Prague had the nicest. Prague also had the best airline -- Czech Air.

Interestingly, both Prague and Paris dub almost everything on the television except for opera and a few other music-related programmes. Athens is the exact opposite; everything foreign is shown with Greek subtitles except for children's cartoons and nature documentaries.

Overall, the only place I probably wouldn't go back to is Paris. Prague I'd only go to again if it wasn't in the winter. Even Athens is a question mark; I'd like to see more of Greece and Macedon. For the UK, too, I never really visited the country areas aside from our short trip to Avebury. That, and I never got up to Scotland.

Still, I'm about done with international flights and airport security for at least a few years, I think . . .

And Kim and Kun's mum were right; almost as soon as I arrived in the States, it was like waking up from a dream to a place I'd never left.