Deniz’s Blog

last home game tonight. some highlights:

-zein kicked the basketball super hard at the wall because of frustration (totally understandable frustration). the refs sucked.
-zein got a technical
-kathleen’s mom’s cheering kicked ass
-i almost got a technical because all sorts of madness was streaming out of my mouth… one of the refs basically told me to shut my mouth. i told him he could go…do something to himself…(while his back was turned lol)
-80-something to 30-something I think
-coach is a douche. nothing new there.
-markus actually showed up to a game. AMAZING. I was extremely proud
-we played against a team of mothers. literally.
-one more game left on april 18th and then this season from hell is over!

ok I’m going to go pass out now because I have a history exam in about 6 hours from now. scheisser.

Scheisser = Shiza = Shit in Deutsch

We got killed in our game tonight in Locarno, but it was fun[ny]. The ref was funny, his friend who hit on Jessica was funny looking, and we played alriiiiiiight… at some points On the way back, we drove on a pedestrian path through a park– oops. Anyway, Kathleen and I got a lot of good laughs in I swear, our entertainment is superb. haha

Who: Me, Professor Rocourt, and a group of about 28 students
What: Academic Travel to London
When: March 3rd - March 15th
Where: Royal National Hotel, Russell Square, LONDON!
Why: Because Franklin College requires students to go on a certain number of academic travels before they graduate
How: Thanks to that large sum of money called “tuition”…and my parents of course

London is one of the most amazing cities I have ever been to. I know I say this about everywhere I go, but London is truly in a league of its own. It has the history of a big European city, but the vibe of New York City. Now some randomness:

The Hotel: The Royal National Hotel is part of a chain of “budget hotels,” meaning they are pretty cheap. I believe a double room runs for about 88 quid a night, which I believe is cheap for London standards. Obviously we didn’t stay in a 5-star hotel, but we had the essentials and that’s all that matters.

The Lingo: quid = pounds
chips = french fries
ballacks = BS! (or something along those lines)

The Transportation: The London Underground Railway system, (better known as the Tube), will get you just about anywhere. Be warned, however, that the train are quite tiny…nothing like the metro in D.C. or Barcelona! Depending on how long you are going to be in London, you can buy an Oyster pass (similar to the smart trip card) and put enough money on it to last you 1 or 2 weeks… or however long. This Oyster Card is much more convenient than buying a new ticket each time you get on the Tube, AND it can also be used for the London bus system!

The Sites: Big Ben, Parliament, Westminster Abbey, The British Museum, St. Paul’s Cathedral, The Tower of London, etc etc are alllll places you should visit while in London. I mean, you have to! But don’t forget to explore the rest of London as well!

Places to see: Camdentown is very hippy-esque with outdoor markets and shops selling everything from tea to paintings to… mushrooms… It’s nice to walk around here on a nice day and just observe the interesting people who walk by. ANYWAY! I personally LOVED Notting Hill. There are cute bakeries and shops, as well as some vendors selling antiques and the like. If I ever get to live in London, a house in Notting Hill is what I’m gunning for! Though you are still a Tube ride away from the center of London, you get the feel of a beautiful suburb instead.

Things to Do: Take a walking tour! We took the walking tour of the square mile of London that is the actual city, andddd we took the Jack The Ripper walking tour. They were both very informative and really interesting! Jack the Ripper takes place at night, which adds to the creepiness. I loved it A bus tour is a must as well! You see everything in London from a seat on a double-decker. You can hop on and off the bus as you please depending on what you want to spend more time seeing. Our tour was about 15 quid, and this included a river tour on the Thames. Our passes were valid for 24-hours. Aside from the tours, pubs are a necessity. What to expect at a London pub: drunk, loud soccer fans watching a soccer match. Good times! One should also explore Chinatown, go shopping in Oxford Circus and SoHo, and explore Piccadilly and Trafalgar as well!
Also, go to a Show! We saw the Queen musical which was AMAZING and Spamalot which was HILARIOuS! Highly recommended!

What to Eat: Chinese food in Chinatown! Indian food in Brick Lane! And anything else your little heart desires. London has everything from T.G.I. Friday’s to Subway to Starbucks. Oh, and Crush is a REALLY good smoothie place, F.Y.I.

The People: I found the people of London to be quite nice. Compared to the Ticinese, Londoners seemed to be happy, fun-loving people. Even the old people were funny

I LOVED LONDON AND I AM DEFINITELY GOING BACK!!!!

…basketball team SUCKS. tonight was by far the worst game ever. brooke fouled out, johnathan is a douche, the refs were douches, i played like a douche, someone played who shouldn’t ever be allowed on a basketball court… EVER… and yeah. douche-y all around. 90-something to 30-something… YA.

…is BACK! i must say, the swiss (for the first time), have impressed me with their promptness in fixing Girasole’s hot water. it was nice to come back from “basketball practice” and be able to take a shower in my own shower. oh and the reason i put basketball practice in quotes is because the “coach” failed to inform the women’s basketball team that we didn’t have practice tonight because the men have a game. so i walked up the hill in the dark alone only to be told that there was no practice. meh, i ran/shot around anyway. but still. douchebag. … YAY WATER!

…both phrases mean “free hugs” in Italiano! … i’ll explain in a bit

today, keely, ari, and I went downtown for the first time in a while and noticed many new things! there were christmas lights stringed everywhere, and we discovered a big christmas tree at the end of via nassa in the main piazza! it was so pretty

keely was in search of a beret in order to look more euro when she goes back to OK for winter break. we checked out H& first, she didn’t find anything, but i bought a purse…wellllll more like a satchel. lol i plan on using it for school maybe? i dunno we then headed to Manor, but as we were making our way over there, we saw a bunch of people with signs saying, “regalo abbracci” and “abbraccio gratis”… meaning, “free hugs” keely flipped out cause she said it’s just some movement to brighten the lives of people… they give you free hugs keely said one of her friends in OK started doing this and he’ll be glad to know they do it in Switzerland too.

tahnee and alma invited us over to catherine’s multiple in giardino for a little christmas party since it’s alma’s “first christmas” (she’s from Jordan, so she doesn’t celebrate it, duh!) it was awesome! i wore my new poncho they baked cookies, made crepes, lots of chocolate, wine, and good company!!! (simmy, catherine, tahnee, ari, katie, keely, alma, and myself)… we had our fun while people were being “promiscuous” at the franklin college sponsored “sexy party”… gross.

we were so stuffed that we decided to take a walk and head over to the falcon’s nest and check out the sexy party. we really just wanted to go and laugh at the drunk people and the ridiculous outfits. keely, katie, and i walked in and didn’t walk too far cause the floor was slick (from what, i don’t even want to know)… it was just… ew. katie and keely then left to come back to girasole, and ari and i werrrre going to go downtown to see all the lights, but we changed our minds… we headed down the hill and a car was coming up while we were coming down, so we got out of the way… and to end a perfectly good day….

…i stepped in poop. why is it that animal poop has to smell SO much worse than human poop? gosh. good night!