La Rochelle, Ballet and Drinks

I just booked a ticket to La Rochelle.

The aforementioned friend might be one of these people

I blame it on a friend. She was in my room, we were bored and the internet was handy. “Let’s do it,” I said.

She didn’t stop me.

Fancy dress

So we’re heading off to La Rochelle sometime in March. It’s a quick weekend jaunt, a little dabble in the Parisian, something affordable (thanks Ryanair! 20 pounds? OK!) and exciting.

I like exciting.

This weekend, I trekked down to London to see the Snow Queen ballet with some friends. There may or may not have been quite a lot of these kids involved:

Berlin Ballers. Still ballin.

Along with other Fulbrighters who were attending some form of Fulbright Intensive weekend in Wales. They are generally pretty awesome students.

I visited the National Portrait Gallery, the V&A, the WHOLE FOODS of three-floored goodness, and did other touristy stuff. And Whole foods… oh man. Good thing I don’t live in London.

We wear gowns. As in robes. As in tradition

Saturday night was St. John’s College’s (best college) annual Graduate Dinner. We wore gowns (the big black robe), fancy dresses and ate by candlelight. There were at least three (four? Five?) different kinds of wine, port, four courses, chocolates, rose-scented water to dab your face, three speeches (grace, a cheering of the Queen, and a reflection on why John’s is amazing), and more things I can’t quite recall.

Not quite the Grad dinner, but close

Things might have become a little hazy after five hours and sparkling champagne.

Before dinner even started.

Talk about a weekend.

A day in the life (aka: Harry Potter Rockin’)

What does lil ol’ Nae do in a day, you  probably never have wondered might wonder.

Observe the bike light

How does she fill those many hours?

Thank goodness I am here to appease your curiosity! Oh yes, it’s true. Read on and you’ll discover the wonder of my life at Cambridge!

I start off at 6am. Bright, early, and ready to do some of this:

Cambridge Pentathletes

Only I look more like this:

Why yes, that IS a swimming squirrel

I swallow down some nescafe (making sure not to repeat yesterday’s mistake of subbing in real coffee grounds, thinking they were insta-coffee. Mmmm. Tasty) and chomp on some food.

Then I strap a blinking bike light on myself and I’m out the door.

Pool. Water. Swimming.

Return home, shower, miss catching the lil sis on skype, whine excessively to no one. I console myself by taking pictures of rainy things.

Everything in Cambridge is rainy.

Heading towards Fen Causeway

Apply for a writing scholarship in Scotland. I’d work for four weeks on a historical non-fiction book. Why not?

Eat more food and try to wait out the rain. It’s not going anywhere. I cave and head back out the door, this time to print 40 pages at the library. I hate trees and ink, apparently.

I turn the paper in and to celebrate buy myself a parsnip, a carrot, and a new pair of shoes.

The latter was not necessary.

Gate to John's

Carrots and parsnips? Absolutely.

I live on the one hill in Cambridge

I do more errands, like paying the college for my education. Thank you, Davies-Jackson. Also realize I have to talk to the Dean if I want to host more than two people at John’s formal hall.

I make a mental note to talk to the Dean. Pentathletes are worth it. They deserve a meal cooked by a chef with a Michelan Star (Oh yeah. Rocking the delish cuisine, go St. John’s).

Return home to a letter in my email about going to South Africa in March, where I’d be volunteering with kids. Start to research travel grants from St. John’s.

This is not my college. This is Cat's college. Still pretty.

Guess what? There are tons. Find another reason to love my college.

And now it’s time to crawl into bed, because tomorrow morning will start bright (or rainy) and early. I’m off to London, where I’ll eat at Whole Foods (!!!) and see a ballet.

At Cambridge, we like wine. And fancy hats.

PS: I sorta love life. It’s stinking amazing.

Blatant Procrastination… and a month’s update

I should be writing, reading, studying, essay completing, library voyaging, WORKING, getting back into the swing of things.

Instead, I am blogging.

NYE.

After sleeping for a good fourteen (!!) hours, I’ve managed to pull myself out of bed and start the process of becoming a Cambridge student. This means I showered. And took a picture of outside, because it’s as far from Doha as you can get.

See? Snow.

Doha has never seen snow.

In addition to the weather, I’ll miss other fun and exciting things, like:

• This magazine. And writing all day, dreaming about writing at night, and being surrounded by some pretty good mentors (here’s looking at you, Big G.)

ABODE Magazine

• Fun press outings, such as tea at The Ritz, listening to carolers, viewing interesting cars (…), and other top secret things I simply can’t mention.

Tea at The Ritz - Carlton, Doha. They do a pretty good job.

Why YES, that IS an Aston Martin. Funny you should ask.

• Exotic tropical fruit and food, which resulted in conversations like:

Coworker: “Danae, what IS that? On your desk?”
Me: “A papaya.”
Coworker: “It’s huge. I thought it was an entire ham.”
Me: “Watch me eat it all.”

Coconut water, from the coconut itself.

Jackfruit. AKA DELICIOUS

• And these people

These ones too.

Le Office

I’m about to go get some stuff done, like sending off internship applications (well hello, National Geographic! And NPR! And The Washingtonian!). There are so, so many I am interested in… so many I would love to do in a heartbeat.

Like, hey, a radio/magazine internship in Santiago, Chile (for which I have a phone interview scheduled). Or an internship with a newspaper near San Francisco (same as above. Phone. Thank you, Skype). Or magazines in Tokyo? Or…

Magazine before it's bound

I’ll also be working on my MPhil application, because nothing screams “welcome back from your working holiday!” quite like applying to be a Cambridge Grad. (The Davies-Jackson starts as an affiliated degree.)

View from the ABODE office

And hey, since we’re at it, I’ll be finishing my big semester-long essay while reading some serious Adam Smith. (“Smith? Perfect, Danae,” said my Director of Studies. “His works are light. You can carry them with you while you travel, read them on the train.” …guess what didn’t happen?)

So enough blogging. I’m going to tug on my boots and brave the tropical (ha) weather outside.

I missed Cambridge. <3

Ciao, Doha

Goodbye, sunshine. Hello, cold/snow/wet/cold/clouds = ENGLAND!

I can’t believe I’ll be going from this:

To… this.

The cold’s going to get me.

I flight out of Doha, Qatar tomorrow night at a late hour, which, as anyone who knows me can attest, I don’t do. Late hours are painful. I like sleep.

I’ll arrive in London on some day early in the morning. To prepare, I am wrapping myself in a small bear and a whale. Can never have too many layers.

Or camels.

I’ll also be switching from my life as a full-time journalist, a la:

To my life as a lowly lil’ student with her nose in many dusty books… and to my Pentathlon and on and on training, where I get my tushy kicked in many ways.

Five ways, to be specific.

In honor of the places I’m about to leave (or already have left) behind, I’ve decided to whine. Enjoy my list of all the things I miss back in the states. Yehaw.

Omaha, NE, USA:

• Green grass, on which I can walk. (England has grass, but stepping on it is FORBIDDEN and punishable by death… or… such.)
• Root beer. Not ginger ale. Not ginger beer. Root beer.
• One Tree Yoga, where you can get sweaty and I can work behind the desk.
• Creighton, and all the amazing people there. Like…
• 

Like these ladies

And this guy

And maybe these SAO people.

Heck, while we’re at it…

I had this problem with Christmas cards. Once I mention one of the amazing people, I gotta talk about all of them. That’s a lot. 

Please send me some brownies, Dr. Wirth.

Cuttin myself off with these guys

• Target
• Whole foods/Jason’s Deli/AMAZING salad bars.
• Farmer’s market on Saturdays
• BBQs and the hipster scene. Not mutually exclusive. Observe:
• 

Fresno, California, USA

• Family

A lot.

Lot, lot lot.

See where the crazy hair comes from?

• Cheap but massive Mexican burritos with beans, rice and a kitchen sink
• Warm weather
• The very bizarre Tower District
• Big, roomy roads
• Sidewalks not made of cobblestones
• …sidewalks in the first place (here’s lookin at you, Doha)

No sidewalks, only weird cats

So that’s me, and that’s what I miss today.

But I’ve got to say, I’m pretty pumped to return to brussels sprouts, butternut squash, and that sorta cool university they call Cambridge.