My First Thanksgiving!

Well today was very exciting because I went to the Rogers' household for Thanksgiving...in Delaware. They are the family of my Creative Writing buddy, Julie. The turkey goodness and pumpkin cheesecake scoffing took place at Julie's grandparents' house and they were so welcoming. Barbara was telling me about a friend of hers named Harold [Something] who made it big as a stage director in London and the day was full of funny family stories and Rogers/Furdella banter. Julie's precious little cousin Krista was also there to provide entertainment as she jumped around the room and played hide and seek with Julie's brother CJ. I had such a great day and I even left the house with some leftovers...yum, yum. I still don't really understand the point of Thanksgiving though. Maybe that's why some Americans call it Turkey Day as it's just an excuse to eat turkey and pie, really.

The Edge is very quiet now as I sit here on my bed watching Sex and the City and eating gummy sweets that I bought by scraping together the last few cents in my purse.

This week has been really fun overall. Matt and Gadher came to stay in Philly for a couple of days during their city travels: New York --> Philly --> D.C. It was lovely to have the Leicester boyz here and to do touristy things and eat cheesesteaks. I think they loved Philly; they seemed to be pretty happy here. I also introduced them to the wonder that is Tito and we got very drunk at his Thanksgiving party.

A few snaps from the week:



Whaaa?



 



Leicester Massive at Tito's





Sleepy Gadher...Being a tourist all day is tiring work!

 








Table Decor

Barbara and Julie





I don’t know why…

…but I get one too many stares from people on campus. Is it because I have loo roll stuck to my shoe or ketchup from a hot dog around my mouth?…Or do I just scream ‘English’?

Some Turkish man came up to me today and started talking to me about photography (considering I was reading Emmet Gowin’s “Photographs”) and then proceeded to ask me how he could subtly tell his best friend that his girlfriend is a crazy woman and that he shouldn’t marry her!

So, yes, I’ve had an interesting day so far and now I need to decide what food to bring that’s even remotely British to Alessandro’s multi-ethnic feast this evening. Without an oven this may prove difficult. Any suggestions are welcome.

Halloween weekend was good by the way. Everyone got into the spirit rather nicely (which is how it's done in America apparently). I dressed as Beetlejuice the whole weekend, which was actually a fluke costume; all it took was borrowing Morgan's striped blazer and realising that it was totally Beetlejuice-esque rather than Gaga (Gaga was my original choice). I ended up at a Jewish Fraternity party on the Friday with friends dressed as pandas, leopards and angels and then a house party on Saturday with Flo, Morgan and Oxiclean dude (actually, this was my friend Zach, not Billy Mays). There I saw some guy dressed as Princess Diana with a wheel over his head - a tad distasteful to say the least and I don't think he expected to see anyone English at that party to be quite honest! 
I need to update you all soon on recent happenings, including a cheeky trip to Niagra Falls a few weeks ago, a day trip to D.C and also funny little incidents involving hookah, First Friday, Flight of the Conchord's 'Business Time' being sung at an open mic night at Saxby's and acquiring a carta d'identita from my friend. (Hello, my name is now Alessandro!)

I have also acquired some new friends which I shall splurge about soon.

The White House in Washington D.C

(Vincent, Me, Josh, Becca, Federico = Internationals) 

A statue based on Arcimboldo's work in the National Gallery of Art in D.C

                                                                                                                              Two atoms in a molecule, inseparably combined.

 

Thank you mother!





Until then... :)

I bought a blazer from the Salvation Army.

It has gold buttons with Eagles on them. This could become a regular shopping spot for me.

I had a great day out on Saturday with Jeezy, Morgan and Flo. Girly days shopping and chilling in Rittenhouse Square are the best. So is 7 o'clock pizza and chips. 

I've been listening to a lot of mellow songs this weekend. For what reason, I have no idea. But Bon Iver's The Wolves is incredible. It's winding me down after a great weekend of parties, tailgating before the Phillies game, leaving bags in the Fresh Grocer, making eggs IN toast like they do in V for Vendetta (so I've heard) and eating Jeezy's home-made Korean food with everyone on the 8th floor. Life is good.

Joe's Pizza is the best kind of pizza. Broccoli, tomato and Riccota - yum!

                                                                          I love my Yeoun Joo

The hat Jeezy bought from the Salvation Army. I felt very Russian.













                                                                Rittenhouse Square

Sunny Days

It's finally brightened up after a couple of disgustingly rainy days. I thought for a second that we'd brought the English weather with us. Sorry Philadelphia.

I had a nice Saturday so a couple of pictures for this entry will suffice. I went to Reading Terminal Market and Liberty Bell too but the photos don't do them justice.  Actually, Liberty Bell was a bit of an anti-climax to be honest! I also saw Amish people at Reading Terminal Market and I got a little fascinated by their baking skills; I had a delicious omlette and apple dumpling!

 Franklin Square

Chillin' in the sunshine:

Matt, Flo, Bruce, Becca, Phil.

LOVE Park

Note: The PINK fountain in the background.

Oktoberfest - Becca and I stumbled across this on our way back from Walnut Street. Needless to say, it was a nice surprise!

Beer Pong, Toffee Mocha Frappucinos and Sci-fi

Who knew there could be so much emotional turbulence in one week? Apparently living thousands of miles from home does this to you.

So, this week has been interesting. A little bit of drama regarding a small dose of homesickness and a large helping of tears, but, as always, this has passed and I'm feeling goooood. I've been researching societies tonight as I've not got round to that yet, so hopefully I'll be joining a cool club soon which will get me more involved with Temple life. Watch this space. A spot of volunteering may also be occurring, me being the charitable and loving person that I am!

I've been in the library a little too much this week, so it's probably best that I do something a little more thrilling with my weekdays. The weekends are always so much fun though. Me and Flo had a nice little day in Rittenhouse Square on Saturday, chilling in the park and reading Maggie: A Girl of the Streets. Needless to say, not a lot of reading got done as we always end up having ridiculous girly chats and procrastinating. It's got to be done on a fabulous day in the big city though. I also purchased a toffee mocha frappucino to enjoy in the park and all I can say is: WOW! It's like heaven in a cup. No joke. As is a breakfast muffin from Starbuck's. Utterly delicious, if ridiculously bad for you. I promise I'm not getting fat! I've been to the gym here and everything. I also attempted Zumba this evening, but the class was filled by the time I'd got there. Apparently you have to be there half an hour before the class in America. 

You may be interested to know that there was rain today, and on Sunday! The English climate seems to have infiltrated the East. Not good. It was humid though so there's a subtle difference.

In other news, my weekend was pretty darn good. I ended up at three parties in the space of three days, two of which turned out to be incredibly fun. The third, well, not so much, but I did meet some lovely people and raided even more Philly apartments. These parties, apart from getting drunk, discussing my Englishness, being given bourbon whiskey initially hidden behind a sofa and meeting guys named Tito, are good for improving the beer ping skillz, mainly in basements of houses. I'm getting good at it! I've not quite won a game yet, but I'm playing against Americans so I think my losing is justified. I also met a guy this weekend who reads a book a day. A BOOK A DAY AND HE'S NOT EVEN AN ENGLISH MAJOR! I was thoroughly impressed.

The weekend ended with a forty minute sci-fi play on campus. It was pretty interesting actually as it had been adapted from a radio play. Name: Kaleidoscope. Writer: Ray Bradbury. Oh and let's not forget the tea, coffee and doughnuts in Bruce's room on Sunday evening. He needs to be English as he loves tea... a lot!

Interesting fact of the week: My roommate's uncle is the guy in LCD Soundsystem. She decided to annouce this on Monday and, of course, I went pretty mental. So did Ella from across the pond. :)

Paley

I've been in the library waaaay too much this week, so hopefully I'll have something interesting to post at the weekend!

I went to a Russian Festival today. Bizarre to say the least, so I thought this was pretty interesting to note. Philly surprises me everyday. Oh and the Russians have a strange dress sense, particularly their traditional get-ups.

(Me and Matt Sick - yes, that is his surname. He's learning how to speak Russian right now).