London with RJ and Ankur

RJ got in a day or so after I got home from Manchester, and Ankur about a day after that. We all realized we hadn't all been in the same place in about two years, since we were all in Ann Arbor. We fell back into our original Bursley groove pretty quickly, and had a blast. We saw most of the major and sights as well as an awesome wood-paneled basement bar, and because of Ankur's brilliance we were able to see a production of Othello in a tiny black box theater (maybe 30 people in the audience; I got bumped by Iago a few times and Othello himself spit on all of us) under Leicester Square. RJ and I hopped on a train under the Channel to Paris; Ankur flew to Atlanta.

Gotcha

Selfie

Beware

Family Portrait 

A word about the above photo: I'm in it. You probably wouldn't have noticed, but my left ear snuck in along the left border. I was supposed to be in it, but apparently the gentleman who took the photo either didn't know how to use my camera and was nervous to ask for help or just didn't like the way I look. In any event, it's become one of my favorite photos of all time.

That's Better

You Know, Like, Comedy?

Quality II

#London

London/York/Leeds/Manchester with Zach and Ash

Note: Just found the following text - apparently I at least intended to post something since March. 

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Some friends came from Thailand on their respective routes home - here are some of the photos. Hope to have time to write up a few short stories also, but I've got more visitors in tomorrow then off to Paris/Brussels/Amsterdam on Sunday! Then exams.

Spooked Ya

Dammit Zach (Leeds)

Ryan

Bile Beans (York)

Wet Wigglers

Subliminal Messaging

Ellie

Hey Buddy

Geezer

Angie and Lino

London with Tesh and Cory

This is the only photo from my time with Tesh and Cory, but I think it's pretty appropriate.

It's the menu from my local BrewDog bar in Shoreditch, which we went to before seeing a DJ show down in Elephant & Castle. We had been walking around that area most of the day, hiding in floral lamps and finding good art books, and needed somewhere to drink. We found good brews here and talked about music, art, and education. The show was good too; we met a group of lovely Irish people, one of whom was deciding between MFA programs at UMass and UVA, and another of whom, named George, seemed unable to comprehend either my decision to come study in London as opposed to Dublin or that I understood that he wasn't hitting on me. I got home as the sun was coming up and had a good sleep before getting ready for the next wave of visitors.

Checking In

Just found out there hasn't been a post up here since March - apparently this thing doesn't update itself. Who knew?

Here's what's been up since then:

- I wrote a paper about the persistence of Manifest Destiny as embodied in an episode of Mad Men (and three others that weren't as interesting).

- I had visitors - good friends and fellow UM alumni Teshia "Bangs" Treuhaft, Cory "Vibes" Levinson, Ankur "Leave it Out" Agrawal and Ryan "RJ" Jennings came for various visits. Photos and stories to come.

- I got to tour The North (York, Leeds, and Manchester) with good friends Zach "Sunflower" Yanowitz and Ash "The Bispham Bulldog" Skellington on their way home from Thailand. More photos and stories.

- I also got to go to the mainland: Paris, Brussels, and Amsterdam with RJ. Same as above.

- I took finals, and have finished with school for the foreseeable future, which is odd. It's job search o'clock.

- I applied to a summer studio course in UCL's Bartlett School of Architecture to delay the inevitable and hopefully get some portfolio pieces to show off for that job search.

- I found an awesome new beer store around the corner. Maybe the most important development in this list.

- I booked two trips for June (Rome/Florence/Venice/Zurich/Munich/Prague/Vienna) and July (Cork/Dublin/Belfast) and cannot wait to get back on the road. Also, I'll be in home countries for three World Cup matches. Really looking forward to it, you guys.

- I'm realizing I only have about 2 months left here. Details/thoughts forthcoming.