Wrapping it up in London

the crew eating dinner at Wagamama's...a crappy-food Japanese restaurant that charges WAY more than it should. Chicken katsu is $16.00 for L&L-quality and less quantity. But we did find Sapporo beer there and that was nice.

View more photos 

I have been finished with my exams for a couple of days now and I'M A SENIOR!!!  It hasn't really hit since I haven't started my senior semesters yet, I guess that's expected.  But the years have really flown by!  I've been enjoying the last week or so with Sacha, Savvas, Pere, and Hao.  I'm gonna really miss these guys when I leave.  They all agreed to come to Hawaii and stay with me eventually.  I hope they make good on that.  Sacha's invited me to visit Iran with him and his family...he said I have nothing to worry about and it's not as scary as media makes it seem.  I don't know though...I'm an American and that's not a good start.  His family is in Tehran.  Laurenda also invited me to visit her in Ghana, but she always says things and never comes through so I'm not counting on that.  Savvas promises that we'll all go to his family's place in Cyprus, that should be amazing.  Anyway, I really hope we stay in touch and that we eventually visit all of these places together. I'll be heading to Nancy on 29 May 2007.  I booked my round trip Eurostar ticket for 89.00 GBP.  It heads to Gare Nord in Paris.  Then I have to walk to Gare de l'Est, a 10-minute walk away.  From there I'll catch a 3.5 hr train to Nancy Ville where Professor Eric Favre will pick me up.  They have reserved an apartment for me and it sounds like it'll cost roughly 400 euros/month. I'm excited to start working for the university but I also want to do a lot of touring of France on the weekends: Paris, Normandy beaches, Marseilles, Lyon, and Tours.  Not only that, but I'll be really close to the borders with Luxembourg, Belgium, and Switzerland.  I want to go sky diving in Interlaken, Switzerland....that's in my top 5 to-do list.

picnic in the park for Laura's birthday party

View more photos 

I think it'll be hard to make food for myself because I won't have pots, pans, etc.  Hmm...I'll have to figure something out.  I'm looking forward to trying French food, cheese, and wine!  Hopefully two months will be enough to do all that I want to.  I'll get back on 26 July to London from France and then fly out to LAX on the 29 July.  Between those dates I'll be hanging out at Savvas' house in North London.  Sacha will come down for a night and we'll have one last hoorah before I head back to the US. 

I'll be grateful to be back on the $ again...this GBP and euro is killing me and my wallet.