ThunderSnow

I wish I were seeing this right now- instead I'm experiencing "Thundersnow".

Who thought of combining these two weather words to make what is called, "Thundersnow"? I'm not too sure, but this so-called "thundersnow" hit up the east coast last night and was quite a sight.

I'm wondering where our generations stopped helping older people and their parents. Why is it that kids have to be told to help their parents shovel the driveway? Why don't kids see that their parents have given them everything over the past X years, and want to repay them through this small chore?

We need to take a step back, and think about what we are doing as a whole society. Clearly, the American, "Every man for himself" is not working.

On another note, one of my favorite production companies, "Wong Fu Productions" got an article on NPR. Congratulations to them, I glad that they are getting national recognition for the talent that they deserve. One of the reasons why I like them so much is because they provide clean, fun, sassy, entertainment that is free of cursing, violence, and sex. Bring back the art of film-making, Wong fu!

www.wongfuproductions.com

Smile at a Stranger.

I can't believe what the last year has brought.

1. I teach high school now. Are you serious? Who put me in charge of 13 year olds?

2. I'm applying to grad school. . . ?really? even though I failed the GRE.

Anyway, I'm back into the blogging mode because of a few reasons, but primarily because Angela and I have recently been inspired to quit our jobs and make videos for youtube. Don't know how successful that will be.

A recent visit from a friend really put my life into perspective. My friend Amir came to my 9th grade class and talked about the death of his twin brother, who died from complications of a gunshot wound in 2006. I never saw my kids so engaged. They listened to him far more in 30 minutes than they have listened to me in the entire year.

Why does it take such a traumatic or terribly relatable event for them to be engaged? Doesn't that say something about our education system, or, our society as a whole? Amir's speech really made me remember what I was doing in my life--that was appreciating every day. Somewhere along the past few years I quickly forgot that, but I'm glad that Amir brought it back to light.

Have you ever been walking on the street and a stranger smiles at you? I'm not talking the creepy old-man stare, but the warm, friendly, smile that you get from someone who just wanted to show you a happy face?

Do that. It really feels nice. When did we become this place where it's frowned upon to smile in public?

Back Back in the Day

So I'm back into the blogging life for all of you who cared to listen. I have a good friend who is going away and I've decided I'd chronicle Philadelphia for her while she is away. . .

SnowED in.

It's funny how once everyone went home no one posted anymore. I recently got a new computer so maybe, just maybe, I will get into the blogging mode once again. The only reason I did today is because I'm snowed in at 20+inches of snow in the lovely suburbs of Philadelphia....

Home

I've been home for almost a month now.

And have basically been sick ever since, from kidney stones that came from who knows where. Hopefully I will FINALLY be better next week. I've been in and out of the hospital and doctors, and can't wait to get better. My summer essentially hasn't started yet. So sad. So so sad.

..But could always be worse.

20-some days

Here I am, left with 20some days until I come home. I've been texting Ang a lot, on g-mail. Gmail is wonderful. Exam on Tuesday. Oxford that weekend. I think I'm doing a 5k! I'll post the link here:

http://www.therunningbug.co.uk/EventDetails.aspx?Name=Pants+in+the+Park+5k+2009+-+Bristol

I haven't blogged for awhile and I figured that now would be a good time to get back into it. It's about to be May 13th, i.e. exactly a month until I go back to little old Levittown. Even though time has gone by fast, it's only because of all of the things I have done here. I'm slightly nervous to go back, because a lot has changed and so have I. Not in a worse sense, but a greater sense. In the process, I haven't been driving, I don't drink Gatorade, and I didn't have a job. Those life necessities are going to be interesting to come back to and start right away. I'm excited to come back to see my family and friends, and continue my new life started here at home. I'm just about a senior in college, and that's a really strange idea for me.

I'm missing Phillies games and the end of finals at home, but I don't really mind. The weather is getting nice here and I'm almost ready to start enjoying my last month in Swansea. I'll be going to Oxford again one more time, to break up my time between here and home. There is a lot in Swansea that I have yet to see and I'm ready to do so. Maybe even travel to northern Wales.

I'm handing in my final essay tomorrow, then I have an exam on May 26th. Other than this I am free to finally relax, although I think the idea of "relaxing" while abroad is somewhat different than at home. Because really, it's not relaxing at all.

I moved all of my things and am settled in a really nice room now. Other than people slamming the doors at every hour, it's a nice place.

Bye Loves :)

May!!

It's almost May and I am almost home. I have moved to another room at school and am just getting ready for finals and papers. This weekend I am going to a ball at Oxford, hopefully I am posh enough for it. Other than that, nothing too new. Talk to you soon!

I watched a really good movie called "Waltz for Bashir"; it was a really compelling story about the Lebanese war in the 1980s. It's an animation movie and I really never thought an animation film could be so real.

Where are my floods at?

Hi all,
I know I haven't really posted in awhile. After being back from break, I have been nonstop working on schoolwork and trying to pull everything together for the end of the semester. Yet I have an interesting story........

So at approximately 12 am Saturday morning the fire alarm in my building went off. It seems like a likely occurrence around here, so I grabbed my coat and phone and left. I went to another building and sat in there on the phone for a bit.

I come back to basically see water pouring out the side of my building. I tell the fire guy that I need to get my laptop; I go into my room to see that it's flooded, and there's a waterfall trickling down from the ceiling onto my computer... A water main on the floor above me broke and flooded the floor.
All of my electronics are broken, clothes are soaked, work is lost, and I had to move.
Interesting day.

Break.

I just tried to post pictures two times and my computer keeps freezing so I am doing it again. Third time's a charm... or is it?

Ireland!

I'm in Ireland right this second and there is some weird music on in the place I'm staying. I am in Killarney, in Kerry County. I just got back from Dublin last night. I probably won't be able to post pictures until I get back on the 13th of April. (I get back on the 12th, but will most likely be realllyy tired so yeah). Ireland is a beautiful place and we rode bikes around the countryside today. The music on in the hostel reminds me of Everything Is Illuminated.
Anyway, I go to Cork tomorrow, then the next day off to Madrid!! I'm excited to go to Spain but more excited to see Barcelona because it's a beach and I love beaches!! I'll post pictures as soon as I can, and I will try to keep in touch as much as possible! Love you all!

-Nick

Pre-Departure!

Hi all!

Here are some daffodils in Wales. They are everywhere.

So tomorrow morning, at 9am, we are off to Cardiff to do Spring Break. Here is the breakdown.

March 19th, 20th, 21st. Fly to Dublin, Ireland

March 22 Killarney, Ireland

March 23 Cork, Ireland

March 24th Fly to Madrid, Spain

March 27th Fly to Barcelona, Spain

March 29th Fly to Athens Greece

March 29th-April 3rd Cruise of Greek Islands

April 3rd Fly back to London, England

April 3rd, 4th stay in London, England

April 5th Fly to Rome, Italy

April 6th Rome, Italy

April 7th, 8th Florence, Italy

April 9th, 10th, 11th Venice, Italy

April 12th Fly back to London to get to Swansea, Wales!! :)

So there is my next 3 weeks. Non-stop, going, I'm excited and slightly nervous. I'm ready to enjoy it and have a good time. I'm not going to have internet and it's going to be a little hard to make phone calls, so I'm going to try to e-mail and call everybody as much as I can. As far as I know, I have Skype in Ireland and Italy. So, until next time, love you all!!

Weekend Update! with Nicole Henninger

I haven't written in awhile, so here is my story!
I've had a busy and rough week getting everything sorted out for Spring Break and all of the work that is coming after it. Here is my itinerary:

March 20th-24: Dublin, Cork, Killarney IRELAND
March 24th-29th: Madrid, Barcelona SPAIN
March 29th-April 3rd: Athens, and random Greek Islands for a cruise!! Check out the cruise here:
April 3rd-4th: Travel back to London to pick up Jeph for.....
April 5th-April 12th: Rome, Florence, Venice ITALY! :)

I will post more when I actually print everything out and have my exact dates for each city.

In the meantime, check out this video of a friend of mine singing at an open-mic night! With comments from Jeph!

I had a little visit from Hiroki this weekend so I showed him a bit of Swansea and on the way to the train station we met up with Jeph and ate at the Gourmet B (Burger king!)

That's about it!

I have to move all of my stuff out by Thursday night as I'm leaving on Friday morning to go to Dublin :) It's gonna be a hectic week, but I think I'm ready for it.

Sick, Tired, Homesick..

So it's about that halfway point and I supposed that means all three of the above. I'm sick, tired, and homesick. I am extremely stressed out about break amongst many other things which I don't feel like talking about. I'm going to Ireland next Friday and although I'm excited, I'm also worried about the rest of break. Most of my friends are travelling eastern Europe after Greece but I think I'm just going to come back and head to Italy for a few days with Jeph! Check out his blog out here http://jephunky.blogspot.com/

Anyway, I saw one of my friends play at an open mic night the other day so I'll post videos from that sometime.... Just getting through the crazy days!
I love and severely miss you all :)
-Nick

New Year's Video Part 2

New Year's Part 2

New Years

This is 1 of two videos on New Year's day, Stranded in London.

More Pictures!

Here are some more pictures from Paris.

1 some bridge

2 Arc de Triuomepehrhe

3 Best free view in Paris

4 Sphinx!?

5 Eiffel at night

6 Eiffel during the day

7, 8, 9, Some monuments, blah blah buildings.

10 My french boyfriends!!!

Hopefully Some videos...

Two videos from France!

Look as us in the sparkling Eiffel Tower!

Okay this is going to be a big update. I went to Paris and Versailles this past weekend and saw lots of cool stuff. I'm going to post pictures and TRY to post some videos that I have but I don't know if the videos will work. Anyway, here's the breakdown of what went down:

Thursday: Take the train to London. Talked on my new borrowed Skype phone the whole time and it was great! I had like an hour long chat with Shannon, talked to Ang, Maureen, and Hiroki. So basically, the train ride went pretty quickly. Got to London, made my way to where I was staying, and met up with my friends. Went to sleep and woke up at 7 the next morning.

Friday: 7am. Left for King's Cross station and checked in with Arcadia. They gave us the tickets and whatnot and we got on the Eurostar to take the train to France. It's not as weird as you think to travel through the English Channel. It's just like going through a long tunnel that makes your ears pop a little. We arrived in Paris at about noon, and took a 3-hour bus tour with some French lady who was a B! We saw basically everything on the bus and it was sunny out so this was nice. Finally checking into the hotel at 4, we mosey around for a bit then hit the town! We took the metro everywhere, and it was fairly easy to navigate. We went to the Eiffel Tower, and mostly just walked around, got crepes, and planned our next day.

Saturday: 8am. Went to the Louvre, saw Mona, she wasn't that great. However, the ceiling art in the Louvre is fantastic. We spent about 3 hours in there and didn't even cover half of the place; it is massive. However, there is only so much museuming one can handle. So, we went to Notre Dame, sat for awhile, and went to this castle that is supposed to have the best free view in Paris. After climing eons of steps, we arrived at this view and it was pretty nice. It was some Chateau but I don't remember the name because French sounds so foreign to me and I couldn't understand anything. I should have paid better attention in 7th grade.
4pm. We went to the Arc de Triumphe (I don't even think I spelled that right, silly France), and went up to the top. This required 284 steps. That's a lot. Needless to say our legs were burning but it was a wonderful view and was nice because it's in the middle of Paris and you see all of the main roads coming out from it. When we went down there was some type of service with military guys all dressed so we watched that for a bit.

6pm. Afterwards, we went to the Champs de Elysees, because I wanted to walk on it. Did you know that the Ben Franklin Parkway was based of this road? We decided that dinner would be too much on this road and we took the metro to a random stop and found a Scottish Pub! Who would've thought! We ate there.

9pm. We decided to hustle to the Eiffel Tower and get on it when it sparkled and see it at night. The line really wasn't that long and we were up there for about an hour. It was so nice! It's a little scary because I don't really like heights but it was awesome. The view was spectacular and some people were getting engaged up there.

11pm. We needed to be on the metro by 11:30 to get it home in time because it stops at 12. We made the last one and went to bed.

Sunday: 8am. Up for another day of excitement. We went to Versailles and I ended up going to the Luxembourg Gardens and the Pantheon. All were beautiful and I really liked all of these places. Versailles is about a half hour or so outside of Paris and it was neat to see the France Suburbs on the train. They don't look like L-Town.
Left France at 8pm. and I managed my way to Oxford late that night. I basically spent the whole day laying around but I am still really tired today.

...And that's France!

I See London, I See France

I'm going to France tomorrow! Jared told me they speak a lot of French there and to eat as many chocolate crepes as I can. You don't have to tell me that one twice! I haven't spoken French since the 7th grade, and even then I only knew how to ask to go to the bathroom!

..Actually, in language classes, I was the kid that the other kids always tried to copy off of. . .hm
See you in a few days! I'll be back late Monday night.