Goodbye Cambridge

I find myself staring into space right now. The loves of my lives (for 2 months) are leaving me alone in my empty room. With a heavy heart I type this post. This has been an amazing summer. The best summer. A good dream that I snap awake from. These are pictures from the last formal dinner.

I wore my new Topshop dress:


These are the people I love:


I insisted I be in the middle for this picture:


Of course the boys were really loud during dinner. Hamed took this Captain Hook place setting and called it his hand, making comments like "Where's my hand! I need to eat!" whenever someone took the hook away from him.

IBIZA, Spain

I am having the the time of my life in Europe already and now I had the time of my life while I am having the time of my life. Does that make any sense? Ibiza was the best weekend ever this summer; every minute was precious.

Landed in Ibiza at 1:20am early Saturday morning with 5 other people, quickly went to the apartment and changed to go to Pacha, one of the world-famous clubs of Ibiza. The 5 others had already arrived on Thursday night. All 11 of us had tickets to see Dirty South at the All Gone Pete Tong show, so the 6 of us met up with the rest of the group. Ibiza is famous for its dance music scene and nightlife, and going to Pacha for the first night was the start of a fantastic weekend. We danced until the early hours of the night. This is one of my favorite pictures taken at Pacha:



This is what the club looked like inside:

Our apartment was 2 blocks from the beach, and 11 of us slept comfortably on our own beds since our landlord was nice enough to provide air mattresses. Living with 10 other people in one apartment was hectic, but it was an enjoyable kind of messiness, especially when we were getting ready for the day. We all woke up past noon on Saturday since we got back so late. I woke up earlier than the rest so I took pictures of the view from our apartment.



We lived on the East side of the island called Playa d'en Bossa. It was a journey to get to the other side of the island to the city called San Antonio because we were walking around trying to find the bus station--the cheapest way to get to the west side. Traveling in Ibiza is expensive! We rented 2 boats in San Antonio at 6pm so we could watch the famous sunset, but it took us around 2 hours trying to find the bus stop. When we got to San Antonio it was already time to board our boats. I hope this map helps:



This was the smaller boat--it jumps when the captain drives faster!


The captain anchored us at a small harbor where we had the chance to swim in the Mediterranean sea and try our luck at wakeboarding. I failed miserably since I don't have the upper body strength to hold onto the rope the boat was dragging me with. My friend took this picture of me with the captain telling me what to do because I didn't want to carry my camera with me:




We had wine and beer on the boat.


This is Partow and me with our similar swimsuit cover ups!


Swimming in the sea that was extremely salty. The water was amazingly clear and had fish swimming around. The captain provided us with snorkeling equipment, so I got a good look at the fish.


And this is the famous sunset people gather on the West side to see.



We couldn't waste another night in Ibiza without going out, so we went to another mega famous club called Space. I love the people I was with, we always have a really fun time.



Sunday was our last day in Ibiza and we were all exhausted. Sitting at the beach doesn't take much effort, so that is exactly what we did.



I love the weather in Spain. Beautiful blue skies and warm nights, unlike the cold weather in England.






After a long day at the beach, Maddy and I were starving but everyone wanted to rest in the apartment, so we went to find some food ourselves. We settled on a restaurant that serves paellas, a traditional Spanish food made from rice and seafood.



By the time we got back to the apartment, everyone else wanted to eat! The boys saw this place with all you can eat barbecue buffet really close to the apartment that also showed the Madrid vs. Barcelona soccer/football game. Maddy and I wanted to watch a football game in Spain, they won the world cup remember? 4 people from the group took a cab to downtown to get some food while the rest of us ate barbecue and drank sangrias.





Even though we were surrounded by Spaniards, I think our table was the rowdiest when a team made a goal! It's funny when the guys in our group who were die-hard football fans jumped up and cheered whenever their favorite team made a goal.

I'm physically back in Cambridge, but my mind is still in Ibiza. I wish I could stay longer--maybe forever so we can play all the time. Beach during the day and great music and dancing at night, what more can I ask for? Ibiza truly lives up to its name.

Amsterdam

Let me start out by saying Amsterdam is a weird city, I don't think I can get used to it because social problems in the US are blatantly open. I went on a particularly good weekend because Amsterdam was celebrating its Gay Pride, complete with a parade down the canals and lots of people on the street wearing pink and carrying the "Gay.nl" flags.



The first day was a planning mess. We arrived with no specific plans and way too many people. We bankrupted our phone credit trying to meet up with each other without success. In the end, we all split into smaller groups to pursue our collective interests. It was more efficient that way too, since we all lived in different places.



Drug use is blatant in Amsterdam. Coffeeshops are where people can purchase and smoke weed. There are "Smart shops" littered around the city where they sell "Magic Mushrooms" and various drugs. Of course hard drug use is banned in Amsterdam, but I'm sure it isn't enforced strictly at all.

There was a lot of walking around aimlessly while we were there. We passed the Dam Square plenty of times trying to navigate the streets. We did not speak a word of Dutch and could barely read the street signs, which made reading a map that much harder.



The line for the Anne Frank House was way too long, and we didn't have enough time to actually go in. This is the outside of the house:



Heavy rain was predicted and the clouds made for bad picture-taking lighting. Nonetheless, here is one of the many canals.



After a long day of walking around and not checking off the things on our "To do list," it was necessary to go out at night and experience the Dutch nightlife. In Rembrandt Square, there was an outdoor trance/electro show FOR FREE. Since it was Gay Pride, there were many many gay couples walking around. I'm from liberal California, but I have never seen this many gay couples in my life.



Here is a video of the show:






These are the girls I went with, we asked a local to take our picture but he covered the flash. BUT inside the club, it looked like this:



Europe is an electro-house haven!

The next day we made plans to go on a canal tour and then to the flower market. It was a beautiful day--the sun was out! Amsterdam is actually a very beautiful city. I love the architecture around the canals. Imagine what it's like to live in these houses.





I've never seen tulip seeds before--they look like garlic! Seeds for every variety and every color. The black tulips are really cool looking. I would have gotten some, but I don't think I can bring it back--it's not customs approved.



Toward the end of the day, we were walking around Rembrandt Square again looking for somewhere to eat. In the name of Gay Pride, people gave us rainbow leis to wear around our neck! We saw these huge cushions placed on the sidewalk, so naturally, tired as we are, we laid on them (with our leis on).



The plane ride back to London was the best I've ever had. I slept all the way through until we had to get off the plane; I even slept through landing!

This picture is the best picture I have that describes Amsterdam. Lots of bikes (to almost run us tourists over), canals, and rainbow flags.

London Calling

This time I stayed a night. I signed up to go with PKP, and paid to tour the English Parliment. We weren't allowed to sit anywhere for the 75 min tour, and I was carrying my luggage with me the entire time too.



This is me and Kat inside the building. Pictures weren't allowed past this hall.



Afterwards, we were starving, so we went to Chinatown to look for boba.



Then, we wanted to go shopping, so we met up with 2 other PKP people who didn't go on the Parliment tour and headed to Covent Garden, where there are a lot of small shops. I didn't get anything though, I was looking for British brands, or stores I couldn't get in the US. I came across the United Nude store!



And look at these shoes I'm trying on!


Then, we met up with some more people and checked into the hotel we were staying at for the night. We had tickets to see Benny Benassi at the Ministry of Sound. So many PKP people went too.



Yes, it lasted until 7am! But we didn't stay that late.



I'm going back on August 20th to see Afrojack!

The next morning we went to the British Museum.



Scores of tourists everywhere we go, so there are always random people in these pictures. This is what it looked like inside, which is completely different from the outside.



There was the Rosetta stone! They have a vast Egypt collection--with mummies! I got really excited to see them.



It was already around 2pm when we finished at the museum, so we decided to go get a snack. We figured out how to use the buses and went on a double decker bus! There was a really cute coffee, tea, and pastry shop in Soho.



I love the Soho area, it reminds me of Downtown NYC--lots of independent restaurants, cafes, and shops.



More walking let us stumble upon the London Chinatown (once again for me), but this time, I actually saw the gates:



Even after eating some cakes, we bought some dim sum for takeaway here and decided to just relax and picnic at Hyde Park.



That is the gate to Hyde Park. It was an abnormally sunny day in London, everyone had the same idea as us. There were so many people here playing football, frisbee, drinking wine, and sleeping on the grass.





See what I mean? The people watching was great, and there was a street musician playing the entire time we were there.



This is Maddy and me sitting on the grass, eating our dim sum.

When it was starting to get cold around 7-8pm, we decided to go back to Chinatown and eat dinner. There is just too much British food in Cambridge. I didn't get any pictures during dinner, but we had Peking duck. But walking to Chinatown from Hyde Park took us to a very posh area of London.



I HAD to. The others did not understand why I needed to take a picture of a storefront.