Taking a moment to be a little sentimental, I wanted to chat about the below picture: Three years ago I stayed at this hotel with my family for less than 24 hours en route to Southampton. It was my first, and only, time visiting the city. I decided on that brief stay that I would move to London. Someday, somehow. (My mother was not amused).  Today I stumbled upon it while buying some books in the neighborhood. It caught me off guard and naturally I got all teary eyed looking at it. (However, take that emotion with a grain of salt as I also cried two days ago when a baby smiled at me). I'm so happy to have fulfilled that promise to myself, but I'm also incredibly lucky. I wouldn't have been able to do it alone. So thank you to all the people who helped me get here (this blog is not long enough to list all of you). And just to balance out the emotion of this post with a little humor (as my life tends to do), getting off the tube today, I slipped on the...

15,277 words typed. In 14 days. (I technically had closer to 19 days, but I smartly decided that this was also the time to catch up on Mad Men...I finally get Zou Bisou Bisou now by the way). It was the most I've written, I think ever? It was very rough/kind of awesome. (You have to be slightly sick in the head in order to voluntarily put yourself in this position). I don't think I slept a full night in two weeks since there was always something to be researched. Or in my case, I had to research my research since I'm not as smart as I thought I was. For a little perspective- I'm very aware that people do much harder things than this everyday. (I actually found a list of "which foods to eat during all nighters" from a doctor's online forum. You know, where they need to discuss these kinds of things in order to function and save people's lives 24/7. Can you say Shame 101?) But I will gladly complain about these past two weeks in the name of humor. A...

Out of all the cities I've either lived in or traveled to, I've always been most excited to come home to Boston. The skyline appearing around the corner on 93S has always welcomed me back. I'm still in awe of the first responders, volunteers, and locals I saw on Monday, but not at all surprised by their behavior. I'm so proud that this city's character and pride has shown through all of this unnecessary terror and pain. And if there's one thing I know from my time spent there, it's that you don't mess with Bostonians. They are some of the most resilient, strong, and protective people I've ever had the pleasure of knowing. Spencer Platt/Getty Images The One Fund has been created by Mayor Menino and Governor Patrick in order to raise money for the families and victims of the marathon bombings. To donate, go here:  http://www.onefundboston.org/ “At moments like this, we are one state, one city, and one people." Fenway Park, October ...

I recently took a trip to Amsterdam with my parents. I know, that sentence in of itself is worthy of a good therapy session, but none of us had been and it seemed like a cool city to go explore in the short time they were across the pond visiting me. (Plus I really wanted to sing  Roxanne by The Police whenever I saw a red light because C'MON. When else can you do that?) The city was beautiful and everyone was super friendly. It was worth the trip just for a visit to the Anne Frank House ( without Justin Bieber, that foolish child ), but we were lucky enough to fit in a few more things before we had to leave. I tried to learn a few Dutch phrases, but per usual everyone spoke perfect English. Something I'm still trying to master. Here are some of the (many, many) pictures I took during our two days: Outside the Anne Frank House Outside the library, which was obviously our first stop. Matching the city's laid back 'tude, cats just ...

Well this is just ridiculous. Didn't I just get off a plane at Heathrow? Wasn't I just at orientation and (stupidly) excited about buying a school planner? And now I'm starting to research for my essays and taking out 6-10 books from the library. When did that happen? Just to add to the end of semester excitement, I have come down with a nice stomach bug. (Is it bad I'm mostly upset because I was so looking forward to the pizza I was hoarding for dinner tonight? I might still go for it.) So with the combination of four essays plus an annoying bug, I foresee only leggings and two ill-fitting sweaters on rotation for the next month while I recover and write until my eyeballs fall out. RIP showering/makeup/actual clothes. For anyone who meets me in the next four weeks, I sincerely apologize:

The following is an actual email conversation with my father. Even though we now know the outcome (SPOILER ALERT: we lost), I still love the fact that this is the kind of email I get from my dad. Notes are in italics: Dad:    Cardinal Bertone is 5 to 1 odds to become Pope. If you lay down 20 pounds , you will win 100        pounds! And you can keep it!!  Xxxooo Dad -------- Me  (two days later, since I chose to ignore it the first time I read it) :  Are you being serious?? I don't even know how to "lay down" 20 pounds. More importantly, will I be arrested? --------- Dad:  No it's all legal! You go into one of the betting parlors and make a bet of 20 pounds and place it on “Bertone” for Pope. When he is elected  (note the confidence) , you go back to the place with the ticket and collect your money based on the odds (5 to 1, 6 to 1, etc) Very simple! xo Dad --------- Me :  Should I do it today?  ...

After an extremely successful Skype session with my parents, my mother has come up with the perfect name for my Benedict Cumberbatch mission, referenced in this  previous blog post . It shall henceforth (turning British) be known as: CUMBERWATCH 2013 Speaking of mothers, it is actually Mother's Day here in the UK. (It's actually called Mothering Sunday which is so wonderfully specific). So Happy UK Mother's Day to my lovely Ma and all the other mothers out there! Thanks for always taking my panicked phone calls when I'm having a quarter life crisis and/or can't find any peanut butter. And for, of course, supporting my obsession with an actor. You're just the best.