The Life of Diana

So I went rowing for the first time this term today. After a couple more outings I should be back to myself. Funny how quickly you forget how to do things!! Last week I also started ballet... although the class was a bit tough since I haven't taken ballet in YEARS... but I am going to a different level class tomorrow to try it out too. I love all of the opportunities I have here at Cambridge. It is such an amazing place. I want to start ballroom dancing this term too, but it is on Wednesdays, which is the formal hall night for mentors and their students... so hard to balance everything!! I went around Cambridge taking awesome photos of Tatyana today, which was good fun. Now if only I could get my cold or whatever it is to go away, I'd be good to go. Anyway I am going to sleep... I will keep all of you up to date!!

I have to take some time to say that I have THE BEST friends EVER!!! My awesome friends (namely David, Shoop and Taty) let me pick the restaraunt last night!!! That's right!!! They did not go to curry YAAAAAY!!! SO we went to Dojos and had AMAZING food as usual. Then we went to the Pav which was good times.



Rachel is looking suspicious...



Shoooopy with her friend Amanda.



STOOOOOOOOOP!!!



watch out Nienke... your legs might be replaced AHHHHH!!!



Lucy who is the man??? You spoke with him for like three hours!!!



Bartender Steph!!



Wooooah what happened Willy?



Bender... hehe and I look exhausted...



Seeee I am sooo cold that I am even wearing a hat inside.... wish the sickness would go away!!



Phil's outfit was totally happening last night.



sexy shoop with such a small head!!!



Vanessa with my AWESOME pink hat!!!



Ness and Dan... tshirt and suit.... awesome!!



awwwww Greg!!! we love you!!!



awwwww Herb we love you too!!!



Hey!! We will have no boatie secrets!!



Why is there a finger pointing at my head??



My shocked face!!



AHHHH now they are all pointing at Greg...



Shoooopy's friend...



Shooopy with her friend.... wooooah watch the hand hahahha!!!



MUUUUUAAAAA!!!



AHHHHH leave Shoopy alone!!!



hehe Greg has no idea what to make of whats going on...



WOW I look short... who would have known I was so short??



AHHHH now I am pointing... whatsup with all the pointing??



David is NOT looking happy...



But Greg is... awww so cute...



What are you trying to catch Nessie??



Dancing... Ohhh laaaa laaaa....



Steve... nothing like a man in a uniform... especially when you are American!!!



Monique is back from NY!!!



No hiding Shooop!! We know its you!!



say ahhhhh Rachel!!!



Sophie is sooooooo cute....



what an adorable couple, no??



Sitting on the steps watching all of my friends dance / talk...



Angry face.... it is NOT cool to throw someone's jacket on the floor!!! I just washed it!!!



Shooop's angry too!!!



So is Ness!!!!



and David....



wow and Rachel too!!!

Esther (my new hero) is a reservist in the american air force... and so she took Malia (another girl in my research group) and me to the american air force base tonight and let us buy food at the commisary... so I got REAL AMERICAN FOOD YAAAAAAAAAY!!!!! Best of all... no taxes and american prices in american dollars!!! So all of the food in this picture came to $34.06 (which is 17 quid... and last time I went to Sainsbury's I got some milk, a loaf of bread, 2 bags of apples, cheese, frozen veggies, clementines for about 15 quid!!!)... I got 5 cans of refried beans, a huge jar of super crunch peanut butter, EIGHT boxes of kraft mac and cheese YESSS, vlassic kosher pickles, puffs kleenex WITH lotion, lucky charms, captain crunch, velveeta american cheese, 2 blocks of kraft cheddar cheese, conversation hearts, York peppermint patties, 2 bags of tortilla shells and a "large" size refill of dial liquid soap!!!! Can you say SCOOOORE!!!! In other super awesome news, I spoke with my advisor about my project and progress for an hour today... and I am well on my way :). I also went to Lunch and Learn with the Jewish Society today and had a bagel with lox and cream cheese!!! And I saw King's Chapel with David's mom... Other cool things I did this week... took my first ballet class in a looong time!!! It was good fun!! I promise to update photos this weekend and to get back with it ASAP!!!! Still fighting off the cold or whatever it is I have :( waaaah!! Miss all of you MUUUUUA!!!! 

Hey everyone!! Ok... so I have been very bad with photos this term... but I have been sick, what can I say?? Burn's Night (although celebrated early at Churchill) is basically a celebration of the birthday of Robert Burns, a famous Scottish poet and apparantly quite a ladies man. As we learned that night "On the anniversary of his birth, Scots both at home and abroad celebrate Robert Burns with a supper, where they address the haggis, the ladies and whisky. A celebration which would undoubtedly make him proud." It was definitely a really really cool experience. Make sure you check out the videos I took of the ceilidh (pronounce kaaay leeeey hehehe)... which is the cool dancing and music that I suppose is like the Scottish equivalent to square dancing hehehe. Just think... Braveheart!!



Ok so this has nothing to do with Burn's Night... but I woke up this morning and looked out my window and it was snowing like CRAZY... I got ready and 15 minutes later when I look out the window it is sunny... weird.


We had a HUGE group... so we made a mad dash for the table when the doors opened to get as many seats together as we could hehe!!



Dani, David and Rachel... the marroon top trio...



and the black off the shoulder top girls hehe



Here was our dinner entertainment... a bag pipe man and the chef with the haggis (haha or stuff to make haggis out of) to be stabbed hehe.



and the man to do the stabbing hehe... "His knife see rustic Labour dight, An' cut you up wi' ready slight, Trenching your gushing entrails bright, Like ony ditch; And then, O what a glorious sight, Warm-reekin, rich!"




Our awesomely strange menu and information about Burns.



And a picture of the proper haggis. This is what this stuff is... "Traditionally, a Haggis is made from the lung, liver, and heart of the sheep. These are mixed with oatmeal and a few spices and stuffed into the sheep's stomach. After being boiled, the Haggis is brought to the table with a great deal of ceremony. A piper ushers in the Haggis and all raise a glass of Scotch whiskey and "brrreath a prrayerr for the soul of Rrrobbie Burrrns!" It is then served with "neeps and nips," mashed turnips and nips of whiskey. I think you have to drink a lot of Scotch before you can truly enjoy this dish, but a party of Scots without a Haggis is simply not heard of."




And the toned down (yet still disgusting tasting) vegetarian haggis... the potatoes and turnips (first time I ever had them) were yummy!!



Hmmmmmm this food was disturbing... the veggies were good though... especially the long things that looked potato-ish hehehe.



Paul was my Burn's night buddy.



hehe weird dessert... I liked the raspberries in the bottom though.



Awwww Tats... probably thinking of Jon.... awwwww.



Tatyana's lab-mate... I'm not even going to try to spell his name hehehe...



This is Taty's normal happy expression....



And this will be Taty when she finishes her PhD thesis!!!



AHHHHHHH we missed you Herb!!!



Satan Herb hehehehe



Awesome Rachel!!!



hehe we even have fun waiting for the toilet!!



David and his mother... lovely lady!!



Testing out what I'd look like as a guy with a mustache... glad I'm a girl!!



Now Rachel on the other hand... awesome looking man ;) wink wink hahahah



Rachel and Ness are preparing for dancing.



The first dance of the ceilidh.



Look at our awesome Scottish guys.



Rachel and Ness' interpretation of the dance...



Shoop and David's interpretation hehehe....



Paul and my interpretation....



ohhhh this is definitely not what Shoop was doing when the music was going!! She had the steps down!!



That's more like it Serena!!



AHHHH don't fall Serena...



Our proper Scottish boy teaching us the dance moves...



Tatyana as a Scottish lad...



South African gone Scottish...



Diana gone Scottish.... glad I am American hahaha...



Paul looks good Scottish ahhahahahhahaha.



Tatyana popped up out of nowhere!!



People are getting much better at the dance now...



Everyone is in sync...



And nobody is kicking anyone else haha...



Michal ... finally got a shot of one of my boaties!!



And Liz!!!

Now to get the full experience you MUST watch the videos. The video of the guy stabbing the haggis and talking with a Scottish dialect watch this video... hehe sorry but I was holding the camera in portrait view, but unfortunately I cannot rotate the video to landscape view... so just rotate your head when you watch it hehehehe: http://www.zionadika.com/diana/xanga/BurnsNight/killTheHaggis.AVI

Here is a video of the bagpipe guy on the way out:
http://www.zionadika.com/diana/xanga/BurnsNight/bagPipes.AVI

Here is a video of the first dance:
http://www.zionadika.com/diana/xanga/BurnsNight/firstDance.AVI

And one of the last dance:
http://www.zionadika.com/diana/xanga/BurnsNight/lastDance.AVI