...begging for change. I lucked out and did some work ALL-DAY on Saturday. A friend’s boss needed people to sell merchandise at a San Jose Earthquake soccer game. You’ve all been to a sporting event or a concert with those little merchandise cages with overpriced paraphernalia all over the walls? I did that. We had to load up at the warehouse in SF, drive to SJ, unload it, clothespin examples of the merchandise to the wall, label it with pre-printed price tags, grab our money-fanny-packs and ...

All praises be to Craigslist.org. The one-stop shopping website where I’ve found everything from cheap luggage to my last date (a 6’3” brown haired, blue eyed, gorgeous Spaniard – I totally scored…pun intended). I also found a room to rent and a flat-screen TV and a bike to go in that room. Yes, my dorm experience has ended and I’m now renting a room in a house in Berkeley. It’s a little further from campus than I’d prefer (about 1.5 mi.) and I was late to work the first couple of days af...

Previously on Ramblings... We left Classy Chiq passed out from exhaustion at her London Hostel... Because I went to sleep so early, I kept waking up during the night. I was waiting for the sunrise, which can be deceiving because it begins to rise in England around 4 or so. I got up around 5 and went downstairs. I got an orange flavored Fanta and had it along with my smoky bacon flavored crisps -- and I always thought Snickers was the breakfast of champions. It wasn’t quite 6 AM but iI deci...

I’m back on the wagon… the Henry Rollins wagon. Wait…or am I off the wagon? Didn’t Seinfeld go over this? Or perhaps I “Got In the Van…” (wink wink) or did I fall out of the van? Whatever, I’m addicted again! Like most of mainstream American, I was introduced to Hank when “Liar” was in late-night rotation on MTV. It’s not the most amazing song ever, but it’s got some interesting lyrics, or at least they were to me at the time when I began…”experimenting” with the rock music (I was rock-cu...

Guess what? As I mentioned in my 2nd article, I had dreams for summer that weren’t crossing over into reality. Instead of full-time work, I have two full days on Mondays and Tuesdays with 3 empty days I hoped to fill with temp work. I'd only had 1 day of temp work in May and my confidence in Apple One began to fade. I try not to watch too much TV in my off-time, (which would be extremely easy) and I’ve been frequenting the library looking into my grad school options. I think I definite...

I just read my friend Meera’s Live Journal. Check it out www.livejournal.com/users/MeeraRocks. She was in my dream country, Spain! She’s on a building where they filmed some of L’auberge Espagnole in Barcelona. L’auberge Espagnole or The Spanish Apartment is a great movie about a French student studying in Spain and living with a house with students from about 6 other countries -- check it out for a nice evening. I always see places on TV or in books and I think about how they may as...

Hey, Everyone! Sorry I haven’t written in so long. I’ve been attempting to write in chronological order, and I'm about 2-3 weeks behind and you'd never get to hear about what's going on with me RIGHT NOW! Not to mention I’m up to Rome and that’s the trip with the haziest details (Hey! It WAS my birthday gift!). Well, currently in the sweltering computing room ... okay, it’s sort of warm as I think the AC is just making noise to give the impression of actually blowing cool air. Very fe...

(I just spent an hour editing this only to discover that I'd already posted about Scotland. I didn't want to just delete it, so here's an alternative version) Well everyone. I’m very behind on my entries...and will only fall back further and so I’ll have to summarize. Three weekends ago, I headed up to Edinburgh on my own. I got a round-trip bus ticket for £12.50 and three nights for the price of two at the best hostel in Edinburgh (The Globetrotter Inn) which ended up being less tha...

Well everyone. I’m very behind on my entries...and will only fall back further and so I better get on, eh? Two weekends ago, I headed up to Edinburgh on my own. I got a round trip bus ticket for £12.50 and three nights for the price of two at the best hostel in Edinburgh (The Globetrotter Inn) which ended up being less that £10 a night (around $17). So at that price, I couldn’t afford NOT to go to Scotland. The ride up was horrendous. Well, I had leave Brighton for London at about 7 an...

...The next day, I shower and head for the baths. I bought a ticket that could get me into the baths as well as the Museum of Costume...which sounds cool though I have no idea what might be there aside from maybe...costumes? The baths were nice, but too crowded. You get little audio guides and it’s like a huge 80’s cell phone on a string. You walk around and you type in a number that’s on the wall or near some exhibit and you can hear a description of what you’re looking at. I think it’s very...

Hi. I intended to write a quick note, as I'd purchased some perishable foods, but it's been maybe 3 hours. Man, and I must finish packing for Rome. Yes...Roma. I came to check the weather and It’s supposed to friggin’ THUNDERSTORM! Tomorrow and Friday, it will be clear, cloudy on Saturday and then THUNDERSTORMS on Sunday and Monday, the day I leave. Perfect. Ah well. I wanted to write about Bath so I can tell you about Scotland and of course, Rome and the THUNDERSTORMS! I’ve been to Scotla...

Still Alive! Sorry to have not written in so long. I am well, by the way...now. Before I go on, “Aussie Traveller” I did respond to your comment about the hostels, but I’ll repeat. I’ll be at the Globetrotters Inn in Edinburgh. There is a July special through hostelworld.com, book three nights for the cost of two. I’ll spend less than £10 per night. For Rome, I originally reserved 4 nights at the Freedom Traveller (hot breakfast and free pasta dinner), but I’ve decided to start off the...

When we left off, I was headed to the Welcome Meeting to meet up with friends. We got over there and we sort of disappointed to see finger foods instead of “real food.” Not looking a gift horse in the mouth, we dived right on in (I was partial to the mini egg rolls). There were a couple of bus trips to the local grocery store, but we missed out. Anyway, I here the store closed at 4PM on Sunday anyway. Much to the delight of the students, our little reception featured free beverages......

Hey Everyone! Just wanted to let everyone know that I arrived safe and sound...but tired and pretty achy after lugging around like 60+ lbs of gear. The flight over went pretty well. I started from SFO and had to change planes at JFK. There was a major thunderstorm in Philadelphia headed for NY, so we hit a little snag in time because we had to go around it then sort of fly the back way into JFK. I kept thinking about movies like The Out Of Towners and West Side Story which open with aeria...