Dear Becca,

I have been remiss. My first class is tomorrow. It's going to be quite traumatic since I haven't had to go to school in five months. I haven't actually gone outside London yet but there's tons of stuff to see here so I've kept busy. So basically we don't eat here cause it's too expensive. I'm so in need of a Costco hot dog right now. I've been living on tap water and these things called digestives (they're basically cookies).

I can't believe you let Niko walk. You were supposed to hinder any mental/physical/emotional progress until I got back. He's gotten too big. It's really hard for me to brainwash him when I'm abroad. I should've thought about that.

I'm kind of peeved I'm missing out on all my shows. Everyone here watches X-Factor which seems really lame. It's basically just American Idol. Well we don't have a TV in my flat anyway. I wonder what happens to my body when not in the presence of a television for an extended period of time. It may rebel against me.

Anyway here's the only picture I have with me in it. It's in front of the London Eye when I went on a boat cruise.

Postmarked: 1:00 a.m.

Dear Amanda,

I am quite upset that you haven't posted in so long, but I guess I haven't either so we both need to step up our game. I don't even know if you are alive. I'm hoping you are and you are just taking a really long time to post some pictures of London/Paris/wherever else you have been so far. As you can see in the following picture, your godson is now walking...all...over...the...place. He saw an open door today and RAN towards it and I literally had to run as fast as I could to keep him from going outside and falling on his face down the steps. It's quite scary, but you know how things go when you leave. This is what I get for you leaving. Hurry up and put some posts up. Now.

Postmarked 1:05 p.m.

Dear Amanda,

By the way, the new season of HOUSE is on right now. It's so good. You know you are jealous.

Postmarked 9:04 p.m.

Dear Amanda,

Take some pictures of the sights and put them up! Have you adjusted to London yet? The time change, the electrical outlets, the accents, the arrogance? Pizza Express sounds like Pizza Hut and Panda Express together, which are equally disgusting. Hopefully the food was much better. I have so much studying to do for Psychology so I will write a longer post later.

Here is a picture I took yesterday at work. Your name is in the OFFICIAL baptism book at Holy Family. You should feel honored.

Postmarked 8:58 p.m.

Dear Becca,

Sorry it's taken me forever to post. I've had a lot of British lingo to catch up on. Lesson of the day: medic = doctor. I still haven't unpacked so my room looks exactly like the picture I posted. My friend Lauren and I walked all around London today. We were looking for a place to buy a cell phone, but they were all closed. How dare people keep holy the Sabbath. It worked out though cause we inadvertently walked by like all the big sights. We saw Big Ben, the London Eye, Piccadilly Circus, St. Paul's Cathedral and probably a bunch of other stuff that I didn't recognize.

We went to dinner tonight with Megan and Sarah (my friends from NYU). We went to this place called Pizza Express which is a lot classier than it sounds. Then we went to this pub and it was Scrabble night. Well done, London (even though we didn't play cause that game makes me feel stupid). So apparently I have to go to orientation tomorrow but no one really knows for sure. Should be exciting.

Here's a pic of the little care package they gave us. It has gummy bears. Score!

Postmarked: 1:52 a.m.

Dear Amanda,

I would like you to know that your godson called 911 this morning. He found the phone on the couch and when I saw him playing with it I took it and put it back, but apparently it was too late because like 4 minutes later a police man came to the back door and was like, "Is everything alright here?" He said they had gotten a 911 call from our house. When he saw Niko he started laughing and he said, "Well at least you know it works." Thank god he was nice because I was totally mortified.

Postmarked 3:46 p.m.

Dear Becca,

I'm FINALLY about to go to sleep. I haven't slept since I woke up on Friday. I'll write a real post tomorrow when my brain is working better. For now here's a picture of my bags that refuse to unpack themselves.

Postmarked: 23:59

Dear Amanda,

They spelled my name right at Starbucks for the first time ever! It's always Rebekah, Rebbecca, or Rebbeca. ALWAYS. I went there to study yesterday after you left because the Alhambra library closes super early apparently. I wish you had saved that receipt from the morning...of course. Oh well I just needed some tea I didn't need a huge cup of coffee. I hope you made it to London safely...

Here's a picture of my correctly-spelled name and the cool new artwork. This is the one on Huntington btw. I didn't run into anyone I know thank god.

Postmarked 1:10 p.m. Pacific Time

Dear Amanda,

Here's Niko's fake mohawk, which I guess is just a fauxhauk.  I did a really bad job because he kept wiggling and bouncing.  

Postmarked 3:24 p.m.

Dear Amanda,

I miss you already.  You are probably almost at the airport by now.

This is me missing you:

Postmarked 2:28 p.m.

Dear Amanda,

YOU ARE LEAVING TODAY.  I'm so not ready.  I hope you are though and I hope you have progressed in your packing since I left yesterday otherwise you are really in trouble.  I really enjoy the packing video that we made but unfortunately I think you are going to need more stuff than that if you are staying for a few months.

I don't really know what I'm going to do without you.  Who am I going to go to Target with??  Who am I going to make breakfast for?  Who's going to bring me Coffee Bean at work?????  That's the question I'm really concerned with.  This is going to be a problem and might cause a problem in our friendship.  Especially if you come back with a European arrogance.  You better come back with some really wonderful presents to make up for it.  

When you come back Niko will be one and I will be twenty.  That's a little bit ridiculous.  

Here is a picture of us, so you don't forget what we look like, even though we will probably look different in our old age when you get back.

Postmarked 9: 07 a.m.

Dear Amanda,

This is total outrage.  He sent away the dogs during his week at the house?? Jon's so mean.  

Postmarked 9:18 a.m.

Dear Becca,

So I'm officially leaving very soon. I'm starting to freak out a little bit about packing. Can't I hire someone to do this for me? I'm gonna try and wake up really early tomorrow but we both know how that will probably work out. We need to hang out tomorrow since this is the last time you'll see me without the European arrogance I will no doubt acquire. I need a Target buddy. I won't be able to buy the whole store by myself.

I saw this play tonight at the Ahmanson called August: Osage County. It was a depressing little tale about this dysfunctional family. And it was 3 1/2 hours. Lovely way to end my summer. Okay, I would like to go to sleep now.

Here's a pic of the playbill which I just threw away.

Postmarked: 1:05 a.m.

Dear Amanda,

She was strangled.  This story is so sad/scary.  Please be careful in England.  Keep your creeper radar on.

Postmarked 2:28 p.m.

Dear Amanda,

Here is a picture of my argyle socks with my boots, just because we need some argyle on our page:

Postmarked 2:14 p.m.

Dear Amanda,

I finally got home from Chemistry after a super long lecture and lab.  I left my sweatshirt on the couch on the way out the door so of course I was freezing for 4 hours.  And I decided that I was going to do another juice fast today so I had a green smoothie that everyone was judging.  THEN I got home and my mom had bought raspberry milano cookies so obviously the fast was over.  I really don't think its for me.  It's just a little bit too hard to not eat all day and just drink juice.  I wish it was still yesterday and I wish that I was still eating that delicious McFlurry.  Looking at that picture that you posted makes me drool a little bit.  

My awesome teacher assigned this huge lab and I have a test on Monday, no no excuse me, a "mini-exam."  I'm going to try to finish it all tonight so that tomorrow we can go to In 'n Out, Yogurtland, and Boba and you can have your last ride in my car for a few months.  When you get back I might have to start charging you...  We should go to Target also.  If they don't have one in England you might just die, so you should look into that before you leave.  

I watched some of the Holiday last night and it somewhat reminded me of me and you because you are going to London.  The only differences were that we aren't madly in love with Jude Law and Jack Black, we aren't super rich, and we would probably never just trade houses with someone on a whim.  Other than that it totally could have been us.  

I have to go start my homework now because Niko finally fell asleep.  

Here are some pictures that I took in Chemistry today just to show you how much fun I was having.  And yes...I looked crazy trying to take a picture of myself.  Hopefully no one saw...

Postmarked 2:05 p.m.

Dear Becca,

Enclosed is a picture of me in my footie pajamas. Just cause.

Postmarked: 11:35 p.m.

Dear Becca,

I don't know what I'm going to do without you as my chauffeur (and Niko as musical accompaniment). I hope there's a London version of you that will drive me around places. Do they have Target in England? If they don't I actually might not go. I have standards.

We still haven't gotten boba. I definitely need to get some before I leave because who knows how long I'll be deprived of it. In that case I should also probably get In-N-Out and Yogurtland while I'm at it. I have much to eat before I leave.

I very much enjoyed our McFlurry run today. I have to be straight with you. Oreo is better than M&M. Fact. They were quite sloppy though. All my Oreo was just hanging out on top and the bottom was just plain old vanilla ice cream. Things this horrible would not happen if I ran the world.

Please enjoy this photo of you snacking and driving.

Postmarked: 8:47 p.m.

Dear Amanda,

They are buy one, get one half off/free shipping!  Want to go in on it together?  They have size 7 1/2.  We haven't had matching things in a long time...  

Postmarked: 3:06 p.m.

Dear Amanda,

PLEASE explain this.  She doesn't even look like herself.

And I LOVE that she's holding a Taylor Swift autograph for Hannah.  

Postmarked: 2:43 p.m.

Dear Amanda,

I got a little carried away looking at pictures from Ponyo.  =)

Postmarked: 11:15 a.m.

Dear Amanda,

Last night was so fun.  I'm so glad we actually ate at Katsuya.  That tempura rock shrimp is so yummy and I've never had such good spicy tuna.  I wish the lighting had been coming from more than a single candlelight but oh well it was nice ambience.  I think we should go to the Americana more when you get home because it seems like a relatively nice place to shop despite all the interesting people that we came across.  Maybe that's just the late night crowd though...

I don't really understand why you would pollute our beautiful blog with a picture of that man.  I'm going to try to take up a lot of space with this post so that his picture gets off the front page.  I also don't understand why you would check out a book that sounds very academic.  You don't like to read, did you forget?  The library isn't a good place for us because we check out so many books and never read them, and then we don't return them on time so we end up having fines.  Economically, I just don't think its going to work out for us.  Besides the fact, of course, that I haven't been able to find my library card in a few years...

Here is our list of things we need to do today:

1.Go to the Apple Store and get my "G" button fixed, finally.

2. Get you a converter.

3. Go to Target

4. Eat

5. Get boba

You are leaving so soon!  I'm not ready.  =(  Hurry up and wake up so we can hang out.

-Becca

Here is us at the Americana:

Delicious Sushi:

And of course, Ponyo:

Postmarked: 8:48 a.m.

Dear Becca,

I hope chemistry class was wonderful. I went to the library today to return a book. I was nervous border control might be like high school: they won't let me leave if I have any overdue books. I only read like 3 sentences of the book. It was called Racist America and I'm still unsure what compelled me to check it out. I think I need to be analyzed.

I think Jon and Kate is on today. I saw a commercial last night during "Child Frozen in Time." I heard Kate was on The View today. I've got to start waking up in time to watch that gem. The show is definitely going downhill. The kids are becoming decreasingly cute as Jon is becoming increasingly intolerable. Deadly combination. And OMG I actually saw a lady today with the Kate haircut. I'm pretty sure I got uncomfortably close to her, but it was worth it.

-Amanda

Here's a picture of the author of Racist America. Seeing this caused me physical terror.

Postmarked: 4:41 p.m.

Dear Amanda

I have class at 8:30 tomorrow morning.  You are welcome to come with me and learn the magic that is significant figures in Chemistry.  It is such a miserable class to be sitting in.  Not only is it boring information so far, but it has to be 60 degrees in the classroom when I am dressed for the outside 100 degrees.  Therefore, I have to sit there physically shivering trying to copy down a bunch of math problems.  

We can get boba on the way to the Americana.  I would love to bring it to you but unless you want it at 7:45 in the morning I don't think it will happen tomorrow.  I wonder if they have boba in London... I know it won't be as good as our place.  I can't even remember the name of it.  "Buy one, get one free" is the biggest sign on the building.  Maybe that's the name of it since everything there seems to be free if you buy something else.  

I think a show on your short stature could be quite successful.  They could have the "Little People, Big World" family come and install those special stools in your house that they sell at conventions.  You know how they love to blend their shows together.  Speaking of TLC shows, what in the world happened to Jon and Kate?  It hasn't been on in weeks.  They either need to permanently cancel it or just kick Jon off.  They should make the show be strictly about the "8."  They are the only ones that we care about anyway.  

I'm having trouble getting tired because I know that the sooner I go to sleep, the sooner I have to find parking at PCC and go to Chem.  Hopefully by the 3rd week so many people will have dropped out that there will be hundreds of empty parking spots.  I also can't go to sleep because I am hungry and writing this post makes me want sushi really bad.  I hope you are excited for Ponyo!

-Becca

Here's me trying not to go to sleep:

And I found our polaroids from the boba place:

Apparently it does have a name that I can't read or pronounce.

Postmarked: 11:32 p.m.

Dear Becca,

This letter won't have an international postmark just yet, but I guess I'll let that slide for the next few days. You know I never do something without expecting something in return. I find it's a good life philosophy. Thus, I expect you to bring me boba tomorrow.

So we went to that sushi place tonight (Asanebo). I've never seen my dad so sad as when he saw the menu prices and realized it was gonna cost more than the gift certificate. I thought he was gonna send me back to the car. It was delicious, but I prefer the taste of money much more.

I am currently watching "Child Frozen in Time" on TLC. It's about this 16 year old girl who's mentally and physically like a 6-month-old. They could definitely do a part 2 of this show on me. I think I'm stuck at about 12. Will I ever realize my dream of being able to reach the top shelf? That could be the tagline.

Well I'm quite excited for our adventures tomorrow. Tell your dad not to get in a car accident this time so we can actually see the movie.

-Amanda

Here's a picture of how much extra we had to pay at the sushi place.

Postmarked: 10:54 p.m.

Dear Amanda,

I think I would have died without the coffee that you brought me today, so thanks. If you had a real job I would bring you coffee too. But since you had a fake job, I brought you fake coffee. It never fails that every time I work an alarm goes off somewhere. As I write this, someone's car alarm is going off in the parking lot. It's exactly what I want to be listening to right now. There isn't anything sketchy happening on the security cameras so I guess I don't have much of a reason to push the panic button...but it is so tempting.

There are 5 days until you leave! I'm not ready for you to be like 10,000 miles away from me. Who am I going to eat Costco hot dogs with? Who's going to bring me Coffee Bean? I'm getting depressed. I am pretty excited for tomorrow night. We haven't had an adventure in a long time. The Americana+Katsu-ya+Ponyo=adventure for sure.

Love, Me

P.S. Here's a picture from our good times from last summer!

Postmarked: 5:49 pm.