Roommate Number 1

Today is December 4th. On this day in 1995, my roommate Cassidy was born.

Here is the story of how we met:
Setting: The FSU class of 2018 Facebook page, a Monday night.
Olivia sees many people posting about looking for a roommate. She silently makes fun of their 500-character autobiographies.
         Example: "omg so like I'm an (Exercise science/ communications and disorders/ bio) major! I'm          so excited for FSU, Go 'Noles! So In high school I played (Lax/ Soccer/ Field Hockey/ an                       instrument) and I'm definitely going to be working out, so I'll need a roomie who will be my                work-out buddy! Fight the freshman 15! haha so I'm nice and neat and I'm hoping to room in              Wildwood, if you think we'll get along the message me! Go 'Noles!"
Wondering why so many people were looking for roommates and deciding to not simply rely on the survey that FSU provides? Won't the survey know me better than I know me? Surely. So I did some research: Florida State doesn't do a survey: it's completely random! That scares me. SO I decided to post a roommate request. But not your average roommate request, of course because I'm me. I wish I remembered what I said but it was hilarious, trust me.

Anyways, so I write this super-funny post, and who else but Cassidy Randall comments on it. She says "I'd be your roommate but I'll be in London!"

Ever since freshman year when I visited Florida State and was told about the First Year Abroad program, I had been kind of considering it, but I wasn't so sure. SO Cassidy messages me and ends up convincing me to spend my first year abroad in London (side note: I'm saving tons of money by being here, post about that to come). So we start talking and whatnot and realize hey we're both kind of funny and like making fun of people so we could be good roommates.

Time for orientation rolls around and surprise: flying to Florida is expensive. So Cassidy and her mom invite me (and my mom) to drive with them. To Florida. Hey, a 20 hour car trip with your future roommate could only be a good idea, right??

Actually, it was fun. Well as fun as two-day car trips can be. She's got one of those cool moms that likes yoga.

So here we are, in London, rooming together. She's moving to Valencia for next semester, which is why I titled this "roommate number 1"

Don't get me wrong, we do have some fights. For example, she has the worst taste is EVERYTHING. She doesn't like The Princess Bride and claims "Nobody likes the Princess Bride" HARD FALSE. I could write a whole blog post (and probably will) based off of all the things Cassidy doesn't like that every human ever should. But We're about to go to a comedy club to celebrate her birthday.

PS Cassidy made me do this (kind of)

Movie Premiers

If you follow me on Instagram, you may have noticed my pictures from some red carpet premiers. If you don't follow me on instagram: a) why not? what's wrong with you? b) @thatOMGkid c) I'll add the picture here as well.

Living just anywhere in London grants the possibility to go to Leicester Sq and watch all the big-name celebrities walk on the red carpet.

But we're even luckier (is that a word?). We live within walking distance (I'm talking like a less than 10 minute walk) to Leicester Sq, so we can literally just walk down the road (and wait in line for a few hours, granted) then see Jennifer Lawrence. There are tons of movie premiers here in London, so there's many options to see celebs. Most recently there was the Mockingjay part 1 premier, and that was a big deal. There were people there that had been waiting since early in the morning (possibly the night before- unconfirmed) to see their favorites. However my roommate and I strolled in around 3 pm and still got to see/ take pictures of the celebs. No big deal.

Pictures below also feature Brad Pitt (yes, BRAD PITT) from the Fury premier. I'm mad about it, let's not talk about. ok. If you insist. Logan Lerman (my favorite ALSO he was in Perks of Being a Wallflower) was at the Fury premier but HE DIDN'T WALK WHERE WE WERE STANDING LIKE BRAD DID. ugh.

Anyways, Here's JLaw, Liam Hemsworth, and Brad Pitt.

Legal Alcohol (aka Why You Should Be Jealous part 1)

One thing some of my friends back home have asked me is: Is it weird being able to legally drink and buy alcohol?
My short answer is no.
Yes, when I first got here it was kinda cool to just grab a 6 pack or a bottle of vodka and be able to purchase it with my id. But you get over that rather quickly. You get used to it. It'll be weird NOT legally drinking alcohol next year. At this point, it's almost weird even to get carded unless you're entering a club or buying at Sainsburys. It's just natural to walk up to the bar and order my white-girl-drink of vodka&cran. Also, we drink in class sometimes. Like we were served wine today whilst having a round table discussion. Yes, you should be jealous :p

One time we got free champagne (with grenadine in it) here's a picture:
(also note, my roommate is attempting to do the "liv face")

British Sayings

If you've texted me since I've been here you might have noticed some British sayings/ abbreviations slipping into conversation. If you haven't texted me since, why not? What's wrong with you? Hit me up on facebook. So here I'm going to breakdown all of the sayings I now use so you can a) understand me or b) use them!

In no particular order:

cba- texting. Stands for "Can't be asked" which is british for "I can't be bothered to do this".

Erm- the equivalent of "umm" or "uhh"

Whilst- basically "while doing" (i.e. We went to the funhouse whilst drunk)

Soz- sorry

Ace!- Awesome!

You alright?- surprisingly, this does not mean "are you hurt" rather simply "what's up?" This was confusing for a while... like yes, I'm fine why are you asking....?

"xxx"- used mostly at the end of a text. similar connotation to "xoxo" (as in it means kisses) but british people use these at the end of every text, to the point where it can be creepy. x

Arse- ass

Mate- friend. Mostly I use this ironically.

Quid- money. The equivalent of "bucks"

Snog- kissing. Think of the book/ movie "Angus, Thongs, and Perfect Snogging"

Taking the piss/ mick- having a laugh, or making a joke.

Uni- short for University. Because people cba to say "university"

Freshers- freshman, or first years (for uni only). Also used for the parties held at the beginning of a semester.

Well, that's all I can think of for now. There's probably more, but TTFN xx

This year for freshers we had an event where we were all given Spiderman costumes to set a Guinness book world record of the most amount of people dressed up as Spiderman in the same room. Enjoy these pictures (and yes I got to keep the costume)

Non-Conventional Must-Dos While Traveling (According to Liv)

Well, the title says it all. Here's a list of things that I always make sure I do whilst traveling:

1. Go to a Mcdonalds. Most people would say "Really? You're in Paris and you went to McDonalds?" Well  I have a few responses for these people. A) It's super cheap. I'm a poor uni student. B) There will always be reliable free wifi (which is surprisingly scarce in foreign countries) and C) There are different items on the menu, and I find that funny (Like what, there's more than two flavors of McFlurries?)  
2. Get your Tinder on. Yes, I'm obviously on Tinder, who isn't nowadays?? And yes, no-shame I have convinced all my friends here to join as well. Hey, it's entertaining! Also, boys and free compliments. Anyways, who wouldn't want a diverse list of matches? It's a great way to practice a different language (French) or "help" an incredibly hot foreign boy with his english. Via text, of course, because meeting up with foreign tinder boys is a bit sketchy. So, swipe away!
3. Buy something touristy. Tacky gifts are a must be it for yourself or others. It's an easy way to remember where you were/ where you got said item. For example, an Eiffel Tower keychain is obviously from Brussels, like, duh! 
4. Go see some church. Take a picture of it. Your mom will appreciate it. 
5. Try the local candies/Sodas. By "Local" I do not mean sketchy homemade ones, I mean country-wise. Seriously though Fanta here is so much better than in 'Merica 
6. Talk to other Americans. I have found people in many places of the world that have heard of and/or been to Simsbury, CT. Crazy, right? Small world. (I apologize for now getting "Small World" stuck in your head.)

In conclusion (gross, how formal), there are many things you should do whilst abroad. If you want to live the Olivia way (Or should I say, if you want to 'Liv') then definitely do these things.  You wont regret it. 

Here's me and my friend Alexis in Amsterdam.

Amsterdayyyum

I will say one thing about this: yes, weed is legal (and super cheap) in Amsterdam. That's all I'll say on the matter.

Amsterdam was cool. the city was very pretty with the canal and all the bridges. The quirky thing about it is that every single person has a bike. Bike lanes are much more respected than actual streets. And if you were in the path of a bike, the biker would for sure let you know with a little "ding"!

We did a few touristy things. My favorite thing ever is that the Anne Frank House has Wifi! It's a big deal, I know! We did walk through the Red Light district, and the most shocking thing of all is that people would have their children there, just walking. Like hello?? There are prostitutes in all these windows!!

For you Fault in our Stars fans out there, Ansel was actually in Amsterdam at the same time we were. No, we did not see him. :( BUT we did take the same cab as him. What, you ask? I will explain.
 So Carrie and I took a cab back to our hostel the first night and the cabbie was very friendly. He talked about how he loves America and how earlier that day he had picked up and American DJ from the airport who was supposedly very famous. The cabbie compared this boy to Justin Bieber, which is the universal comparison for anyone above the age of 30 for a young, handsome, famous- looking guy. We had known that today was the day Ansel had arrived, but since the cabbie had said this young man was a DJ, we thought it couldn't possibly be him. Thanks to wikipedia I found out Ansel Elgort is first and foremost a DJ, Ansolo (!) WHAT?! SO I guess that means Carrie and I rode in the same taxi as Ansel Elgort. No big deal.

There was also a carnival going on while we were there, and the cotton candy was HUGE! Here's a pic:

Brussels

Brussels was.. nice. Much better than the sprouts it produces. There's not much to describe it. Belgian waffles were pretty tasty (esp. with Nutella). My only complaint is that we stayed in a nice hotel that was wayyyy too expensive. Oh, and my friend lost her phone AND my other friend lost his nice camera (so many friends, so little electronics).  The city itself was pretty. It's in that classic "european style of city" that I can now recognize. There is one place there where I would've liked to have spent more time: it was called the musical instruments museum. It had tons of musical instruments (who would've guessed??) and a nice cafe on the 10th floor that overlooked the whole city. Beautiful. We decided public transpo while in Belgium would be too crazy, so we wasted a bit of money on cabs. Oh well.

I got my voice back towards the end of Brussels, and since they speak french there as well, I was very happy about this. So much french on this trip, somebody tell Mesdames!

Here's a picture from the top of the cafe.