The Final Post

Sorry it's been SO long since I've posted, but it has been a crazy last couple of weeks! Now I'm back in the U.S. and at my first day on the job, i.e. downtime...
A postscript on Paris: People are actually not that rude at all. They were totally cool about speaking in English and I thought they were friendlier than the Italians!
Vancouver was awesome-- really nice to see my family and religious leader.
I came back on Monday night and had to write one last paper. I have found that writing papers actually got way harder as the quarter progressed because I was just so sick of it! I had slowly lost all motivation.
But I finished that on Thursday and did one last night of Oxford clubbing on Thursday night, which was quite fun.
Friday and Saturday were, I think, my two favorite days in U.K., probably because classes were done, it was sad to be going back, and the weather was FINALLY good! On Friday I spent the whole day in London, doing all the touristy stuff that I hadn't done yet. I went to Hyde Park (I think Central Park is way better), saw the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace, went on the London Eye, saw Westminster Abbey, took a tour of the Parliament (coolest place ever and I think it was my favorite place in London), and went to Harrod's and Trafalgar Square. Awesome awesome day! I came home at night to our big year-end house party. People from Oxford actually showed up, which kinda surprised me, although I think 95 percent of the Oxford guests were male. Hmmmm...
On Saturday, I went punting for the first time. I really wish I'd tried it sooner because it was SO fun!!! Punting is a big thing at Oxford and Cambridge and it's like rowing, but without the paddles. There is one person at the back who is steering and moving the boat with a long pole. Everyone takes turns with the pole, which isn't as hard as I thought it was. And when you're not steering, you just get to sit on the boat and relax. It was sooo fun! I'll have pictures up soon.
On Saturday night, we went had a group dinner at a very yummy Indian restaurant and then we went to a boat party thrown by one of the colleges. The party was cute and pretty fun, and it was a nice, chill way to spend the last night.
I spent all of Saturday night packing until my flight on Sunday morning. I thought I could sleep as soon as I got on the plane. Unfortunately, my flight was delayed like two hours without airconditioning, so I was pretty miserable. And right now, my luggage is lost somewhere and the United service is awful, so I'm wearing borrowed clothes on first day of work. The only nice thing about yesterday was Whitney picking me up from the airport and having an excellent dinner with her family. And the shoes she gave me for work are also awesome (Thanks Whitney!).
The office seems really neat-- everyone is nice and friendly and young and there is tons of free food and drinks. Yummy. I don't really have any work yet, but I'm assuming (hoping?) that changes.
Thanks for reading this blog the last couple of months. I cannot wait to finally catch up with you guys and hear your voices. We should be talking soon...!!!

Paris!

(Link to pictures: http://ssharif.shutterfly.com/action/?a=8AcNGbVyzasmKv)

Paris was AWESOME. It is such a beautiful city with so much pretty stuff to see. I loved just walked around aimlessly and the food was great! Lots of yummy crepes and pastries!
Stuff we saw: the Eiffel Tower (of course), Louvre (a little over-rated), Palace of Versailles (beautiful), Museum d'Orsay (the first art museum I've ever liked), a night cruise on the river Seine (sooooo amazing), Moulin Rouge, Palace of Concorde, Concergerie (a little boring), Bastille, Saint Chapelle church (best stained glass I've ever seen), Notre Dame (way cool and big), Sacre C'oure church (great view of the city), the cafe from Amelie (very cute), and just a lot of walking around.
This turned out to be a great weekend to go because Paris was having a ton of festivities for their Olympic bid. On Sunday, the closed down the entire main street of Champs d'Lysee and there was a huge parade and just thousands of people doing sports demonstrations. Paris has put tons of effort into their bid and there are signs and brochures everywhere. I would predict them getting the bid, especially after this weekend. London isn't doing too much, Madrid seemed okay, as did NYC before their stadium thing.
In any case, I loved Paris, but I am kind of exhausted right now because I had so much work to do when I got back and I'm leaving for VANCOUVER tomorrow really early in the morning (I was supposed to go to Vienna, but there was a slight change of plans because of a big religious thing I'm going to with my family, in Canada). This is short, so I may add stuff later...