Eurogamer Expo 2011

So I had an extremely awesome stroke of luck in that the Eurogamer Expo 2011 was being held literally TWO BLOCKS away from my flat. Having never been to an expo or a con before, I decided to go. It was awesome!!

This is the Earl's Court convention center, right across the street from the Earl's Court tube station.

Waiting in the queue. British people don't call them "lines." They're "queues" here.

Awesome hanging display for Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword. On a complete and total tangent, you should check out this video to have your mind completely blown. The new theme for Skyward Sword actually contains Zelda's Lullaby, but BACKWARDS!! But in any case.

Link was there! :D

They're making Fruit Ninja for the Kinect! I played it and it's really difficult, actually. The guy before me got a score of like 400 something, and my score was like, 60 something. I felt bad, because on my iTouch the high score is actually 400 something.

R2D2 was also there! He moved around and screamed and everything! I would have included a video, but the guy controlling him decided to be dumb and not have him do anything while I was recording. :P

EPIC Assassin's Creed sweatshirt that I want SOOOOO BADLY!!!!1 Unfortunately this is just a promotional item and not for sale. Ubisoft has yet to confirm the shirt company's design and what not, so it won't be on sale for a while. AND IT COSTS 30 POUNDS! That's like, $40 in American money.

Darth Vader and Obi Wan also attended. There were also Stormtroopers walking around, and I was tempted to ask one of them if he was a little too short to be a Stormtrooper. Hee hee! I was too shy though. I'm actually pretty shy when I'm all by myself.

And here's Link again. Or, specifically, a guy cosplaying as Link. His costume didn't look too bad, or too complicated actually. A little warm though, with the turtleneck. I think Link might be a great and easy Halloween costume for me this October. It'll also be a little funny, because a few years ago I was Zelda.

Also, it should be noted that I took this picture while "Link" was playing "Rise of Nightmares," a horror-adventure game, similar to Silent Hill, but for the Kinect. So it's a scary game, that you play WITH YOUR OWN BODY. When there are zombies coming at you, you have to punch WITH YOUR OWN FIST to get them away. If there's a key at the bottom of a toilet bowl full of blood, you have to physically "reach in" to grab it. It was quite scary and gory. You get lots of different weapons to hit the zombies with, such as brass knuckles, steel pipes, and chainsaws, but there are also scenes of torture, mutilation and other gross stuff. It was in the "over 18" area, so I wasn't terribly surprised.

  I tried playing it  it and flipped out when one of the zombies grabbed my character by the neck. In those instances, you have to push the zombie away. Movement in that game is pretty weird, though, I have to say. You step forward with one foot to move forward, and then back to move backwards, and turns are navigated by turning your shoulders left and right. It's quite odd. Check out a video of it here. All in all, it's an alright game. Not super awesome, but a step in the right direction for Kinect games.

This is me, modeling the FREE Assassin's Creed: Revelations t-shirt that I got. I also got to see some exclusive footage in a developer session, as well as some live gameplay and things like that. It was pretty cool, and I'm super excited about the release on November 15th. Unfortunately I won't get to play it for a while, because I haven't even played Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood yet. :(

So that was my first gamer expo experience! I definitely want to go to more in the future.

P.S. Sorry about the terrible picture quality. It was pretty dark inside the convention center and I've only got my iPod Touch.

This is mah srs face.

So after a week of doing nothing in particular, things over here are about to get real. I've got my first real class this evening: Working in the UK and the EU. It's "intended to provide interns in the United Kingdom with an intellectual context and framework from which to understand their semester's experiences as employees in the British and, increasingly, European workplace." (That's word for word from the syllabus.) Even though it seems to explain itself right there on the page, I still have no idea what it's about. So I guess we'll have to see.

Also, my Arcadia email has been on the fritz for a while now, and it's only just gotten fixed today. This really really sucks, because I've been getting emails for the past few days detailing what homework and assignments will be due on my first day of class for my two writing classes. And now I'm behind. Boo. :(

I'm going to have to get down to business in order to catch up. Guess it's that time again. TIME TO MAKE A SCHEDULE!! At UW-Madison, I'm part of a scholarship program called the 'Chancellor's Scholars' and one thing we have to do every semester is make a schedule and send it in to our advisors so they can see what we're up to and that we're being active in our learning environments. In all honestly, most people just make it up and don't really follow it, but I find that just having a schedule will help me keep my life on track, even if I don't like them. Schedules, I find, are more "guidelines" or "suggestions" rather than rules. But I've talked about this in a previous post, which you can look up in the side bar, should you desire. In any case, I've really got to get cracking on homework and stuff. Until next time!

Cheers!

As a treat, here are a list of more odd and interesting things I've learned in London so far.

1) Watching soccer -excuse me- football games at pubs is really fun. Almost as fun as being in the stadium!

2) I live about a fifteen minute walk away from Chelsea stadium. Gotta get me some tickets for a game soon!

3) Drunk people repeat themselves a lot.

4) The London Underground isn't as confusing as most people think. Although you shouldn't let your guard down. There are a lot of renovation projects going on at all times, so when you least expect it, your stop will be closed and you'll be forced to take a different route home.

5) Everyone here is pretty fashion-forward. It makes me feel like I don't have enough clothes. 

6) NO PUBLIC RESTROOMS! WTF?  The other day I paid 50 pence to use a bathroom in the London Underground. Definitely a first for me.

7) Also, they don't say "bathroom" over here. Instead, they say "toilet."

8) Haven't heard anyone use "bloody hell" as a swear yet. I have heard someone say "wanker" though. It was an old guy in the pub at the football game.

9) There are no convenience stores similar to Walmart or Walgreens or Target over here. NO ONE SELLS THINGS LIKE WATER BOTTLES OR LAUNDRY BASKETS! For those types of things you have to go to a place called "Argos." It's a really odd place. What you do is page through a cataloge and each item has a corresponding number. You punch the number into a little keypad, which will tell you if that store has the item you want in stock. You jot down all the numbers of all the items you want, give it to a cashier, pay for them, and the cashier will go off somewhere (pretty sure they've got like, an extra dimension hidden somewhere in the back where they store all their products) and bring your items back. And then off you go! All this without ever wandering down an aisle or reaching to the back to get the most pristine "whatever." It was kind of odd, but also sort of cool. 

Amazing Things and Not-So-Amazing Things

Here's what I did today:

Rode the London Underground. So much fun!

St. Paul's Cathedral. OMG Awesome architecture and details.

FREAKING BIG BEN! How cool is that??

Westminster Abbey. That's me and Cynthia, one of my flatmates, down there in the bottom leftish.

Trafalgar Square.

The London Eye and the River Thames. I wanted to ride in the London Eye, but no one else wanted to and I didn't want to go all by myself. Plus it was pretty darn expensive.

SAW FREAKING SIRIUS BLACK AND COMMISSIONER GORDON LIVE IN PERSON!!!! HOLY CRAP! WHY SO SIRIUS???? (that's Gary Oldman on the left, who portrays both of those characters, in case you didn't know.) He was at the premiere of his new movie "Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy."

All in all, no big deal. 

Haha! Honestly, who am I kidding? London is sooooooooooooooo awesome! I love it here! There are so many awesome things to do and see! I'm registering for classes on Thursday and start my internship next week and I can seriously barely wait. I feel like there are five billion crazy awesome cool amazing super great things to do here and I'm going to do them ALL!

However, there are a few things over here that I'm not so keen on.

1) Everyone drinks and smokes over here. And I'm not a drinker or barhopper. Like, at all. I feel like, after a long day of walking places, seeing things, learning stuff and doing activities, I just want to chill, relax, maybe read something or write something. And I don't think anyone in my flat will understand that. They're all like, "OMG Let's go out tonight! Even though we have to get up early tomorrow!" And I'm all like, "Um... I think I'm gonna pass." And then they're gonna be like, "OMG You're such a loser." And I'm gonna be like, "Aw... okay. :(" *le sigh* I dunno what to do.

2) The dijon mustard seriously tastes like nail polish. Like, it tastes so nasty, I'm pretty sure it's not safe for human consumption. D:< Blargh!

So I'm in London Now...

Here's what it looks like so far.

My traveling companion photobombs the picture of my carry-on luggage while waiting at the Milwaukee airport.

 

Here's my side of the room that I share with one other girl.

The view from our window down into the courtyard.

Another view from our window.

Doorway to my room.

Common room.

It has a TV!

Here's the view from the common room window, which faces the street.

Out the window and up the street.

Out the window and down the street.

Stairs to my room. Thank goodness there's only one flight.

Entrance hall.

Front porch.

The house! Isn't it lovely?

Little One chilling on the bookshelf, resting after a long day of traveling, shopping and unpacking.

Fall Frenzy

Okay, so. I'm leaving for London in about... 1 day, 18 hours, 48 minutes and 58 seconds. Here are some quick facts about my packing endeavor.

1. My suitcase is the maximum size allowed by my airline.
2. It's approximately 45 pounds in weight, and the maximum weight is 50 pounds.
3. I've got three things I have to carry around. My purse, my backpack and my suitcase.
4. I'm like... 5'2" and 125 pounds.
5. I'm going to look like an idiot trying to get all my crap to the airport.

Thoughts, Observations, and Dreams

Looking back over the last few months, I've noticed that I actually posted more during the school year than during the summer. I thought it'd be the other way around. What do you think that means? Well obviously it means that I did hardly anything but work this summer, and so didn't have a whole lot to post about. But now that school's starting, and I'll be off soon, I should have plenty to post about, right?

I'm sort of still in freak out mode about going off to London. Obviously it's going to be a hugely life-changing experience. They offer "debriefing" sessions with the school counselors for students who come back and have a hard time readjusting to life in the States. It doesn't get much more serious than that. Of course I look forward to all the neat things I'll be able to see and do, but I also worry about changes that will happen while I'm away. Changes to me and also to my family and friends. What if I come back and everything is different? What if I come back and I'm different? The little kid inside of me is comfortable with where she's at and doesn't want things to change. But the adult in me is crazy excited about the Sunday after next.

Studying abroad is supposed to "broaden my horizons" and "brighten my future," right? It'll be good for me. Get me out of my comfort zone and force me to grow up and be responsible. Because, honestly, college so far hasn't been super difficult, seeing as how I go to school 15 minutes away from my family and still live with my parents. Things have been pretty easy for me so far, because God has seen fit to bless me with so many awesome things. Decently-well-off and supportive family, full scholarship to a great school, steady job, fun friends, caring boyfriend. I'm super thankful that I have all these nice things to enjoy in my life. At the same time though, I find myself wondering who I am without them. Who am I, really? On my own, with my own strength, what am I capable of? Ever since college started, I've kind of wanted to shake things up a bit for myself. Do something crazy. Go on a road trip. Move far away and see how I react. I'm not trying to be ungrateful for all my blessings, and I apologize if I sound that way. I just want to test myself. See what I'm made of. Explore, and figure out what kind of person I am in my core. Am I crazy for wanting this? I dunno. But I guess that's enough angsting for now. Can't bore you guys for too long, eh?

Anyways, before I go, I wanted to share another odd dream I had, featuring this guy:

(that's Brian Austin Green as Derek Reese from "Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles")

And also this guy:

(Laurence Fishburne as CSI Raymond Langston from "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation")

So it's morning, and I'm in my kitchen getting some breakfast. Langston is there, cooking something on the stove, and Derek is sitting at the kitchen table, eating his breakfast and reading the newspaper or something like that. I open my fridge and grab a wine bottle, because who doesn't drink wine with breakfast, and pour myself a glass. I go over to the table and sit next to Derek. I start talking to him about something I can't remember at the moment, but it's gotta be something to do with current technology, because he says "I dunno, I never knew anything about that." And I'm like, "Oh yeah, you grew up during the war, so they didn't have stuff like that in the future." He goes back to reading his newspaper. "Hey, can I ask you something?" I ask him. He puts down his newspaper and gives me a look like I'm about to ask him where babies come from or something. "Yeah," he says cautiously. "What?" "How can you tell when a boy likes you?" Derek looks a little stunned and says something like, "Uh, well... I dunno. I guess if he gets all quiet when he's next to you or if he tries to protect you a lot, then you can safely assume he likes you." And I'm just like, "Oh. Really?" Derek shrugs and tries to go back to reading his paper. I kiss him on the cheek and say, "Thanks, Derek, you're an awesome uncle." Then I get up and bring my half-finished glass of wine back over to the fridge and giggle, because I'm slightly drunk already. "Man, I can't believe I'm drunk from half a glass of wine!" I say as I put the glass into the fridge for later. I head towards my bedroom, as Langston sits down at the table with his eggs or whatever. "I'm such a lightweight," I say and do a ballerina twirl, which makes Langston chuckle. 

That's about it. The dream was about to start getting into a scary part, but I can't really remember any details about it, other than there might have been mannequins involved, and at that point my little brother busted into my room and said he missed the bus, so I had to give him a ride to school. In any case, this dream was just really weird to me, because it was as if I was John Connor, but a girl instead of a boy (Johanna Connor? Joan Connor? Jane Connor? haha), and it also made me realize that CSI is starting up again soon. I also realize that if you don't watch CSI or Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, then this dream made less than a lick of sense.

Until next time!

~Becca