Vanessa and stuff

Current Mission Address

2010-06-13T22:35:00.002+01:00

Just in case anyone checks here to find Vanessa's Mission Address, here it is:

Sister Vanessa Pui Sze Lau
Spring Wood Suite G5
Booths Park
Knutsford
WA16 8QZ
England, UK

This is the address of the mission home, so if you need to get letters to her and they are at all time sensitive, send the letter early.

MTC

2010-02-07T14:39:00.002Z

Vanessa has arrived at the MTC and settled in.She has a companion- confusingly called Sister Lai, who is also going to the Taiwan Mission, and she has joined the choir. Beginners' Mandarin is beckoning and no doubt she will soon be more Chinese than her Dad!
Fiona Lau- Vanessa's Mum.

My MTC address!!!!!!

2010-01-31T23:22:00.003Z

Sister Vanessa Pui Sze Lau
MTC Box# 243-0420
2005 North 900 East
Provo, UT 84604

If you ever want to write to me, then please do :D
I'll even try to write back :)
I hope you all have a wonderful year and a half!

A Cragun Christmas

2010-01-07T10:33:00.007Z

In short, I spent this Christmas with the whole Cragun family in Minnesota and it was amazing :D
After a very last minute decision and after clearing it with the parents (who later kind of wanted to back track on their decision....but it was too late) I got on a plane and flew to Minnesota!
Once I had settled in and officially met all members of the family the real Christmas activities began....bell ringing for the Salvation Army (so much fun!), eating delicious food, building a 10 foot snowman (a lot harder than you initially think), going out for a date night, wearing layers and layers of clothing, building jigsaws, watching Avatar (in 3D, of course), cross country skiing, eagerly anticipating the result of Christian's face lump removal, shopping in The Mall of America, riding a Spongebob roller coaster, stuffing myself with a huge burger, watching Nate stuff himself with close to 1lb of food, tons of yummy Christmas cookies and treats (homemade by Nate's mum), playing many many board/card games with everyone (and getting beaten...I need to get my game skills up), and celebrating Nate's birthday!! Needless to say everybody was incredibly welcoming and made me feel as though I was right at home. Thank you, it really was perfect :)

It really was a wonderful trip and I'm so glad I got to spend time with Nate and his family. I loved getting to know everyone a little bit better :)
I hope you all had as wonderful of a Christmas as I did. Happy new year!

I'm blogging again!!! YAY!

2009-12-08T09:36:00.010Z

Hello everyone!
I know, I know, it has been forever since I posted anything on my blog....my excuse being that I needed time to gather some great blogging material (or I've been off having fun and found no time to blog). But, after being inspired by my good friend Brittany Bradshaw, I am back and I'm hoping this spurt of blogging enthusiasm will at least last until I go on my mission :) (Which is less than 2 months away) Haha. And yes, for all those who didn't know...I will be serving a mission :D awoohoo!

So, first things first, let's address the mission. I have been called to the Taiwan, Taipei mission and I'll be entering the mtc on the 2nd of February, 2010 :D I will be speaking Mandarin Chinese! Right now I am attempting to find non-frumpy clothing and shoes that don't me look like an ugly cartoon character. It's actually rather fun!!

Secondly, I had the most incredible summer this year! In short, I met Nate, we dated, I came home to sort out mission stuff, Nate came to visit over Thanksgiving, and now I'm going to Minnesota to be with him and his family over Christmas! I CAN'T WAIT!!!! Obviously I will miss not being home for Christmas, as this year will actually make it 4 years since I've actually had a proper Christmas at home. But I'll be back again eventually for Christmas with the family in England :) Ohh, you should all check out my photos on facebook of Nate's trip to England....we did a lot of fun things, including: venturing out of England to visit Venice and Paris, eating in a pub, seeing the Lion King in the west end, getting some pictures by Big Ben, introducing Nate to Dim Sum, meeting my crazy friends, and enjoying some successful shopping. We didn't really give him chance to be jet lagged...we were quite busy :)

So...as of now I am working as a receptionist in the mornings and then I spend my afternoon/evenings helping out with the Bigwood kids (child minding/babysitting/nannying...I don't really know what to call it). But I LOVE IT :) and I love the Bigwood's....so it doesn't feel like work at all! Whilst being back at home I am also playing Netball again...this time I am playing for the Conquerors Gold team. It is good to be playing again and we have, thus far, won all of our matches! I have also taken 2 online classes this semester (really small ones)...in order to defer from school properly you have to be enrolled in classes for the semester right before you leave for your mission, hence the online classes. I realise that my life is slightly boring, as I'm kind of in limbo right now, but I think everyone needs a few months of boringness. It's a good opportunity to relax, spend time with my family, save some money, and prepare for when life suddenly becomes ultra exciting again :) Actually, let's not call it boring...let's call it subdued. It has been a little odd but overall I am enjoying this subdued phase of life :) Especially as Christmas is coming up....how can you not enjoy the Christmas period??! Forget presents, decorations, etc. and just enjoy the season and what it stands for. I'm really enjoying December and I'm SO SO SO SO SO excited for Christmas :D Minnesotttttttaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!!!!

I hope you're all well and having a fabulous December so far! I'll blog soon again, I promise!!

Nicolina

2008-06-17T22:01:00.003+01:00

Back for the summer, with la bella Nicola.

Oh, the boredom

2008-05-28T18:37:00.003+01:00

I have recently begun working again. First, working as a receptionist for Fresh Lifestyle Hair salon, near the Angel tube station. The place was great, the people were great.....but, alas.....the cost of a travelcard each day was not making my wage very worthwhile. Therefore, I then took on an office job instead. It is boring as heck, and my mind isn't challenged or simulated in the slightest bit...but it is paying me a reasonable, stable wage, and the travel doesn't cost much at all. So....I am a working girl, with a 9-5 job (definitely not a permanent fixture).....who would have thought. How boring am I :-s
Oh, so it was my birthday on Monday. It was perfect, no fuss at all and nothing too special :-D I'm not the biggest fan of birthdays...my ideal birthday is to see a few friends and family, maybe do a little shopping, and go out for a curry. No banners, balloons, excessive money being spent. I gave strict orders to my family on adhering to these rules.....therefore, my birthday was fabulous :-) I had great company, great food, and some lovely little gifts. Perfection. Thank you to ma famille et amis!

Joyous weather

2008-05-02T10:14:00.004+01:00

It has to be said, I love the English rain. Idaho is rather dry, so it doesn't rain too often...and when it does, it just isn't the same kind of rain! The weather right now, here in England, is a little bit of everything....the rain has been coming and going, along with the sunshine. And, I love it. It is refreshing, and just so typically English.
I'm sure I will be sick of this "on, off" weather in a few weeks when it should just be pure summer weather, but for now.....I am happy :-)

England

2008-04-28T20:47:00.003+01:00

I am now back in England. I am not too sure whether I want to be or not. I do love England, and it is great to see family and friends...and of course just being in a British environment again is good. But America really does have its great points. It is mostly the people that I miss, oh and also the weak dollar...but I really have met so many amazing people out there, many of whom are now some of my greatest friends. I think it is also down to the way of life, it is different, it is fresh, and I feel more freedom to do anything I wish. America really does have the attitude that anything can be achieved, and although this may also be the case in England, for some reason it is a lot more powerful over there. Then again, England does appear to be rather more sophisticated, and then there is the fashion....which doesn't seem to even exist in the states. Hmmm.....I think I will just have to try out a few other countries before making any decisions on which country I would preferably live in :-)
I am proud to be British, and I really do love it here. But I can be a proud British anywhere in the world, whilst I absorb other cultures!

A few winter '08 Pictures

2008-04-28T20:36:00.013+01:00

Non-existant Spring

2008-03-07T17:44:00.005Z

I have come to find that the spring season does not really exist in Idaho. Everything is dead for months on end and then all of a sudden it is summer.
Despite the lack of seasons, I am extremely pleased to announce that it is in fact warming up here in the freezer known as Rexburg. I now feel safe wearing only 4 layers, the 3 inches of ice that covered every inch of pavement has pretty much melted, the 4 foot icicles are melting (and falling :-s), I am able to wear shoes other than trainers or snow boots, I haven't had to deal with snowstorms lasting for days on end in quite some time, and the 40 plus inches of snow we've had are slowly but surely disappearing. I am not going to lie, it is sad to see the snow melt, but it is such a good feeling to see my shadow again :-D
The winter semester is always a lot tougher to endure than any other, and this semester is most definitely no exception. It has been continuously busy and just plain hectic, but I have decided that this is exactly the way that I like things to be. I have been very actively involved in SIFE this semester and I will traveling with the SIFE team in April for competition....to Florida!! Yay. Warmth. I have also been given the opportunity to teach two of my business and communications classes. I don't know why the teacher feels she can trust me to teach, but nonetheless I was asked to teach twice this week. The classes are an hour and a half long and they have been based upon Harvard Business School cases....it has been most enjoyable actually! My social life has definitely decreased this semester, but it was unfortunately essential.
Despite my lack of a social life, I am most excited for tonight. Jordon arrived in the states yesterday and therefore I get to see both Jessamyn and Jordon tonight. Whoop whoop. I will try and get some photos of all of us together...we're never very good at that.

Brrrrrrrrrrrr

2008-01-16T17:31:00.000Z

It's -21 degrees Celsius :-(
Boo.
My nose hairs have most definitely retreated for hibernation.

yay for pictures- canada

2007-11-30T21:32:00.001Z

Rubbish.

2007-11-30T21:28:00.000Z

Finals are coming up.
I am getting no sleep, I have piles and piles of homework/projects.
It is freezing cold.
Luckily, there is no boy drama......oh wait, to my immense disappointment, there is :-s

Oh, Canada!!

2007-11-21T20:36:00.000Z

Yes, it is true, I am indeed in Canada!
It is currently 'Thanksgiving break' in the states and therefore we get a rather large break from school!
My roommates are all from different areas and were all so generous in inviting me to their homes for thanksgiving. I decided to go to Canada with Mickenzie and Brittany (practically a roommate), who live in Southern Alberta. We left Rexburg last Friday and 7 hours later, we were in Canada! The man at the border was rather mean and I must admit he slightly scared me :-s But, I got a stamp in my passport...woo!
We stopped for some pictures by the dinosaur and then arrived at Mickenzie's house! I had a quick tour of her house before moving on to Brittany's house; where I am staying. Her parents were extremely welcoming and they have all made me feel very at home :-)
On Saturday, we began the day by attending a football game (Canadian football...basically American football), then I went with Mickenzie to her house; to see her family and for dinner. The next activity was attending a University Basketball game, it was really fun! I met a lot of Mick and Brit's Canadian friends and got to see some interesting cheerleaders!
On Friday it had been Brittany's brother Mason's birthday, therefore on Sunday they were having a big family birthday meal....so yummy!!!
Monday- Calgary day! We woke up early-ish and set off for Calgary (about 2 1/2 hours away). We went to Ikea and picked up quite a few things and then made our way to downtown Calgary for lunch in an Irish pub; Joyce's On Fourth....delicious! After this we went to Chinook Shopping Mall, where we simply shopped until we dropped. We eventually rolled home just before 11pm where we sat down to watch some episodes of 'House'....Brittany is successfully getting me into this.
Tuesday- We had a lazy morning of more 'House' and 'The Ellen Degeneres Show'...love it. We then had Subway for lunch, before Brittany took me on a tour of Raymond (the town they live in). It is similar to Idaho in the way it looks! After having the grand tour we went home where I managed to get a little homework completed. In the evening, Mickenzie, Brittany and I went bowling and dinner in Lethbridge...a lot of fun! I managed to fall flat on my face in bowling...seriously, it was like something out of a cartoon :-D I also ate a delicious white chocolate brownie for dessert....so good! To finish the night we wrapped up in blankets in front of the telly and watched Hairspray....funny! It really was a good night....a lot of fun with great company!! Oh and it snowed last night :-)

Now it is Wednesday....I plan on doing homework, until we go out tonight!!
We have a lot of fun planned for the rest of the week and I am excited to put up photos of everything! Sorry, I can't put photos up yet. I forgot my phone connector; so you will just have to wait a little longer!
Overall Canada seems to be a mix of England and America...I am loving the fact that they have Bounty chocolate bars, proper Smarties, Maltesers and good Cadbury's chocolate!
I am really enjoying being in Canada and having such a relaxing break.....they obviously don't celebrate American Thanksgiving here so there is no crazy thanksgiving stuff going on; to be honest, I keep forgetting it is Thanksgiving week.

I will update again soon!

2007-10-25T17:54:00.000+01:00

http://youtube.com/watch?v=sLGLum5SyKQ

Soulja Boy.....stupid, but oh so funny.

Mid terms already?

2007-10-23T17:31:00.000+01:00

It is already the middle of the semester and it is mid-term time! I can't believe how fast it is going :-s

First of all I will tell you about my roommates.......
they are wonderful :-D one of them- Mickenzie is from Canada so it's cool to have another international student!

My education
In case you didn't know, I have changed my major to Business Management and I am doing a cluster/minor thing in Chinese. Apart from the fact that Chinese is almost killing me I am so glad that I switched :-p
This semester I decided to get involved in a wider range of organisations so I am extremely busy all week. I am Preference manager; I am running the dance where girls ask the guys. I am also an officer for the business organisation known as SIFE (Students In Free Enterprise), where we run projects to help out businesses in the community. I am also a member of the Chinese Association so I get to attend some funky Chinese do's! Oh and I am joining the Republican society on campus, so hopefully I will get to travel a bit with them!

R-town weather
As I mentioned before, it was pretty hot at the beginning of the semester which was extremely nice! Unfortunately at the end of September it snowed :-( and more recently; over conference weekend there was a snow blizzard here with 5inches of snow and then it was back to 75 degree weather again...weird. It has snowed again since and it is definitely beginning to get a lot colder....it is about 2 or 3 degrees right now. I am looking forward to the snow so that we can go skiing and snowboarding, but other than that....I'm not looking forward to the cold :-s

The past month
About a month ago we went to the sand dunes for a bonfire party with a big group of people...it was fun driving around in the guys' huge trucks around the dunes....and especially funny when one guy got stuck :-p
There was also a huge park party a few weeks ago, put on by a security company...Weeman and Preston from Jackass were there. It's basically just music, $1000's worth of prizes and stupid games, oh and free food and drink...so definitely worth going! At the party there was a competition running, called 'fear factor', and part of it was where people had to eat cockroaches....they then offered $500 cash to any girl that would eat 3 cockroaches....I so would have done it but I wasn't quick enough...oh well!
The other week there was the biggest concert on campus called 'Guitars Unplugged', I think I may have mentioned it last semester?! Anyway my roommates and I managed to get tickets and so we went...one of my good friends, JC, was playing in one of the bands so it was great to watch and then there was a big dance afterwards...it was funny! We then had a party at our apartment.
Recently pretty much everybody has been going crazy for this song by Souljia Boy- "Tell 'em Crank that"....it is really big here in the states and everybody is learning the dance for it...it is hilarious! Mickenzie and Brittany had a dance session in the car park with this blasting out :-p Anyway, it is funny.
Last week was one crazily busy week but a great week at the same time. On friday we went to a Halloween party at Pinnacle which was fun...my costume this year is the Greek Goddess, Aphrodite. The party actually wasn't as good as we had hoped but oh well, there was still fun to be had :-D
On Saturday, I played Mah Jong with some Chinese and Taiwanese friends.
Later on a group of us went to Applebee's for dinner and then watched the baseball....the Red Sox are in the World Series!!!! Woohoo!!!! Once the baseball finished, we had a pyjama party at our apartment and watched Disturbia! It was great. The film wasn't that scary but I managed to freak myself out pretty well.

Dates
For my first date of the semester I got taken absailing in the dark and then we were meant to go hot tubbing but they were being cleaned! It was a really fun date but he is a lot older and so we both knew that there was nothing there. My classes and associations have been keeping me so busy...I have had to turn down 2 dates!! One general rule is to never turn down dates but I have had to as I was so busy :-s
Anyway....
I also went on a date with a guy called Tim...it was a lot of fun! It was a double date with my roommate Mary and a guy called Cade. They took us to this skating place where there were loads of people dressed in 70's stuff :-p too funny. So we were roller blading there....so American but absolutely hilarious. I then had my first EVER Arctic Circle experience...it was good! The next stop was Cade's house where we hung out for a bit before going to Tim's where we played the best game! We were in hysterics for most of it.
I have also been on a date with a guy called JC. We have become quite good friends as he was in SIFE with me and we found out we knew a few of the same people in Beijing (he lived there for 6 months and knew them through Jes). Well he picked me up and we went out for a Chinese meal...American Chinese food is not good but it was an enjoyable experience all the same. He then took me to his parents house in IF where we watched the American version of 'The Office'...funny but not as good as the original English version! JC then gave me a tour of his house....wow! Just to give you an idea, they have a huge grand piano and a huge indoor swimming pool with a slide and diving board! Crazy! After being impressed by his house we went to Wendy's for a frosty....yummy. Oh and he has a very cool car.
As you can tell, my dates so far have been extremely enjoyable!

Jes and Jordon
I got to see Jessamyn and Jordon recently which was fantastic!!!! It was funny, as soon as I saw Jordon it was as if he had never been away...I loved it!! He has matured a bit more but he is so much cooler! Jes and I also got to a see a few friends from California and Boston which was incredibly fun. Oh and I saw Naomi! It was great to see her as she is doing so well.

Classes
My business class is the funnest class ever....it dominates! We were put into groups at the beginning of the semester as we have to do a lot of group projects. One of recent projects was to educate the class on the WTO (World Trade Organisation) so we chose to perform a rap...it was hilarious and it definitely had the wow factor :-p
Vanessa makes one intense gangster.
Our next project is a super hero project....should be good!

Well, I believe that is everything. If you think I have missed anything out then please let me know.
I have yet another jam packed week this week with even more stress!! Yay.
Sorry it has taken me so long to update my blog....I really am way too busy most of the time :-s And I am sorry about the pictures....I always forget to take pictures so I never have pictures of everything I am up to and all the people I am talking about!

Who isn't having fun in the Burg??!!!

2007-09-14T21:52:00.000+01:00

So....I am back at uni!!! woohoo!!!!!!
All my friends are here, the weather was very hot for a while, there is fun to be had everywhere and I have met tons of amazing new friends!
Well, I will just tell you about a few things I have been up to recently.
Monday- first dance of the semester....it was held at the upper fields...it was older music as there is always a Top 40 dance a few days later. Anyway....it was a lot of fun!! I have a good few bruises :-D
Wednesday- the top 40 dance. So this is one of the biggest dances of the semester. This was also held outside on the upper fields....there's tons of free ice cream and prizes to be won....I didn't win anything though :-( I went there with some of my roommates and then later on I met up with different friends at the dance (Alyssa, Rachael, Brett, Kyle, Nick, Chris, Seth and Seth) and then LC (Laura Christian) and a friends of ours called Kelly came and joined us for a bit. Well, this dance was crazier than the other one and the music was good! Americans seem to like to mosh, crowd surf and basically just get crushed to any type of music....I was wearing flip flops, so my feet got intensely trampled on....but did it stop me?? Of course not. Alyssa and Chris also had crazy injuries from bridge jumping the day before...but did they let that stop them?? don't be silly! It really was such a good night!! Our group was just too fun....we just dance and dance and go crazy :-) It's the way we roll.
Oh, a few weeks ago a group of us went bridge jumping...it is such a laugh. We first went to this place called 'Monkey Bridge' It is quite a tall bridge and after some of the guys showing off and after everyone else plucked up the courage to jump we moved on to see a waterfall and then finally to 'Twin Bridges'. These bridges were a about 20 feet from the water, so it was a lot easier jumping off these! Twin Bridges are in such a beautiful setting...it was warm, the sun was low and we were going crazy on the bridges! Some of the guys were daring enough to do multiple flips or funky dives....I just jumped! It was a really good night...perfectly ended with dinner at good old Craigo's :-D yummy pizza! We then took another bridge jumping trip the following week!
So basically I have had a lot of fun this with a lot of friends and it's not even the weekend!!

Vanessa Admits: "I was wrong about Delta"

2007-09-13T21:43:00.000+01:00

Haha. It is true, I was wrong about Delta. Or perhaps I have come to more of an understanding of the way in which Delta works. Their domestic flights, from experience, are crap. Although their long haul flights are rather pleasant indeed. Ten minutes after boarding the airplane, I was presented with earphones and a menu. They are extremely good when it comes down to providing food. The airplane was also only a 737 I believe, or something smaller than a 747 anyway. This was advantageous (is this a word) to myself as it meant there were only two seats by the windows...therefore I didn't have to clamber all over people to get out. I was also very happy to learn that the personal TV's in front of us were truly amazing. You could pick whatever you wanted to watch, whenever. There were about 20 films, a bunch of tv shows and games etc. Oh, and they were touch screen. I definitely did not have this good a flight 3 months prior to this with United. Plus....yes there is more...the seats themselves were rather roomy and they were leather! I think I managed to sleep for about 3 1/2 hours which was nice.
I then had a 5 hour wait in Atlanta airport....it actually went quite quickly but all the same..it was boring. I was then on my way to SLC, this was the point at which I realised the truth behind Delta.
I now have to go to my Micro Application class, I will come back soon with a 'one week into the semester' update!

the joys of Chelmsford

2007-07-02T13:01:00.000+01:00

On the 22nd of June, some friends and I ventured out to the sights of Chelmsford's night life. Interesting. Dukes is officially crap. Some of the bars are ok but there is nothing special. Fortunately we know how to have a good time...wherever and whenever! We began our night at Nicola's house, getting ourselves pumped up with good old 'Singstar'...we love it. We finally left the house at about 10:50pm to have our first night out since all being back from uni :-D
The guests of honour on this night out were: Georgina Edwards, Lucy Wicks, Becky Layton, Victoria Poulteney, Nicola De Rienzo and myself; Vanessa Lau.
It wasn't the best night out but we had some fun, as always!
We saw some old Moulsham crew in the Peg who you will notice in some of the photos.

Gloucester time!

2007-06-10T15:28:00.000+01:00

Well.....I arrived back in London on the 22nd of May. It is nice to be back and seeing people again...although I as my friends are all still at uni and I have absolutely nothing to do all day...I am getting a little bored....but not for long I'm sure.
We did have mum's birthday party and of course it was my 19th birthday, which was all very fun...but that was over quickly and I was back to Chelmsford life. Hmmm.
So, less than a week after being back, I decided to get away again. I went with Lucy and Nicola back to Gloucester where they are both at uni. I stayed for about 4 days and had a lot of fun!!
I am back in chelmsford again though and am about to start working which will make things a little more interesting. I do look forward to a relaxing summer though and spending time with friends and family :-)
The pictures are from a night out in Gloucester......

Vanessa is in Boston!

2007-05-23T00:50:00.000+01:00

Ok, so on the 8th of May I went to Boston. I had a great time here and met some really cool people. I did the tourist stuff, like exploring Boston Common, the Freedom Trail, the Cheers bars and of course shopping! Unfortunately it did rain during the second half of my stay here..but oh well! I also had gym membership whilst I was in Boston, to an extremely good gym....Healthworks. This is Jessamyn's old gym and she loves it, so I thought I had better check it out a little :-D
Basically the pictures are of: Boston Common, Boston city centre, a 60s/70s dance, the Cheers Bars, New Hampshire and this huge ice cream I had (I have already eaten a lot of it in this picture!!!)

uh oh

2007-05-21T00:12:00.000+01:00

So.....my luggage is in Denver, Colorado.....but where am I?? Salt Lake City, Utah!!! Interesting hey.
Hopefully my luggage will be delivered at 6pm tonight...fingers crossed.

Vanessa is in New York....woop woop!!

2007-05-16T16:37:00.000+01:00

Well I have already told you all about New York a few posts ago....so go back and read that! But I didn't post any pictures...so here you go!!!
I had a great time in New York and will definitely be returning :-D

These pictures are of: Central Park, Ellis Island Museum, Chrysler building, Empire State building, Ground Zero, The Sphere from the Trade Centre, Statue of Liberty, the New York skyline and Trump Tower!!!!

Vanessa is in Gilroy, Santa Cruz and Monterey!!

2007-05-15T19:45:00.000+01:00

After 5 days in San Jose Alyssa picked me up and we went to her home in Gilroy, CA. It was so much fun staying with Alyssa!!

We went shopping, to the beach, to the Monterey Bay Aquarium, to Bubba Gump's, we hired a bike thing and we just chilled out and had a lot of fun! Oh and I ate way too much the whole time I was staying with her!!
Her family were so nice to me and they were all so generous :-) It was really nice to stay with them and to meet Alyssa's friends and tons of her family members!
I stayed with Alyssa from the 19th-24th of April and this was my last stop in California....so sad.
I have loved California and will definitely be coming back....a lot!!!!

Vanessa is in San Jose

2007-05-15T04:53:00.000+01:00

This is Coit Tower...you can see the whole city of San Fran from up here.

Well.....San Jose...it is very close to Palo Alto but so so different. I really enjoyed my time here but it is really not my kind of place. I had a lot of fun though; we went hiking in Big Basin, went out for breakfast....went out for dinner many times....ate on Santana Row, shopped, went into San Fran again to Little Italy & climbed up to Coit Tower and did some crazy other stuff....I met some more fun people and just enjoyed myself :-)
The people I stayed with were so nice and generous which was great....extremely welcoming which was wonderful!

But I have to say that I do prefer Palo Alto by far....as you can probably tell from the significant lack of photos :-p

.....see, a very short post! I do not lie.
I only speak the truth....I only speak the truth (What film is that from?)

Vanessa is at Stanford! ......I wish..... Well here is Palo Alto & San Francisco

2007-05-15T04:07:00.000+01:00

These pictures are:A small part of Stanford campus, Alcatraz, Art Gallery, Baseball, Golden Gate Bridge and the trolley.

Ok so my first stop after staying with Rachael in Utah for a few days was Palo Alto, CA. And let me tell you....it is amazing! So the lovely Amanda Haslam picked me up from San Jose airport on the 11th of April. As we were driving to her house she gave me a quick tour of Palo Alto and then we arrived at her humble abode. Amanda's house is fantastic....and she really took care of me! The next morning Amanda dropped me on the Stanford campus (at about 9am) and I explored the campus for myself and then took a guided tour. It is a beautiful campus...I am extremely jealous of the students attending Stanford. They have an enormous driveway that is the main entrance to the campus and it is lined with amazing palm trees :-0 After touring around I went to one of the cafe's on campus for lunch and wandered round to the Stanford Art Gallery which has a Rodin Sculpture Gallery! Pretty impressive. The gallery was very interesting and I also learnt a lot about the history of the university. Finally I emerged from the gallery at about 1pm-ish and decided to soak up some sun as the weather was pretty darn nice, therefore I laid in the sun for a long time before deciding to head to the main shopping street in Palo Alto. As I was walking down the long Stanford driveway, I found myself having to dodge the hundreds of caterpillars that suspend themselves on their thread from trees...red furry maniac caterpillars.
So, I began shopping.....this street is really not too long but I still managed to shop for about 2 1/2 hours...it was great! I bought some very cool things, checked out the Apple store there and entertained myself no end. Amanda then met me whilst I was in a book shop and we went for dinner at......PLUTO'S!!!! Amanda was so excited....pluto's is a salad restaurant where you get to pick a whole load of toppings and they give excellent portions! This was a lot of fun and unbelievably tasty. So then we went home...chilled out and then I went with Amanda to a Grey's Anatomy and The Office party for one of her friend's birthday's. This was cool as I got to meet some really cool people and I also saw Gloria! (Who by the way is extremely cool).
The next day, one of Amanda's roommates, Julie drove me into San Francisco (as she works there) and I got a taxi from her work (she designs for kids Pottery Barn) to pier 39....the main San fran place to be. I had a great time exploring San Fran; I went on boat tours, I went and ate at some great places, I rode the trolley, went to China town, shopped and saw the sights! I then made my way to the train and met Amanda at the other end. We met Gloria for dinner and went to CPK (California Pizza Kitchen), it was really funny and Amanda picked up her 'Loaded' phrase :-p We then went and explored the most expensive place to live in the WHOLE country: Atherton....beautiful houses. We then watched a movie and fell asleep.
On the Saturday we watched a Stanford lacrosse game, water polo game and a baseball game. Amanda's cousin, Jameson, was playing lacrosse and so that is why we were there. We went to an after party and then went to watch a pro baseball game...A's vs. Yankees...after 4 1/2 hours and 14 innings later, we were freezing cold and ready to leave. I really enjoyed it though and understand baseball a heck of a lot more! I was with all the YSA too so I made some very cool friends.
On the sunday we went to church and mingled with a lot of people which was really fun....I again met a lot of new people who were all so nice. It was fun to see Gloria again too! We then watched Mary Poppins with Gloria and then went for dinner at somebody's house. Then we came home...where another party was happening and Allen Hullinger picked me up to go to San Jose!

Sorry this is a lot to read...the next entries will be nowhere near as long...I promise :-D
Enjoy the photos

Yay :-D

2007-05-14T23:07:00.000+01:00

Just quickly..............
Vanessa will be able to update her blog properly as she is using her own laptop for the internet now....woohoo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Please accept my apologies

2007-04-30T20:13:00.000+01:00

I know I said that I would put some interesting posts online a couple of weeks ago....and I know that I have still not done this. I am extremely sorry.....this is due to a technical fault. Unfortunately I am not currently using my laptop to get on the Internet and therefore I cannot access my photos from anywhere else. We hope this fault will be resolved in the near future.

Anyway....for a quick taster....I am currently in New York and loving it!! I am in the centre of the city right this second and have been sightseeing all day...oh and shopping. I have done everything apart from Ellis Island (statue of Liberty), Ground Zero and Macy's...all of which will be taken care of in the forthcoming week :-D
I am so excited, it is 78 degrees outside and life is grand! Central Park is absolutely gorgeous, especially with the great weather, there are the lakes, the zoo, amazing landscaping, horse & carriage rides and much much more! The shopping is also great which has been extremely fun! We had Turkish for lunch today which was interesting but good.
Oh and I saw Trump Tower! It is actually pretty cool....nothing amazingly special, but it has trees growing halfway up the building which definitely makes it different :-) Good old Donald.

I also met a lot of fun people last night, some of which I will be hanging out with tonight and all throughout the week....and some I will keeping in contact with and we are planning to hang out in the fall as we will be living fairly close to each other....so all in all I am making some good friends!

I plan to sleep for most of tomorrow as I have had next to no sleep the past couple of nights....not fun. I thought I was through with early mornings for a while!
Oh for anybody who has been to Times Square....have any of you seen 'The Naked Cowboy'? I really wanted to see him, but no such luck!
I explored New York today with Jessica Gore (the eldest daughter of the people I am staying with in NY), I dragged her around everything and made her walk very fast...oops. Once I am in the city I am off!! But we did have fun and we did stop at one point for manicures which was cool!

Again I apologise for the lack of pictures.....I really don't know when I will be able to put them on, but hopefully soon.

Hope you are all enjoying life in your corner of the world.

p.s. Did you know that today is the day that.......

- Hitler commit suicide.
- FA Cup is televised on British TV for the first time.
- George Washington becomes the first President of the US.

.....I think that covers some important points.

Um....yeah

2007-04-18T06:41:00.000+01:00

Ok so I am very sorry that I have not written a post in pretty much ages....this is due to the fact that I am super super busy at present and therefore do not get much of a chance to get on the internet. But.....I will post millions of pictures soon enough and hopefully fill you all in on 'The New Adventures of Vanessa Lau'. I can tell that you are all on the edge of your seats with excitement and so hopefully you will not be left hanging for much longer!!!!!
Sorry!!!!!!! I hope you are all having a wonderful spring/summer break.........I am!!!

BYUI fight night 3

2007-03-29T16:42:00.001+01:00

This is one of the night activities that I attend....I surprised myself with how much I enjoyed it! Anyway...I am somewhere in this crowd!

winding down

2007-03-20T18:44:00.000Z

Well this week has been so busy so I haven't had time to get pictures of everything but I have managed to whack my camera out on a few occasions!
Ok so these pictures.....Firstly since being out here I have come to love Ben and Jerry's Cherry Garcia ice cream...this picture is for Nicolina as I know she loves it too :-D
The second ice cream is 'Americone Dream', this is also Ben and Jerry's. It is Stephen Colbert's ice cream; he is on the Daily Show with Jon Stewart and he has his own show...but anyway they made him his own ice cream and after waiting for it to be released it was in the campus shops by last weekend! Woohoo! They are both yummy!!!!!!
Last weekend we also started filming two short movies for our Chinese final project. I am in a group of four: Stu (the blonde kid), Song Jay, Elaine and myself. Our movies are sponsored by Mountain Dew :-p Haha the people in stu's apartment are creating a Mountain Dew wall! I won't give the plot away for our movies as I will probably make you watch them or at least see pictures when it is finished.
Last week some of the girls and I went to a restaurant here called 'Da Pineapple Grill'. It is a Hawaiian place so it serves Hawaiian dishes, standard American stuff and sushi!! It is the coolest little restaurant and the food is good....although you have to wait AGES for it to come! Grrrr. I had some funky sushi and a pina colada :-D The girls in the pictures are: Alyssa, Katie, Lara, Rachael and me.

Oh so basically I finish my freshman year in less than 2 weeks.......crazy stuff!!! But I have a month and a half before I fly back to crazy old London. So I am trying to think of what I can do for 1 1/2 months....if you have any ideas then I would be very grateful!!! Ideally somewhere warm but I'll go for anything!! Seriously any ideas would be great!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Well there you go...this is what I have been up to. But let me warn you, this week is absolutely crazy and I plan on getting pictures of everything I do so be prepared to see some interesting stuff!!!!! I had such a fun night last night....so stay tuned for the story!!!!

YIPPEE!!! (huge roar heard around campus)

2007-03-13T18:02:00.000Z

What up...(americanisms...this one makes me laugh...so just thought I would slip it in)
Ok so Spring has finally decided to give us a taster of what is to come!
Yesterday it was around 16 degrees celcius! There are still a few patches of ice but they are melting...slowly. Well unfortunately I had an test yesterday so I studying for that and then I had to actually go and take it so I didn't get much of a chance to enjoy the wonderful weather. But my roommates decided to eat dinner on the balcony! And everyone in our complex was out and the birds were singing....it was just such a relief to finally have some happy weather! Oh and I saw some crazy bananas and gorillas enjoying the sunshine...I will attempt to get some pictures the next time I see them so you will all know what I am talking about.
So we attempted to document this most joyous of times....you can actually see our shadows in the pictures! We haven't had shadows for months :-D
Hopefully the weather will carry on to be nice for a while and we will be able to finish the semester in warmth.
Enjoy the pictures....sorry there is not many....I keep forgetting to take pictures of everything we do! Oh so I went on a date on saturday and part of it was going to a jazz concert...it was really good. A man called Kevin Mohogany came to sing and the byui jazz band did some stuff and some other professionals. Anyway it was really good and I got to meet Kevin Mohogany afterwards! He is the big guy on the left! The picture of the river is the river running through Rexburg...I can't remember it's name but it looks beautiful right now....this place is actually kinda pretty! Anyway I thought it was cool as the water has finally thawed and is running once again but there is still snow on the banks! Spring....gotta love it! :-D
I'm pretty darn busy at the moment so I'm not sure if I will be able to talk to many of you in the next few weeks....but enjoy the beginnings of spring and go out and have some fun!!!

later.

Brrrr!!!!

2007-03-02T23:14:00.000Z

Ok so I just thought that I would show you exactly how cold things are over here!
These pictures are from American Fork, UT when I was staying at Rachael's again and I saw Naomi and then pictures at byu-i too.
Oh the frozen tree is from outside my apartment :-s
Hopefully you will now have an idea of how cold it is here.....this is for you Mum....you wanted to see how cold it was!! :-D

I'm sure you are all very happy to be in slightly warmer areas of the world! You can just picture me bundled up in a million layers......I want to wear shorts again!!

Winter is so not in anymore.

2007-02-23T17:20:00.000Z

Ok so I will tell you the good news first....I made it to the library in one piece.
There are some ridiculous winds outside and I have been fighting all morning just to make it to each class whilst trying to walk relatively normally. Along with this it keeps randomly snowing....it is becoming quite boring now....xia tai duo xue. It has also been raining on and off a little bit which sucks because it is freezing! Sometimes though it will reach around 5 degrees and I will begin to enjoy winter again, but other than that it is way too cold for way too long here!
The winter blues appeared to have officially taken over most of campus....bring on spring and summer....wo kuaiyao fang xiajia le. Sorry I have been learning about the weather and seasons in Chinese so I am trying to apply it!
Basically American Heritage sucks....I know nothing and the teacher rambles on using terms that any american would know but me....no clue!! Biology....so boring and just horrible. I'm not even really enjoying my English class which sucks. I am contemplating changing my major and this class has helped pushed me into wanting to change. I still love the texts we study and over the past two years I have definitely become more of a poetry fan...but I don't think English Literature is what I want to end up having a degree in....any ideas for what I should major in???
Anyway on the other hand....I love my BoM class and Chinese (even though it is almost killing me) which is good as at the moment I would say these are the two classes I actually care about most in my life.
Oh byu have also changed the semesters now so they are trying to squeeze 16 weeks into 14 weeks....it just means constant stress throughout the semester for teachers and students. I am just constantly doing homework and studying for exams...but I really don't have time for everything and as everyone is stressed our apartment atmosphere has suffered a little....I can honestly say that I cannot wait for this semesters classes to be over!!!
But of course even with our hectic schedules we still make a little room for fun :-p But really my social life this semester has significantly declined :-( I need more days in the week!!
I can really see how lucky I was to have had amazing classes last semester. Oh well.....WHATEVER.
Even though I am not enjoying my classes as much this semester I am still loving being here as I love my friends and I am still meeting so many new and amazing people which is very cool. So please do not get me wrong.....I would not change where I am for anything...or the experiences I am having....it's just my classes :-(

To prove that I am still having the time of my life I will post some pictures on here later!! :-D

You're nothing without tie dye.

2007-02-19T20:06:00.000Z

Ok so I have some majorly amazing friends called Cassie, Estefany and Laura (LC).....whenever I am with them it is just too much fun.....seriously they are too cool....and tie dye is just as cool.
So without further ado I present 'The Tie Dye Gang'....complete nutters!!!

R-town randomness!!

2007-02-11T21:23:00.000Z

I am posting a few more pictures from this semester so far just so you can all see what I have been up to since Christmas...then I guess the real posts will begin!!
Anyway these pictures I am posting are from when we were out at a place called Pinnacle, the 'Guitars Unplugged' concert we went to, some silly random pictures, some pictures from when we went to a party at a place called APX, me trying to get to my 7am class in a snow storm, amazing Chinese food, beautiful rexburg sunsets, Big Jud's, flour fights, the closest I could get to a roast dinner and shopping trips!.....very fun times as always!! :-p

Other things I have been up to so far this semester..............
I have been on a few dates which is always fun.....(one of which was a film premiere). We have been to quite a few dances/parties, out for dinner to a favourite of ours- Gandolfo's! Played in the snow as always, met many new people and lived the byu uni life really!!

One thing I have learnt this semester about being independent and doing things for yourself:
I need more socks!! I am a great procrastinator of doing my washing....I never seem to have the time so I keep buying more and more socks so that the timely chore can be put off for longer!

Fall semester '06 and China of course

2007-02-09T21:33:00.000Z

Ok well here is kind of a mix match of pictures from my BYU-i experience so far...I know many may have seen a lot of them before but I thought it would be good to do a quick round up of some of the things I have been getting up to!!

Finally...

2007-02-09T17:16:00.000Z

Ok, so Jessamyn has been pestering me to create a blog for quite a while now and so FINALLY I have had some time to do it. Sorry if it is not updated as regularly as you would like...I am extremely busy!

..........so I if you are completely out of the loop then here is a quick-ish update....................
I am currently in my second semester at BYU-Idaho and I am loving it! I came out to America last August with the parentals and will not be back in England until the end of this coming May. I have made some amazing friends and I am constantly meeting new people which is so much fun!!
There is always something going on here so I am never bored....just constantly tired.
I quickly realised that America is different in so many more ways than us Englanders realise...and it is even extremely different from the east coast. For example the dating game is completely different (in a good way for the most part), the language, the dress sense and style is very different (for some reason Idahoans and Utards love to tease their hair at the back so it puffs right up...crazy people). Anyway I am adapting to the American way of life quite easily as I realised that while I am here I need to make the most of the new experiences and the cultural differences! I DO NOT have an American accent but I will admit that I do say the odd American word now...it is pretty hard not to pick it up, plus nobody understands what you are saying if you stick with your English lingo. It has also gone the other way though...my friends like to use English words now, woohoo!!!!
If you didn't know already, Idaho is ridiculously cold. It is quite sad, we are currently experiencing a mild week weather wise....the low has only been around -3 degrees Celsius! To most people this is pretty darn cold but here it means that you don't have to wear a coat and everyone things it's spring. The warmer weather means that it is snowing though...in fact it is snowing right this minute...but I don't mind as it isn't -24 anymore..woohoo!!
Here at BYU-I I am a member of the Activities association and the Chinese Cultural Association. Unfortunately I haven't joined any sports teams as of yet....as this semester I think I need to concentrate on my snowboarding :-p
This semester I am studying Chinese again (at a ludicrous hour in the morning), Biology- Heredity, English- Fundamentals of Literary Interpretation, American Heritage, BOM 2 and then there is also a course called FA100, that everyone has to take at some point, that I am taking.
To wrap things up...I am having the time of my life here and I can't wait to spend the next 4 years here in America...oh and it was definitely the best decision I could have made! This is the best place for me and it is certainly where I am meant to be right now!
Well I think that is enough for a background on my current status. But don't worry I will be back on later to post some photos, as I know mother is stressing that I am not sending enough photos back anymore :-D