To make up for lost time, I present to you 2009 in picture form! (click the images to enlarge)

I went to London mid-March with my friend, where we ate lots of scones, Pret sandwiches, and Wagamama noodles. Since I had never been to the UK, I hit up all the usual tourist-y spots and museums. Suffice to say, it was a much-needed break from my midterms. And I still miss clotted cream.

The Green Tea Ginger Ale isn’t exactly a staple of my college diet, but the heap of papers and books in the background should give you an idea of the problem sets, papers, and midterms I had throughout the semester. Anyway, moving on to more pleasant things!

In late June, my friends and I took a roadtrip along the east coast of the US. Our itinerary included Virginia Beach/Norfolk (VA), Raleigh (NC), Charleston (SC), Asheville (NC), Washington (DC) and back to good ol’ NY. We clocked in enough mileage to make it to DC just in time for the 4th of July, which was spent at the National Mall.

Charleston, South Carolina: so many colorful houses, biscuits, and magnolias!

The Blue Ridge mountains near Asheville, North Carolina.

4th of July fireworks in Washington, DC.

When Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince premiered in New York, I stood in the crowds surrounding the red carpet and caught a couple Emma Watson photos (and some incredibly blurry ones of Alan Rickman, Bonnie Wright, Rupert Grint, Tom Felton, and Daniel Radcliffe).

In early August, I spent 10 days in Egypt (Cairo, Alexandria, Luxor, Hurghada) and Turkey (Istanbul). Both countries were incredibly beautiful; the picture above is the desert at sunrise.

Hagia Sophia at Istanbul.

After three weeks back home in Shanghai, I arrived in New York jetlagged as ever, thus beginning the Semester from Hell. I either overslept or pulled an all-nighter, I got sick on four separate occasions (I hardly ever get sick, which says something.), and I pulled off my worst GPA ever. Whoo!

So I came back home in late December right after taking a brutal final exam, and the next day, I went to Thailand (Bangkok, Pattaya, and Phuket), where I snorkeled, ate Pad Thai, drank so much coconut juice, and rang in the new year.

So in the spirit of New Year’s and my embarrassment at last year’s pitiful attempt at blogging, I’ve made a resolution to keep a regularly updated blog here. So here’s hoping I don’t go MIA this year! This site has too many cobwebs already.

With that said, happy 2010. Here’s to something great.

So, let’s talk about London. Lovely, lovely city — I was there on the week of March 15th. It was spring recess, I had never been there before, so I put 2 and 2 together. I went to the tourist-y places, the museums, the shops, etc.

on museums: I’m a huge museum geek, no lie! I usually spend hours looking through different exhibits, and when almost all of the museums in London are free of charge, it’s instant flail (as opposed to instant fail)! I ended up going to the National Portrait Gallery (really fascinating chronicle of British history through portraits), V&A Museum (by the end of the Stephen Jones HATS exhibit, I wanted a hat so badly), Natural History Museum (I have this unexplainable fascination towards taxidermy.), the National Gallery (amazing Picasso exhibition which had his rendition of Las Meninas!!! I might have died of happiness there.), the Tate Britain (halls filled with beautiful Turner landscapes), the British Museum (I loved the Parthenon pieces, but I loved the variety of displays.), and the Tate Modern (the “Poetry and Dream” gallery had some of my favorite artists like de Chirico and Magritte).

on food: Everybody loves hating on British food, but honestly, who can resist a good scone with clotted cream? And I honestly wish NY had Wagamama. Even just one would suffice. Oh, and two words: afternoon tea.

on other things I love about London: scones (and clotted cream), daffodils at St. James, the architecture, the conveniently placed “LOOK LEFT” and “LOOK RIGHT” labels on the streets, free admission in museums, the reliability (and cleanliness!) of the Underground, the toys section at Harrod’s, licorice macarons at Ladurée, Indian food, swans, markets, and Hogwarts Express at Platform 9¾.

I’ve uploaded a bunch of London photos here! Hope you like them!