Slideshows of my experience!!!

Bend It Like Beckham Review

In this 2002 film directed by Gurinder Chadha, an Indian girl(Jess) raised in London, tries to play on a football(soccer) team even though her conservative parents disapprove. The movie's title is named after Brit's star football player David Beckham. Jess is friends with Jules, a member of women's soccer team. Jess plays with Jules team without letting her parents know. Jess lies and tells the parents about having a summer job. Even though the parents tolerated Jess's sports passion when she was young, they now believe she should become serious about her life and prepare for the future. That means giving up children games for cooking lessons, marriage, and university studies. The whole movie shows cultural clashes. Those similar to the movie "My Big Fat Greek Wedding," the parents basically trying to control her life.

Jess falls for her coach Joe, who Jules also has a crush on also. Which leads to a love triangle.

The leads are energetic and likable. Jess and Jules bring a lot of spirit in the movie. Joe whose career is on the upswing, shows charisma and may be on his way to sex-symbol status.

The film is charming with a little something for everyone. Combining sports, strong independent women, romance, family values, and comedy. Overall it wasn't great but worth watching once.

The Full Monty Review

This 1997 film is about six unemployed men who are inspired by a touring group of male strippers. They all agree that they could make a small fortune by putting on they're own striptease show but with one small difference. That small difference would be the fact they would be baring all! The title of the film is meaningless in America but in British slang it means "totally nude." The film is generally upbeat and positive and it portrays unemployment, divorce, and poverty. Paul Barker who is nicknamed Horse has a showstealing audition scene which on its own makes the film worth seeing.

Robert Carlyle who played Begbie in "Trainspotting's" stars in the film as Gaz. The whole idea about stripping was made from Gaz. In the story, Gaz's son who is about 12 or 13 in the movie plays an active role in this get-rich-quick scheme. The son named Nathan actually believes in the Father's idea. The movie makes you question whether or not this is really good for the kid or this will damage his sexual psyche in the future.

Director Peter Cattaneo doesn't use a lot of cinematic tricks to make the film work. He puts the characters together and lets the script and the actors have their way with each other. The ending of the film you are confused with what happens at the end. We are left to assume much of what happens next including what happens to Gaz and his son. Another problem in the script is about the two characters that fell for eachother. You don't know whether the other members are okay with it because they joke about it.

The film is hilarious mostly with the dancing scenes and is filled with great disco and plenty of laughs.

Trainspotting Review

This movie was about a group of people who only cared about drugs. Mark Renton(the main character) realizes that there has to be other things in life, and tries to change. This movie helped launch Ewan McGregor's(Mark) acting career. "Trainspotting" was taken place in Scotland. The dialogue was a little hard to understand during the whole movie. Although the movie had a modern sense of humor and it was a hilarious comedy about heroin addicts. The movie was based on the book by Irvine Welsh. During the movie, while Mark and his friends are trying to treat they're addiction, Mark gets caught in a love affair with an underage school girl.

Mark's two best friends are also junkies: Sick Boy, who is a snappy dresser obsessed with James Bond, and Spud, a nerd. He also hangs out with Begbie, a borderline psychotic who loathes junkies even though he drinks like a fish.

After getting in trouble with the law so many times, Mark tries to stop heroin and moves to London. While in London he finds a job but eventually his druggy friends arrive at his doorstep leading Mark back into drugs and crime.

This movie was entertaining yet depressing. But even in the sad parts it's comedy uplifted the film. The soundtrack was perfect for the film. The actors were amazing and it was overall a good movie.

Monty Python's Life of Brian Review

The 1979 film "Monty Python's Life of Brian," was a rude, crude and hilarious with British comic sensibility. The film was about a baby born in a stable in Bethlehem on the same night as night as Jesus. It was Brian of Nazareth who had no miraculous powers at all. He wasn't all there in the head either. The wise men believed Brian was the messiah and Brian himself thought so too. He is always in the shadow of this other guy from Galilee. Brian is witness to the Sermon of the Mount, but he couldn't hear anything except "Blessed are the cheesemakers?"
He is eventually sentenced to Pontius Pilate to be crucified. Instead of the Last Six Words, Brian breaks out in a Cheer Up musical song" Always Look On the Bright Side of Life."
When the movie was released the Catholic Church wasted no time condemning it as blasphemous. Countries banned it, making it become an underground cult classic. The Pythons always mixed smart, insightful humor with outrageous funny dialogue. Almost like the sense of humor from Mel Brooks "History of the world part 2."
The whole film is a comedy of misunderstandings. This movie I don't think was meant to take serious even though most people did. I thought it was funny because it was all satire. Here are these people thinking Brian is the Messiah and he is just a regular person like them. He tries to protest his crucifixation but noone saves him.
People with a sense of humor I recommend to. Before I saw this film I saw the Monty Python's "The Holy Grail." It was just as funny as this one and that's why I chose to watch this film.

A Clockwork Orange Review

A Clockwork Orange was written by Anthony Burgress. The film had a lot of obscenity in it such as sex, violence, and rape. Stanley Kubrick released the film and 1971 and depicted the main character Alex as this stealing, singing, tap-dancing criminal. Alex would sing "singing in the rain" right before he'd rape a girl. He was just mentally messed up in the head. In the story he was jailed and during his time he is brainwashed so that they could release him back into the world. His malicious acts against society were his idea of an exciting night. Him and his gang would beat up people who spoke a lack of order in society.

He was brainwashed for 2 weeks, from drugs which made him so sick if he watched horrific crime scenes. Scientists in the film believed that through special training or a program that his evil ways could be fixed. Alex was forced to watch the films with his eyelids clamped open. His face was then wrapped in electrical straps and wires. His violent impulses were then inhibited by his own physical response. Music played a big part in this film as well. Whenever Alex heard the fourth movement of Beethoven's Ninth Sympohony he became violently ill.

Once Alex was released home he realized his room has been given to a lodger, so he couldn't stay. Outside, the homeless man Alex once beaten up recognized him. The homeless man and his homeless friends then attacked Alex. When the police arrived they drove him out to the country and beaten him too. Every person he kept bumping into was someone he had assaulted in the past. So, basically all these victims of Alex take there revenge on him because he is powerless because of the drugs he took in order to so call, help him.

He tried to commit suicide by jumping out of window. It did not work and he found himself awokened from a long coma in the hospital. While he was in a coma the doctors reconditioned him back to his old self. At the very end of the film Beethoven was playing in the room with the minister and Alex did not grow ill. Alex imagined himself having wild sex while proper English men and women stood around and applauded.
This movie was absolutely crazy and I heard it was banned in the U.S. at one point. I am not surprised because this was a very shocking movie with lots of violence and nudity. If it were released now people would probably think "yeah,that was really crazy," but get over it. I wouldn't recommend this movie to everyone but it is worth watching for people who are planning on becoming directors or are interested in classic movies.

Last Day =(

Day 7...



I woke up and felt rested from getting enough sleep from the night before. It was a free day to do whatever we wanted. Some of us decided that we wanted to see the London eye...especially since we heard they were taking it down sometime soon. It was pretty cool because I got to see the whole city of London. It took about 20-25 min for the ride to end. It wasn't your typical ferris wheel. I mean this ride was huge!! It looked like a big bubble and was able to fit I'd say 20-30 people each cart? I'm glad I did it even though it costed 15 pounds! After that I headed down to where all the main shops were. The clothes are so cool over there...it sucks that we have to wait a year to get what they already have now. I didn't buy anything because I was saving my money for the night out to celebrate Tamika's Birthday.
After everyone was done..some of us had tea time! We figured were in London so how could we not. The Tea was amazing and I felt relaxed after drinking it. Our waitress was very helpful and gave us some information about some cool places to go out. After we left we only had to walk across the street to meet up with everyone for dinner. The dinner was at a mexican restraunt and it was really good. It was sad because it was our last dinner together but at the same time we all knew we were going to have a fun night clubbing. We left dinner, went back to hotel to chill out for a little, and got ready to go out. We went to a club called Zoo..It was a very cool club with lots of different music rooms...but some of the music they play was very outdated..which doesn't make scence to me because I thought a lot of music get released there first. We all had a great time and then came home somewhat late and passed out.

Last Day...
The next morning it was madness in the Lobby. So many travel groups were leaving the same time as us. I was exhausted from the night before but excited to come home and see my family and friends. When we got to the airport we had a few hours until we could actually board the plane. Virgin Airlines is the coolest airline ever!!! I always wanted to fly on the jumbo planes that they show in movies. I couldn't believe there was a bar right when you walked on! Unfortunately I couldn't sit at the bar but my seat was good enough. We had a enough enterntainment in front of us to keep us busy. In front of every seat was a lcd screen and I was able to watch a library of good movies and listen to just about any type of music..plus play games...with a remote attatched to the seat! I fell asleep for a few hours and when I woke up only had an hour left. I was surprised at how fast the time went by. When we landed we had to go through immigration and customs and then waited for a shuttle bus to take us back to Kean. When we got back my Mom and Step-Dad were waiting in the parking lot to pick me up. I was excited to see them and finally be back home. This trip was totally one of the best experiences of my life. I am so happy that I went on the trip and I plan to some day in the future take another trip back to Europe!!

Cheeeeeeeers!!!

Day 6...

After a night of chilling in the hotel, it was our first morning to spend in London sightseeing. We were all very excited because it was a beautiful day with the sun shining, although it was a bit chilly. After a very fulfilling breakfast, we headed over to the train stop. The train dropped us off at the london tower and we walked along the Thames. David our tour director explained us about the buildings around us. He mentioned on one of the bridges which was named after I believe a king Henry? and said how that spot is where the King saw how much the city has grown.

We then were allowed to walk off in groups and meet up in front of the train station in the late afternoon to catch a 3 hour bus tour of London. Before the tour most of us visited the modern musuem. It had a lot of weird exhibits. Such as this sculpture of a "little person" standing in front of a pool table that was lit from a lamp...or birds arrowed to the wall...some pretty freaky stuff but interesting.

Eventually we all met everyone and jumped on the bus. We saw a lot of the old buildings. St. Paul's was absolutley gorgeous...I've never seen anything like it before. It was pretty cool to see where Princess Diana was married. We went on London Bridge and took pictures in front of the bridge towers. I never knew London had broadway shows until we passed a street full of them. I got all excited to see they had a "Dirty Dancing" broadway show because that is my favorite movie. Got to see the Westiminster Abby and Big Ben!!

The coolest part of the tour I believe was Buckingham Palace. It is soooo crazy to be there. I mean the Royals own the most beautiful park in the city. I couldn't beleive the guards are trained not to laugh..and they did a good job of keeping a straight face. I don't know how they do it??? We all took pictures with them and then walked down the street to where the palace stood.

The tour ended soon after and we were dropped off around a bunch of shops. We had about an hour of free time to walk around and shop and then met up for fish and chips.

The fish and chips were actually really good and that is what London is known for(at least that's what the locals said). During the dinner most of us decided to take a walking tour of Jack the ripper. What a mistake that was. We were already tired from walking since 8 in the morning and this tour was a 2 1/2 walking tour!!! If I would of known...I would of hopped on the next train back to the hotel. We didn't get back to the hotel till probably around 9 ish and I went straight to bed!!! We all had free time the next day and it was Tamika's Birthday!

The Longest driving day!!!!

Day 5...

Wales was a beautiful place to visit but I can't see myself spending more then 2 days there. I was excited the fact that night we would all be in London! We left the Hand hotel after our breakfast and headed for the Warwick Castle. The castle was actually pretty cool because they had exhibits inside some of the buldings. It would have been a lot nicer to walk around if was actually warm but it was freezing. I don't know how the hell kings and queens were able to walk up and down 100 stairs every day...They must of been in good shape!! I was exhausted doing that!!!

After walking around the castle we all jumped back on the bus for another hour or so and soon arrived in Stratford(Shakespere's Birthplace). It was a cute little town with plenty of shops. We saw Shakespeares house which was pretty cool...It was set up real nice...giving you the vibe of what it was like back then. We then all met up for dinner then jumped back onto the bus for another 3 hours till we got to London...It was a very long ride because we were stuck in most traffic when we got there. We got there close to 8 and most of decided to just chill in the hotel because we were all excited to go out on the tours throughout London the next day.

The Country sideeeeeeee...

Day 4...

It was our time to leave Ireland and head for Wales. We left the hotel early in the morning to make it to our ferry. The ferry was huge. It wasn't what I expected. It was like a cruise ship! The ferry ride was about 3 hours...It was a nice time to relax..At times I felt drunk because of the movement of the ship.
We eventually dock in Wales and it was different from Dublin. It was a lot of sheep and hills. We stop at this little town that litterally had the longest name ever!!! After our stop we end up at the Beumaris Castle. It was absolutley breathtaking. The castle was all broken down but it was just amazing to see it. When you climbed to the top of castle of the view was unbelievable with the mountains in the background. It was very exciting to be there and it made me want to come back and visit.
After visiting the castle we take like a 2 hour ride back to where our hotel was. This was probably one of my favorite rides on the bus from all week. I mean driving through the mountains was ridicoulous. It was something i've never seen before. I just sat back with my ipod and enjoyed as much of the scenery as I could.
When we finally got to the Hand Hotel I could so easily tell this place had to be haunted. I got this weird vibe from the place...maybe cause it was like 300 years old!!! The town it was located was very weird. It was like a Ghost town...I'm surpised they even had a convient store that was open late. Everyone bugged out when we found out the hotel had no elevators..we were all tired from the day and now we had to bring our heavy luggage upstairs!! Some people went on a walking trip up a mountain..I decided to take a nice hot shower and chill out in the room..Later on some of us found out that the room our tour director was staying in was 28(it was haunted from a little girl in a red dress) that kinda made the night a little more exciting...I felt bad for Liz though because the room she had to stay in was scary as hell...I mean she had no tv..it was one bed and her view was a graveyard..Tamika and I didn't allow her to stay in her room so we invited her to stay in our room..she didn't care about sleeping on the floor..lol i wouldn't because that room was freakkkkkkkkky!!! We eventually went to sleep..it was hard at first for me because I knew how old the place was ...and I was afraid I was going to wake up with a ghost in my face!!! I slept with lights on lol

Tiredddddddd....

Day 3...

I was supposed to attend a tour to this park 2 hours away from Dublin but didn't go because I didn't get any sleep from St. Patricks Day...So I suffered the consequences and wasted 25 euro's..i've learned my lesson haha...I basically slept the whole day till 2pm...then met up with everyone for dinner around 6...I didn't really feel like partying so after dinner me and some of the girls went and got some more food..stopped at a sovenier shop then took a taxi and bus back to the hotel...we spent the rest of our nite using the internet to call home since we haven't talked to our family since we left for Ireland..Then it was time to sleep because the next day we had to catch the ferry to wales..we were all happy because we've seen enough of Dublin

St. Patricks Day!!!

Day 2...

I woke up at 6:30am..got ready..then met up with everyone for Breakfast downstairs at 7:30am. We all left on a coach bus around 8 and headed for St. Patrick's Cathedral. Our tour guide for that day was from Ireland. She explained different parts of the city while on the bus and had quite a sense of humor too. The one quote I remember her saying was " A woman is to be loved, not understood." I forget who she said wrote it but I thought it was great and true!

We arrive at the Cathedral and it was so BEAUTIFUL! When you walk into the church it is just incredible to see how big it is! The architecture was just amazing to see because I remember learning about these buildings when taking an Art history class last year. How they used a lot of arches and stained glass during that time period. While in the church they're were a lot of exhibits to look at. I really liked looking at the old books...such as the music books...I've taken music appreciation in the past and the way music all started is very interesting to me. There was a choir of children singing and some people were praying. St. Patricks is more of a religious holiday in Ireland as in the US it is more of an excuse to drink and party. The tour guide then gave us some time to look around and buy any souveiners. I decided to buy rosary beads and then I walked outside to the bus.

We took a ride to a beautiful park that had a HUGE cross that was given to the land from Pope John Paul 2..I took some pics and then we got back onto the bus. We also saw the (white house) of Ireland. I had no idea that a woman was President there and that there was a previous woman president. I guess you can say I had cultural shock when I heard that because it is crazy for us that Hillary is running for President..that is my opinion. So then we ended up at Trinity College for the book of Kells. The tour guide then left and we were on our own. The book of Kells was interesting because of how this guy had the neatess hand writing!! I thought the library was insane!! It reminded me of the library in the Disney movie "Beauty and the Beast." The people that guarded the exhibits were very strict because you were not allowed to video or take pictures.
It was time to see the famous St. Patrick's Day Parade!!! Unfortunately is was way to packed at the time...so I did not see it...kids were climbing up on street lights and sitting on top of telephone booths to catch the view but I wasn't going to risk getting hurt in a different country!!!I got my face painted with a shamrock..had my irish drinking shirt..bought a irish scarf, and irish whistle be part of the festivities. It was just madness but I had a lot of fun spending it with my new friends. A lot of walking, but lucky for us, the day was beautiful with the sun shining making it feel not so cold.

Later..checked out the fair that was in the middle of the city. It was very "Americanized"...reminded me of being at Great Adventure..Me, Tamika, and April decided to go on the ferris wheel because we heard from locals the view is great. It was Tamika's first time on one..and well..I give her a lot of credit going on it because the ride was not safe at all!!! I was sitting next to where you get out.. I mean I could litterally fall out of this thing with one wrong move!!!(good thing they didn't open bars till 4pm!!)

We all eventually met up with everyone near the spire for dinner. Please forgive me for not remembering the names to these places...but it was a cute little place and they served us fish and chips..the fish was ehhh but the chips were good..like I said before..the food was not great..but after walking all day anything tasted good. After dinner most of us went back to the Hotel to chill out before going back to the city...afterall how could you not go to the pubs on St. Patricks Day!?

The pubs were packed and filled with drunk people...had a lot of fun and danced the night away..met some locals outside and learned a little about there culture...I think meeting people was probably one of the best things about the trip. It started getting late so we all went back to the hotel and met some more locals. Did not get to sleep till 8am the next morning!! St. Patrick's Day was probably one of the best days on the trip and it just made me more excited about the rest of the week!!!

We're finally here!!!

Day 1...
(I wasn't able to blog every night...So I will try my best to remember as much as i can)
The plane landed and I realized I am millions of miles away from home. I was in Ireland!!! How excited I was to be in Europe!!! The only country I've been to besides the U.S. was Mexico. I didn't know what to expect to happen that week because I felt at first I was traveling alone. Meaning that I didn't really know any of people on the trip besides the teachers and couple people(that changed soon because I met some incredible people on this trip!) But you know what I mean? It kinda made the trip feel more like an adventure and it gave me the chance to go out and explore. I forgot about everything else back at home. It was like being in a different world.
We were all exhausted from the flight because it was around 7pm when we left and when we arrived it was close to 6am in Ireland. Surpisingly enough I was able to adjust to the time difference pretty well. I thought I was going to go straight to sleep as soon as we arrived at the hotel..but I didn't...don't get me wrong I love to sleep but I didn't come to Europe to sleep...I was going to intake as much I could...This was an oppertunity that I got and how did I know I would ever come back to Europe.

Our tour director David(awesome guy)gave us an option to either sleep for the rest of the day till about 5 or take a quick little trip to Dublin. Most of us decided to take the trip because we were all thrilled to be there. It was a bit chilly but we were all dressed comfortably. I started going crazy taking 5 million pictures of the most random things. Such as McDonalds signs...little did I know that McDonalds would save my life from the terrible food that I had to eat for dinner. A running marathon happened to take place that day, and I saw a lot of street entertainers dressed up freaky costumes. We all eventually meet up at the mally malone statue and head on back to the hotel to take a nap. Before I went back to the room, me and my roommate(Tamika) agreed to have a drink at the bar. Our first drink in Ireland. So I of course drank a Guiness and Tamika had a mixed drink.

After our naps we all walked to the train station which was about a 10 min walk. The trip to the city only took about another 10 min and we walked a little bit before we ate at the resturant. The resturant was near a lot of other pubs(not a surpise..there were pubs everywhere!!!) It was a cute little place and we were all hungry and couldn't wait to eat. The first plate arrived...I'm not gonna lie...I thought it was an appetizer cause there was hardly any food on the plate. I then fond out it was my main course...At that moment i thought to myself...I must eat horrible if this is Ireland's normal way of eating. Sure...I was disappointed!! butttt it tasted good...could of added more meat...but that's what McDonalds came in handy for!! After our appetizer/meal they brought out dessert but I didn't even bother because I was more concerned about walking to the bar and having my first irish carbomb!! That for sure...didn't disappoint me in any way =) It was the first drink of many guiness's to follow...not tooooo many...but just enough!

After the meal most of us went to resturant near the temple bars called Thunder road. It was very "Americanized"(I don't know if that's a word) All they played was American music...kind of looked like your regular TGI Fridays or Applebees from back home...Met some people from London which was pretty cool. The night eventually got tiring so me and some others decided to call it a night while others continued to party at a club...Needed to rest for the long awaited St. Patricks Day....

Ireland was a lot different then I expected it...

Well unfortunately I have not been able to blog the past couple of days because there were some issues with the internet...I will try to make this quick because it is 1:11 AM in Dublin and I have to be up in 4 hours!!!!! Ireland was cool but very expensive...spent most of my money on food because the food they served us for dinner was toooooo small...most of the locals seemed very smart and extremely funny while others were completely rude...by far the best day here was St. Patricks day...was deff a great experience...I woke up at 6:30 am and didnt go to bed till 8 am...i will try to continue this if we have the internet in London...its too late right now!!!

What To Expect In Ireland!

What I'm most looking foward to experiencing in Dublin, Wales, and London...

I am very excited about going on this trip to Europe. I have never been to Europe and from I have heard it is a beautiful place to visit. I am deffinetly looking foward to Dublin. Especially, since we will be there on St. Patricks Day! That is going to be an experience that most people never get to see and i'm happy i get to be part of it. Not to mention my last name is McDermott so hopefully i'll meet some nice lads who'd like to buy me some drinks...haha...but thats not the real reason why i want to see Ireland. I just heard its absolutely beautiful there and I look foward to taking beautiful pictures of the scenery as well





Wales I am not too familiar with. I just know that Princess Diana was the Princess of Wales. I'm willing to learn anything about it though. I'm sure it will be interesting and I will have a better understanding the place from visiting.



London I am deffinetly familiar with....without a doubt this will be so cool to see. I mean who doesn't know London? Were talking about Kings and Queens, Prince William, Guards with Tall Black hats that look like Robots. Making telephone calls out of Red Booths and the beautiful scenery with Big Ben. I am sooooo looking foward to seeing Shakespere's Birthplace...I think that is so cool after learning so much about him. All of these tours are going to leave me with more knowledge to talk about with friends and family when I get home.