The Lower Hudson Valley is almost as much fun as Europe...

Hi all! So all summer long, my brother Dorian and I have been building a hovercraft. Its quite intense. But then Rachael and Cassie moved near me, so I had a break from working on the hovercraft. We went mini-golfing and laser-tagging last weekend. Here is the scorecard from laser-tagging. Its easier to see if you click on it for the larger version. And I don't know how to rotate it (sorry).

It was oodles of fun, except that there were these two little kids who were incredibly annoying who kept shooting at us, and then covering up their reflectors so we couldn't shoot back. It wasn't very nice. Also, when we were playing mini-golf, it was about 1000 degrees out. Just thought everyone should know.

Then on Tuesday we all went to eat dinner in Tarrytown. We went to a Greek restaurant. Our waiter was very Greek, and we have confirmed that the correct pronunciation of 'gyro' is like 'year-o.' And afterwards, we went out for ice cream. Cassie's flavor was 'cookie monster.' It was really really blue:

Hope everyone is having fun at work/school/neither yet!

I'm Still Jetlagged

Hi!!!

So I don't think my post will be as witty and thorough as Jason's or as random and exciting as Carly, Derrick, and Jaime's, but I have just arrived back from a 3 week whirlwind tour of Europe with my sister that included stops in London, Paris, Lucerne, Florence, Venice, Rome, Hopfgarten, Munich, Vienna, Prague, St. Goar, and Amsterdam.  I'm tres tired but I had some of the best three weeks of my life and saw some amazing places.  I wasn't planning on drinking at all on my trip in the interest of being able to find my way back to the hotels each night and catch the bus in the morning, and as those of you who have experienced my idiocy know, I am even more of re re when shitfaced than when sober, but it ended up that my tour group of 32 included 12 Australians and 3 Kiwi's, all of whom could drink Matt Hetherington under the table in about 0.5 seconds, as well as some Americans and Canadians who were also ridiculous people, so not only did I culturally enrich myself while overseas, but I also had a fucking fab time, and made it home without losing my passport or any money!  

Some highlights, in bullet form for ease of reading:

Climbed to the top of the Eiffel tower and by divine providence ended up waiting in line long enough to get up to the top just as the sun was setting so it was ridiculously beautiful.

Was in Vienna the night before the European soccer final and was attacked by outrageously drunk German and Spanish fans - so much fun.

Got to watch the soccer final in the Old Town Square of Prague with thousands of Czech people.

Went on a 30 km bike ride through the Alps.

Watched a friend trip out on mushrooms and another on a space cake in Amsterdam and it was like the most entertaining 2 hours of my life up to this point.

Walked through the Red Light District in Amsterdam and saw all of the prostitutes in their windows beckoning old men to knock on the glass (they are like for real like self employed "businesswomen" that have to pay taxes on every "act" they perform though haha, Amsterdam is really liberal...)

Went to a "cultural evening" as phrased by my tour manager, also in Amsterdam, which turned out to be a live porno, one of the highlights of which was watching a girl smoke a cigar through her vag.  I'm not lying.  Sorry for those of you with sensitive stomachs haha.  I am sure she will be developing some rare form of cancer in the near future.

Swam in the French Riveria, the Rhine River, and the Adriatic sea as well as a lake in Bracciano, Italy under the castle where TomKat got married hahaha.

Sooooooooooooo in short summary, Amsterdam was definitely my favorite, followed by Prague, Vienna, Rome, and Paris.  Lucerne and St. Goar were beautiful and really chill.  The people on my tour were fab, which was a good thing because my sister and I started fighting on day 2 and had to be separated on the bus, so it was nice to have other people to hang out with.  And finally, I have decided that I would like to become Australian, because they are much more fun and open than Americans.

Miss everyone and hope life is good, especially for those of you who have already started working : )  I'm not looking forward to it...

carly and jaime and derrick are rockin out in SA

dudes!!!!!!

so we´re in la paz, bolivia right now, and its the fourth, and its wicked smoggy, and we´re trying to stay up late enough to catch some of the other crazy americans let of some fireworks.

its been a pretty sweet trip so far (apart from the days spent on sketchy peruvian/bolivian buses). we began our journey in Cusco, Peru, where we spent the first night in a sewer and almost confused the Cuscoian flag for gay pride (dont be fooled-its quite similar.) We hiked our butts off over mountains and through cloud forests and jungle to Machu Picchu... on the way, we beat some locals in a mad intense soccer game (Jaime almost took out a 10 year old) (he looked like he was 3). We watched the sunrise over Machu Picchu, and tried to do some urban running but had to beat it from the authorities.

We wandered into a school in Cusco after we got back, and got invited into this dude´s classroom of 9-12 year old boys in semi-military regalia. They sang us songs (Oh Susanna and for hes a jolly good fellow) and made fun of Derrick for being Chinese (hardcore. WTF.)

Then we went to Arequipa. Lame. but we saw some condors.

We headed for Bolivia, and they let us across the border. We went to Copacabana (seriously right?) on Lake Titicaca. hahaha. This dude let us take out his sailboat, even though we told him we had NEVER sailed before. It was a fun two hours, then the family came out to rescue us.

Now we´re in La Paz. Carly has been dying the last two days, and Derrick´s friend missed his flight but now all is now cool and we are leaving for the salt flats tomorrow. In the meantime we need to watch some fireworks. Love from all of us, ciao!

Sincerestly,
Carly, Jaime and Derrick