SUPERLAMBANANA

There is a statue situated outside the dorm where we stayed in Liverpool. It is a lamb shape shifted into a banana. A superlambanana. And we didn't even make up that name. I know, right? The whole city is full of all different ones, painted in weird ways. I bought a keychain lambana. It is super.

We went on a tour of the University of Liverpool chemistry building and had a lecture about malaria. It was highly interesting, especially because the tour guide was an Asian man with a half British, half Asian accent. It was everything.


We also decided to create the hashtag #followthelocals. We are so bad at crossing streets here. So might as well follow people who look like they know what they're doing, right? WRONG. Also, one night at 2 AM in McDonald's one of my friends gave my other friend a big Mac if he let her touch his "firm" butt. He was ravenous, and so he did it. That and he had already eaten a meal, which they only charged him 50 cents for. 50 pence and a butt touch was the theme of that night I suppose. Things got weird. I just ate my snack wrap in peace.


Another night the girls stayed in and had a Mamma Mia sing-a-long. I love my friends. They even complain as much as I do that we're on the third floor of our dorm, which is actually the fourth in England. DAMN 0th floor.

Quick word of advice for people planning to go to Liverpool: Don't try and go get food after 5 PM at pubs. Most of them just serve drinks after then. More specifically, don't get your hopes up for nachos at these places after 5 PM. I did this twice and cried twice.


Our first trip to London was really really enjoyable. We did have to wake up early, though. But at least a lady named Lesley on the train handed out free pens. Highlight of my morning for sure. Okay, but one complaint: the Buckingham Palace guards were behind the gates! I couldn't try to make them laugh or even take a picture with them. That Mary-Kate and Ashley movie "Winning London" is a bunch of bullcrap. They probably paid random people to dress as guards. But I digress.

Upon arrival, before the site-seeing, we went to a science museum. It was weird. There was an exhibit on cravings and on finding who you really are. I learned that different color spoons may affect the taste of your food. Like if it's white, it will be more smooth or something. Might be a load of horseshit, might just be science. We also heard a man talk at Imperial College. He spoke about chemistry. Shocker. Then we had free time.

So I saw Big Ben and the London Eye (a huge ferris wheel that takes a long time to go all the way around). I think you can fit 20 people in each carrying pod. Oh and I just want to give a quick shout out to the elderly people that still hold hands with each other. You melt my heart. Keep doing you.


And we were super American, taking a 5 min-wifi break wherever we could. No shame.

I also almost cried happy tears because this cute little family loved my chalkboard and wanted a picture with it. We were riding on the subway in London called "The Tube". Here's a creepy pic of them my friend Mel got:

I loved every moment of that.


Then on a different day, we went to a pharmaceutical company called Novartis. It is a huge company that creates flu vaccines and many other drugs. We were at the plant that focuses a lot on the vaccines. At one point they split us into groups to tour different parts of the facility. We had limited time, so each group only got specific tours of one part of the plant. I went to the egg incubation unit. Fun fact: a lot of vaccines are made using chicken eggs. They grow the embryo and then inject the virus into it. And somehow the vaccine comes out. I don't know, guess I should've taken notes.


What is hilarious, is that my friend Jordan is afraid of birds, and she came to this part of the plant as well. She doesn't like any stage of a bird's life, be it egg or feathery feathers. We suited up (see picture) and saw how they incubate the eggs, check for embryos, and discard the unwanted/dead eggs. There was a conveyor belt that got rid of some eggs as they passed through. As we watched, we saw the eggs crack and sometimes they had little chicky nugs in them. SO SAD. But it was like a car accident; you couldn't look away.

Okay also they used a system to heat the eggs for incubation called the chick master. Retweet if you cried. Here is all of us at Novartis!

Want to know the best part of my life? My friends keep telling me, "Write that in your blog!" if something funny happens. I love it. And they keep screaming Amy from across the room or restaurant or public area. Why, you may ask. Because they want to make a stupid joke or pretend they are walruses with straws in their mouths, and they know I will laugh. Glad I have that kind of silly reputation. Wouldn't change a thing :)

peace.love.meep
-amyjoy
P.S. I am the Walrus - The Beatles.