A Travelers Guide

itsy bitsy little spider.. on my desk!

Thu, 07 Jun 2007 21:39:34 GMT

Ok heres my life as of late (its been a while):

Tom says im officially british (this scares the crap out of me, because it means i've lost all my zest for life and just want to drink tea)

Katie and I successfully managed a "cozy" two weeks in my one person bedroom without trying to kill one another and had a rather pleasant time (i say 'rather pleasant' because katie told joe her most memorable experience out here was peeing behind a car one night because we couldnt find a toilet... yeah well when u got to go u got to go... guys get away with it all the time)

All the Americans apart from Felicia and Andrew whos only around for two more days are gone. This eliminates most of my friends, and so im a bit Blah about the whole thing. (Brits are GREAT... except when they arent american... the rest of the time they are just so British)

Currently theres a spider on my desk and im trying to think about whether or not i should kill it. Hes not to scary... but walks a little funny.

Tomorrow is the summer ball. I think i will look great an over all im happy about going. However i thought more of my friends a.k.a the americans would be there... but it seems it shall just be Felicia and I. I mean theres also my boyfriend.

On the topic of Joe... i think hes insane for letting me stay with him the last couple of weeks of my trip. I know im going to be rather emotional and i dont know any boy right in the head who wants to put up with an moody chick for two weeks.

p.s. i dont know where the spiders gone.
and kevin found out about joe... he said "dont u think its a little early for you have moved on?" -what a wanker!

Oh, another thing... i have another cold. DAMN. first it was my stomach... i wasnt able to eat anything without getting sick, which i blame on Toms cheese. but now im just keep coughing and sneezing and cant breath. (Just in time for the summer ball!!!)

I could post some pictures, but i dont feel much like waiting for them to load at the moment. AND i just dont know which ones i would post. theres sooooooo many.

Tom didnt like his smore. weird. i think joe will.. joe likes anything he can eat.

21st... I can drink!

Wed, 16 May 2007 14:15:46 GMT

So I have BIG news!

Im now 21, a "real" adult. This means I am now legally responsible for every dumb thing I ever choose to do for the rest of my life. Wow. Thats really something. Its feels weird to be 21, but it probably wont really hit me till I get back to the states and I cant actually sit around and complain that there is nothing for me to do, since im not "old enough". Im finally old enough =)

AND...Im all done now with school!
I took my one and only final on Wednesday. I dont really know how it went and I dont know how harsh they are at grading. I had to write two essays for the test. I think one went well, but the second one wasnt too great. But im done now. Im a little concerned about straightening things out with course credits and grades when I get home. But I will try not to think about it till I actually get back.

Yeah, so now I get to do whatever I want for the next month. Its a good thing... overall. I hope I just dont get too bored. Katie comes out tomorrow morning. YAY =) a familiar face, that will be really great. Shes out here for 2 1/2 weeks. So I know I wont be bored then. After she leaves i have the big summer ball... then a couple weeks to spend with Joe before I come back home. I think it will go a lot faster than it all sounds.

People are starting to leave now, all going back to the states and else where. Finals last till the end of May, but there are people like me who are all done. Slowly people are disappearing. Its kinda a bummer. Its like 6 months wasnt quite long enough. You start to make close friends, but right when they become really good... they leave. Oh well.

As for little news... Phylicia sent me a message on my birthday. I find this really odd because I havent heard from her in Years. Its a nice surprise I guess. And on not such a pleasant note... Kevin found out about Joe. He wasnt not pleased. He says i should have told him. But I dont think he would be happy one way or another. He stupidly said, "dont you think ur getting into a relationship a little early?"
What a weirdo. I was with him a little under a year ago. We dated for a total of 3 months... oi... i dont like boys.

Yeah, so i've gone and posted a few pictures from my birthday. It was a nice time. I was with my closest friends out here. We hung out at Toms, got some pizza, ate some cake, and drank some good champagne.
After we just went out to the pub on campus and met up with a few others. Good times.
UMMM oooohhh!
THANKS GRANDMA! I got my presents. It made me very happy to get a package =) everything looks really great... um the dress was too small, but that was it. Im a bit "curvy" as of late. Im actually wearing the gray shirt you sent me right now. So, thanks again =)
Mom... still no package. Wont have anyhing till monday now. If it even comes then. I kinda hope the clothes u sent fit... i know u said they might not, but um i'll try and eat less.

Yeah so thats all thats going on at the moment. I'll be up early early tomorrow. Katie will come in... we have to steal a bed mattress from some where and get some food at the store, but um thats all i have planned for her arrival. I'll keep people informed on our outings.

Me and Felicia
(Felicia goes to Smith and is out here for the term like me)

Me and Linda
(Linda is a German girl who I met through Tom a while ago)

Me and Tom

Me and Ludovich

Me and the Boyfriend, ahhhhh...

Me and EVERYONE

My present from Joe... im a very spoiled young lady
(its real!)

I've lost my Screws

Fri, 11 May 2007 20:10:44 GMT

It rained on me...
Damn English weather

Um but heres my looking good...
(Although I very regrettably took out my piercings. I feel incomplete and must get more! Its like, im no longer unique. But I knew the surface bars wouldnt last forever. *sad sad teary face*)

Another with Photos

Sun, 06 May 2007 16:34:38 GMT

Sooo.... I have some cool new photos to share with everyone!
Yesterday I went into London with my friend Andrew. Andrew is from Arizona, and I met him when I first came out here. Hes a communications major and we had two classes together. I would have spent more time with him during the term, but he has housing off campus and has done tones of traveling since being here, so I hardly ever got to see him around (apart from the times we had class together). Andrew's an Amazing photographer, and I suggest everyone check out his work: www.andorproductions.com
Yeah, so we thought we would go into London for a bit. We spent most of the day around Camdon Town at the markets. Its this HUGE market area with tons and tons of clothes and other weird out of this world shit. I dont have any photos of that cause it was really really crowded and I was concerned about taking my camera out.
After Camdon, we thought we would walk through St. James park as the sun was starting to go down for some nice photos. We worked out way through the park and into the main tourist area in London where parliment and the London Eye are. It was an awesome time.

This is Andrew...

St. James Park:

Outside the park:

Life on the Other Side

Tue, 24 Apr 2007 12:30:04 GMT

Now that I have discovered it is faster for me to successfully insert pictures here, rather than my usual slow attempt at uploading them to albums, I shall narrate my weekend this way....

This here is a very modest photo of Tom's country estate. Its a BEAUTIFUL mansion outside Norwich, located about 20 mins from the beach off of a quite dirt road and about 30 mins from the city center. I have never seen such a clear sky at night. And all you can hear for miles is nature.
Like I said this is a modest photo... there is actually TONS more to the place. Gardens every where... fireplaces in all rooms. Surreal.
And the shocking part of it is that this house, while u can clearly see this a million dollar estate by American standards is actually Double out here! This is about as far as you can go I imagine by British standards... unless you're famous or something.

My Room:

The view out Tom's bedroom window:

Joe and I caught the train up to Toms on Saturday. Doing anything with Joe is an adventure. Hes always late for everything! So yet again, (i've had to do this before) we chased after our train... just to watch all my things fall out of my bag as we ran across the street. Good news is, i still have all my shit and we caught the train. I learned however that I cant take my boyfriend any where!
I spent two nights at Toms, but Joe left on Sunday.
Saturday when we arrived Toms mom cooked a Huge roast for all of us. Lots of wine, good food, and dessert! ...I didnt know people ate this well.
In the evening we went out for a quiet night at the pub in town.
We spent Sunday walking around the city, one of Tom's friends from home joined us. A little later on we went to help launch a hot air balloon.
(Tom's father, as a hobby, owns hot air balloons... he flies them as well.)

Tom at work:

Kind of...

Joe and I, not helping much:

Monday Tom and I drove back to school. We made a quick stop in Cambridge so that we could get some lunch with a friend of his who goes to school out that way.
It was a really cute area, but it was raining and I didnt take many pictures.
Over all, we just were our normal weird selves, and it was awesome! I dont know what im going to do without those two...

*sniffles

Fri, 13 Apr 2007 17:18:18 GMT

Im in the midst of having an emotional breakdown.

I thought I should look at plane tickets today to come home for the summer, and its made me quite depressed... not cause of the outrageous prices or anything.
Its just that I have one year left of school. Just ONE year.
I cant say I'll miss paper writing... but OH MY GOD Im an adult.
Excuse my french for a minute, But That Fucking Sucks! and thats putting it nicely.

I HAVE to come back home so that I can WORK. I HAVE to do my internship and I HAVE to graduate. It looks like i'll be taking about 6 classes a semester (which is A LOT) because im not going to have earned enough credit hours out here. 6 classes, plus working for Jarvis and ITT. Forget clubs. I'll do my Team Leader work, but thats it! I wanted to make time to work on editing, just for my own benefit, but that will have to be done on weekends. Lets hope that without any physical activity I can find time to make it to the gym. Im getting older and fatter.
I think im falling apart... and it just makes me want to eat ice cream even more.

What am i going to do for fun? Nothing. Im going to be Corporate America's bitch.
WORK WORK WORK... so I can feed myself, cloth myself, own a house.
Im sure i'll make time on friday nights and saturdays to be with friends... maybe. Phoenix is gone though =( and Tori will be graduating early =(

FUCK.

I dont have a plan any more. Graduate... thats the best I have. Decent ambition, but thats just cause I cant afford or tolerate BPC for another year. Grad school maybe? But why? To keep me from getting bored? And to study what? And where?
I dont know.

Stick with ITT? Wear a suit, make money, stick around near home. wow... fun.

I know I cant always travel, I know I cant always be in school. Its not really that... its more like... I dont know what to do with myself, more importantly, I dont know what I WANT to do with myself when I say goodbye to those things.

Again, im old and fat.

What comes after all this? I know I have to choose... I have ITT as a safetynet, im not hopeless.
But what do I WANT?

I know what I dont want...
I dont want to stop being happy and having fun.

Thu, 05 Apr 2007 19:25:36 GMT

im still alive. and i have my clothes. half way through the trip. wow.

where is the A key

Mon, 02 Apr 2007 12:29:07 GMT

here are all the places i will be the next two weeks:

31 paris
1 paris
2 nice
3 nice
4 geneva
5 geneva
6 zurich
7 brussels
8 brussels
9 bruge
10 amsterdam
11 amsterdam
12 flight home

ok i have to keep it short. french keyboards are different and its hard to type.

Sun, 01 Apr 2007 17:06:12 GMT

Sorry i didnt post before i left. I was working on an essay that needed to be completed before i left for Europe.
Im going to be leaving Paris tomorrow for Nice. We're in Nice for two nights, and then we are going to Switzerland.
I still dont have my bloody bag. Paris is amazing, and im having a great time. But having no undies kinda makes me wanna cry. My concern is that because we are only in each city for two days my bag will never reach me.
I dont want to spend the spare cash getting new clothes.. and if i were to buy new clothes (because i'll have no other choice) i dont know what i'll pack it in when i finally get my fucking bag back since there will be No room.
Pray for me, please!
I think i want to live in France.... but ummm never fly again.

Whats Shakin'

Fri, 16 Mar 2007 13:07:22 GMT

At the moment, im quite content.
The suns out again, which it has been all week with no rain (global warming is nice for the time being), and im all done with presentations for the term. Now all i have to do it write essays. Im really not too concerned about my film courses, its just my politics class im torn about.
So you all just had daylights savings time, but its still the same out here. I guess they have it, just not yet? I dont know, im hoping one of my british friends will let me know.
I was going to go home with a friend of mine this weekend, but plans got changed, so here we are still at RHUL.
Im finally getting bored with the pubs and union. All the brits do is go to class, read for a bit, then go drink. Not that at most universities in the states it would be much different, but its not my cup of tea.
My friend joe and i were going to try and catch a train to go to the movies last night. We were just a 3 min walk from the station when we heard the train. So we ran after it. Well, not so surprisingly, we missed it. So no movie.
Egham is rather uninteresting. Theres a couple restaurants, and our grocery store. So aside from pubs, eating out, and buying more food... theres nothing to do here.
Even if i took up a hobby, theres still the weekends.
No matter where you are in the world, u still get bored and run out of ideas.
Trips into London take a bit of planning, not much... but still. The best thing to do is spend the whole day there. I really really want to get in for another show. Im sure coming into April and for the rest of the time here, when theres no school work to be done, i'll get in there a lot more.
Tomorrows St. Pats day as i recall. I think im actually going to miss the parade. Its never a real blast, but at least you can say u did something. I think tomorrow im going to go out and do a full day of shopping! Aside from a pair of heels i really really needed, one nice top, and a dressy skirt.... i havent bought any clothes. I'll justify blowing money tomorrow cause one: i have more money than i thought, and two: i did a fucking shitty ass job packing. In the evening theres going to be salsa dancing at Medicine (the pub). I went last time they did it. There was hardly anyone there, but i had a great time. I danced with some spanish kid who actually knew what he was doing. He was amazing. Secretly i hope he's there again, so i can watch him dance. The good news is, i have pumps now that i can wear there. Im sure i'll hate myself for it in the end, but you supposed to dance in pumps!
I guess the british dont care so much about St. Pat's day. I'll just wear some green.
Thats whats cook for the time being. Now i need a shower... and maybe I should clean my room!

My hair is getting long!

Sun, 04 Mar 2007 14:58:15 GMT

Im finally understanding the rain situation here. Just when the sun comes out, the rain dumps on all ur happiness. Really the weather hasnt been bad at all until recently. And i wouldnt even say bad, its just random. Sun one min, and rain the next.

Sorry i havent written in a while. I was busy before greece. I had a presentation to make for my Interwar course on 'The Representation of Women in Weimar Cinema'. (How interesting!) The presentation isnt graded for anyone, so i dont know why we have to do them. It didnt go badly. And its out of the way now. I still have two more to make for my other courses. Ick.
When i got back from Greece i had to plug away at an essay. Which is graded, and im very nervous about. I tried to get help from one of the few classmates i have befriended, but he ended up being no help at all. Oh well. Im going to hope for the best.

I've finally made some "close" friends. I mean, a group of people i can hang out with and call. Not so surprisingly its comprised of three british guys... Joe, Jamie, and Tom. (Kind of almost like Nick, Greg, and Rob... little weird)
Jamie asked me what i thought the best thing about England was yesterday... i didnt have an answer then. But i think it has to be just sitting around with them and learning a litte bit about other people.
Tom's convinced he'll be able to teach me to sound british by the time i leave. Im slowly catching on. I do sound silly when i try though.
Tom and Jamie are both history majors (like Rob). Toms a 3rd year (our senior) and whats to become a lawyer, Jamies in his second year and i dont know what he wants to do. Joes 23, but only been in college for two years. Hes a Maths student. Joe and Jamie live with some other people in a house off campus. Tom has his own place and car. So its nice that i have a means to get off campus.
Most the girls i talk to are American, aside from Jackie whos from Canada. But i only really see her in class. But shes the one who had invited me on the trip to Greece.

I dont really know what else is new... tonight im going to a show by the drama department with the guys, and i think Toms going to make dinner. (im spoiled)
it should be a rather laid back week, which im happy about. I dont have anything due this week, but it will give me some time to do some reading. --i have to say, i do miss the American school system. but thats only cause thats what im used to.

Did you know their mothers and fathers day are one different days out here? odd.
they were talking about mothers day coming up, and i got worried for a min that i've gone insane.

Its good to know though that no matter where you go, people are really just the same. This place is starting to become home =)

p.s. theres pictures of Greece, lots of them... with captions!

In Greece, and i realize i dont know Greek - WHAT FUN

Wed, 21 Feb 2007 09:05:37 GMT

I dont know who will be checking this thing, but im in Greece and im still alive! The hotel has free internet use, so i thought i would just post that i made it here in one piece. One of the girls im with has a working cell phone in case of an emergency, so no worries! I hope everyone is doing well... im off to go explore and get probably very lost in Athens.
(p.s. not long ago i posted some new pictures for everyone to view)
Lots of love.

and yyesss i am doing school work during the term. just had a presentation, and it went rather well. but doesnt matter much, its not graded.

I really like using the word DODGY

Fri, 09 Feb 2007 14:33:36 GMT

I have really big news! (And I’m writing within a week of the last entry I believe, so I’m off the hook this time for being a procrastinator.)
Anyways, the big news!
I’m going to Greece in a week.

So, mid-term the school gives the students “reading” week, which isn’t this coming week, but the week after. Really it’s like a break to catch up on your course reading. I had fully intended on doing just that, but it seems that the students that actually go here fulltime don’t even participate in reading week. And along with that bit of information, dad cashed a large check for me from my insurance company… so I have money to blow.
I’m going over with 5 other girls. Only two of whom I really know… but it will still be a blast. I’m going with my friend Lauren (from Chicago) and this girl Jackie from Canada who’s a communications major and in a couple of my courses. Um there’s another girl who attends UMass, another from Australia, and another from Canada.
We booked a hotel/hostel thing which will be $80 bucks American for the 5 nights we are in Athens. And the flight cost wasn’t too bad either. We leave Tuesday the 20th at 2:35, and we are staying until Sunday the 25th and will be back here at 3p.m.

Aside from that rather large bit of news… I’ve been keeping Super busy. Hanging out finally with British people and loving every minute of it. Making connections and future plans. Aside from Greece during April I believe I’m going to try and hit Switzerland, France and Belgium with people possibly. Dad and Mike may be coming up, but we’ll probably do something around the U.K.

It snowed a couple inches yesterday, which for the Brits was a Big deal. I got 3 text messages and a phone call letting me know to get up and look at “all the snow.” I missed the snow ball fight cause I had class, but oh well. I guess they don’t hardly ever get snow… just rain come march and april…

Finally I’m lucking out this week as far as cooking goes. I haven’t had to cook hardly anything! Lauren likes cooking so she invited me over last night, and a couple nights before that my friend took me out to eat, and tonight a classmate is cooking for me. I feel special haha.

And I’m having a blast!

Look- I Wrote!

Sat, 03 Feb 2007 15:02:51 GMT

Well everyone can be reassured that just as much as my journal writing is slacking I’m out and about keeping busy. I do apologize for having not written in quite a while.
I have dedicated Sunday and Monday nights to studying and doing my reading work. I have to be honest though and say it’s very hard to be motivated to do work out here. At Bay Path, I have a whole schedule of things to get done, so everything has its assigned time. Here, well I don’t have a list of things to do… I can do whatever I want, almost whenever I want. But I know I always work much better on a schedule –So that’s something to work on.
Tuesday night I had a quiet night with a couple of my girlfriends. One of the girls is from Smith, so it’s nice to have her around, since we share quite a few things in common. It’s really kind of cool to have friends from around the states. I mean it opens up the door for some less expensive travel. Although, I still think a majority of the people are from the east coast. So, I guess I’ll become really really familiar with New England.
Wednesday was really the best day! I went into London with my friend Lauren (shes from Chicago… but shes been to London a few times in her life already). We walked around Harrods and the other designer shops on the strip. I was all excited to see an H&M, but honestly I think the one back at home had more clothes! Im sure I’ll make a point of going back out there though. After that we got some dinner and went to see the play Woman in Black. One of my British flatmates told me it was a must see play and that it was very good. A couple other people had mentioned it as well. It was definitely good. It’s a horror/thriller play and it was only a two man show. We got our tickets for 7.50! I guess our friends who had gone on the weekend spent 20.00 on theres. So we lucked out! I think the next thing on our list is a musical though. Possibly going to see Blood Brothers. If I can get tickets that cheap going in the middle of the week, well I better see every damn show in London by the time I leave!
Thursday was rather uneventful. But last night was a good time. I finally talked to some British people! Which really just made my night. Every Wednesday and Friday the Student Union hosts “parties.” That’s when they open up this big room for people to come and dance and what not. Last night it was Wild Wild West Night. The Brits really love themed parties it seems and I’m all for it!
My flatmate said that it’s unlikely for two strangers to start talking. Usually you have to be introduced to other through a mutual connection. I was under the impression then that the Brits are rather conservative and not very friendly. That’s not true. They are really quite care free and always seem to be very comfortable around there’s friends. It is true though that they rather be introduced to others through a common friend. Slowly the group of American’s is dissipating as we all branch off and meet new people. It was nice to have to comfort, but now I think we are all ready to just start fitting in here. Even if it’s going to be hard.

Did you hear? Woman for President!

Mon, 22 Jan 2007 18:45:09 GMT

Today’s been interesting to say the least. It was fucking freezing and one of my classrooms had absolutely no heat! (It’s pointless to say, but that class was long) Anyways, I guess I need to do some recapping from my last entry in order to continue explaining today. So, let’s begin…
In my last entry I said I didn’t know how to post pictures so that they were viewable to everyone. Well I lied, cause it seems like a couple of you Have in fact seen my photos. So they are there for everyone to see, and whenever I have free time I’ll make sure I add to the collection. I just added some pictures of my American friends the other day. Nothing too exciting. No worries though, I will soon post some of my room. But I really want to vacuum first!
I also said in my last entry that I was hoping to change my courses around. Good news is, right after I wrote that entry I went and got my classes switched. YAY. I was a very very happy girl on Friday. So now my schedule looks like this:
Monday: 9-12 Interwar European Cinema
12-2 Birth of European Cinema
2-3 Interwar European Cinema (discussion period)
Tuesday: 9-12 Television Genres
3-4 Television Genres (discussion period)
Thursday: 3-5 Politics of the Internet and Information Society

Now there’s only ONE politics course I have to take. YAY Again. I also have my Fridays free. But I had to take up morning classes =(
So basically I have four different classes within 3 departments. (Not normal of most students at Royal Holloway) The lectures and video viewings tend to be a larger group of students, probably around 30 (not big by any means) but the discussions, at least so far, have been about 12 students. So class size hasn’t taken a big leap from Bay Path. Still there are tons more girls then there are boys. I honestly don’t have a complaint there either.
Still I haven’t really made any British friends. Its like everyone knows who the foreign kids are… Maybe once I buy some clothes, I’ll fit in a little more.

More or less on the homefront… and not pertaining to London, I’m completely infuriated with Kevin. Granted I know that men have a tendency to speak before they think (sorry Dad), but this can only be given so much leeway. I know that actions speak louder than words, yadda yadda yadda… but when people aren’t together and words are all they have – it’s rather important you say the right things. Not to put myself on a high horse or anything, but I am constantly giving Kevin my sympathy and support. I know he needs these things because of where he is. But right now I really want to tell him to suck it up. Any moron who joins the army during a war needs to suck it up. My sympathy and support isn’t not a 100% sincere (I wont lie). I don’t support the war, and I’m not surprised he’s going to war. I’m also not the type of girl to sit around and morn over the loss of my boyfriend crying every night until he returns. Kevin knows that’s not me, but to say deep down he wouldn’t mind picturing me committing myself to him wholeheartedly isn’t far fetched. Basically, Kevin said something to me he shouldn’t have said. He knew he shouldn’t have said it too. The bad part was he said it, and before I could point out his ignorance he said “im going to Iraq is about 6 months for sure.” Well how on earth am I supposed to respond to that?! So instead of telling him how I really felt, it turned into a “poor Kevin” conversation All over again. I’ve never once actually fought with the kid. When he does something wrong, he knows it and I very rarely ever have to point it out. But right now I’m needing a fight. If hear another conversation about the woman he wishes I were, I’m going to flip.

Politics = insanity

Fri, 19 Jan 2007 13:34:58 GMT

Ok quick update: I will be making home calls during the next couple days. I was all set on calling people yesterday, but I was in bed by 9:30! It’s a little complicated to call earlier since I’m ONLY 5 hours ahead. Oh, and one other thing… I was able to upload pictures to my livejournal account, only I don’t know how to make them visible to other people. It’s a work in progress. But I do have some pictures. And I will have more tomorrow! I’m going on a free trip into London with the other international (American) students.

So about this past week: I started my classes. Oh My God...
Alright, so I’ll break it down a little more than that.

First I had my film class, Birth of European Film, on Monday for 2 hours. The professor is so so, but I really enjoy the topic and I know I will learn a lot. It’s not a very big class, probably less than 20. So, it’s really the same as Bay Path. Overall, im excited to be in it.
Then I had my odd little two day break.
Thursday I had a most frightening experience with my first Political Relations course. It was called Political Sociology.
I need to explain a couple things first. Most courses out here run for a whole year. A lot of times they allow international students to join them half way, and give them different requirements. Usually two essays. Also, students out here are only in college for 3 years to do their undergrad. So basically I sat through a senior level politics course half way through the year. Now I know they were speaking English, but it was definitely all foreign to me.
I also met the first mean British person. The professor was a royal prick. Excuse me for saying so. I’m going to assume that he wasn’t born British, because every other British person I have met has been exceptionally pleasant and easy going. No one out here is high-strung… well except for this guy.
After that class, I felt highly discouraged to go to my next course: Politics of the Internet and Information Society.
I went anyways.
Good news is, its just starting this term and the professor is absolutely wonderful (the easy going British type). On the down side, it’s still a course designed for senior Political Science majors and its going to be highly challenging.
And finally I had my last Politics course today. Another 300 level class having started last semester. Again I sat lost and confused. This one is called Sociology in the New Millennium. It sounds a lot less challenging than Political Sociology, and the professor was nice… but I don’t know if I’m cut out for this department.

Right now I am waiting to hear back from a woman in the Media Arts department. Mr. Wilkison, my admissions advisor, and I sent her and email asking if she could possibly get me into a couple courses in that department. I’m crossing my fingers. There’s a reason I’m a communications major. I get it… and I’m good at it. Politics… well that’s for a whole other breed of people. If I’m lucky, next week I will be attending different classes. Well at least two different courses. Its just a little complicated to switch courses here. Most students when they choose a major, they don’t switch majors, and they don’t take courses from another department. There’s no such thing as electives out here. For people who seem horribly laid back about everything, their courses are very structured.

Family Dinner and Foreign Hip Hop

Tue, 16 Jan 2007 17:51:47 GMT

I have to say that I actually like having all my American friends here. It allows for some sense of security knowing that you’re not the only one going through a cultural adjustment. (We survive together). Last night we all had dinner together, which we are going to try and make a habit of at least once a week. It wasn’t horribly organized last night, but in the future the plan is that we all pitch in a little and contribute to the “family dinner.” I’m still really short on groceries. I had hoped to get to the market today, but well it was super rainy. Better luck tomorrow I guess. Either way I’m going to have to go. Tonight I think it will be soup and salad. No complaints though. I think I’m just going to miss having big meals like at school. Meat, veggie, dessert….

I have discovered that I really like the fashion out here. I’d love to go splurged and spend lots of money on clothes (that would be so amazing), but I know food has to come first =(
I think I’ve tracked the fashion movement. It starts in France moves its way over into the UK then over to the states starting on the East coast. I’m jealous of all the girls out here in their nice clothes. I mean back at home I look fine… but out here I’m totally out of the loop. However, I have to say that the British are awful dancers! I haven’t seen people dance like that since Blessed Sacrament. It makes me shudder. They were passing out flyers at the pub last night and telling everyone to go over to a different pub at closing time where there would be a place to dance and a DJ. Anything that pertains to dance gets me excited so I convinced another one of my friends who shares my love of dancing to go with me. We got there and were just awestruck. They were all standing in circles dancing to Brittney Speares! As well as lots of bad 80s American songs! I mean if they really want to share our music culture, they better get with the times! Hey Mickey just shouldn’t cut it. I’ll give them the benefit of the doubt that maybe the majority was trashed and that’s why they danced the way they were… but I have a feeling most of them would dance their best after a few drinks. Now don’t get me wrong, American dancing, maybe heavily influenced by our Hispanic cultures, is very raunchy… I could see how it wouldn’t fit comfortably into most cultures. But they were listening to our music… either way I don’t see myself single-handedly teaching these people how to dance.

The First Days

Mon, 15 Jan 2007 00:22:02 GMT

When they say the grass is greener on the other side, it’s because it’s true. I’m going to assume that its greener simply because of the continuous rainfall. But I must say the weather out here has been significantly nicer than back at home. In the morning it is a little chilly, but the sun usually is coming through around 8 a.m. Come early evening, the weather is at its worst, mostly because of the strong winds. But by night its just perfect with a clear sky. Really we haven’t been caught in any bad rain yet. At dinner the other night it just randomly started down pouring, but it stopped 10 mins later. Anyways, the grass is definitely a whole new shade of green out here.

Tomorrow I start my first class. I have to be honest and say I’m very very anxious. I know that it’s going to require a lot more independent studying, and I don’t know how well I’m going to adapt to that. I’m sure one way or another I’ll do what I have to, to get by. In reality all this extra “free” time is supposed to be for studying… but I think im going to need to take up a hobby to keep myself motivated and busy. The gym sounded like a good idea, but unfortunately you have to pay to use the gym here. I think running, along with some sit-ups and pushups will have to suffice. Im almost positive that im going to drop quite a bit of weight out here… or at least turn my fat into muscle. Walking is really going to make a difference. To get into town it’s about a 10 min walk. Getting to town is nice, but coming back isn’t so much fun. It’s not really hilly until you get back on campus however.

Ideally I should work on my cooking skills, since I’ll have a lot of free time to do that. But I havent really had a whole lot of time to learn my way around the grocery store. It’s not that much different and every now and then you will see some similar brands. But ordering food and learning what’s good at the store will take a little time. I’ve already learned that sprite or 7 up is called lemonade. And its not really sprite, its close, but not so surprisingly more lemony. The question I now have is, what do they call real lemonade? You also need to be careful because almost all restaurants include the tip in your check and some places wont care to clarify for Americans.

The language hasn’t really been an issue at all, but then again im around tons of Americans right now. Im almost positive I wont come back with an accent, but maybe with a few sayings. They say “right” a lot. For example it would go “well, right… today we did…” or “right, lets get going”. Right, so maybe I’ll come back with a tendency to say something like that.