9 Days

This weekend I will be disappearing for a while to work on finishing up my final papers.  Just got to edit and flesh things out.  Then I'll be free for the rest of the week! :D

I am super excited to go home.  I know I keep saying that, but I just don't know how to express it any other way.  It's funny that despite being an English major, I forget my words sometimes.

Today, I had my full day of classes, but I slept in through my first one.  Haha.  After classes, I went to the Christmas Market with Carolyn and Meghan.  It was sooo cold.  I know I really shouldn't be complaining, I just have a passionate displeasure toward not being able to feel my toes.  They went on a ride.  It was what looked like the Kite-Eating Tree, and it was free but I didn't want to go on.  I was crabby because of the cold.  So I stayed back and took photos.  I also bought some fudge and a cupcake.  And then when the girls and I got back to the flat, we made cookies.  Well, a cookie.  It was kind of like a big cookie cake.

I Skyped with my baby sister for 2 1/2 hours.  Seriously, I didn't think I'd miss her this much!  And before that we were chatting on Facebook for nearly 2 hours.  I guess the bonds of sisterhood really are unbreakable.

I think I'll end up staying up late again.  It's no surprise really.  I don't know why I even bother sleeping.  Ha.  Kidding.

An update will come again soon.  It's good for me to slow down and think about things.  I feel weird now that I only have 9 days left in this beautiful country.

Cheers! :)

Semantics

Carolyn just wrote up this post about the linguistic and cultural difference between us and the Brits. I thought it was genius! These are absolutely vital to know. :)

"1. The peace sign we make at home with two fingers like a “V.” I’m pretty sure at one point or another someone said that’s the international sign of peace.  Well, I guess it shows how “peaceful” English people are because here it’s the same as flipping some one off! I still sometimes do it when I’m leaving out of habit and Greg yells at me.  Oi veh.  The first time he told me that I thought he was yanking my chain, but no.  It really is the same as telling someone to F$$$ off.

2. “You alright?” Now, as a typical American girl, I was rather perplexed when a few shopkeepers and people would say this to me.  Do I look upset or something??? No no no, it’s there version of saying “Hey. How are you?”  If you say to an English person “What’s up?” or something like that, then it’s the same as if you asked me “You alright?”  I’m still getting used to it.  You’re supposed to respond to “You alright?” with “Alright?” …yeah I don’t get it either.  I still have 4 weeks to get it down though!

3.  When you’re ordering a burger, the lettuce, tomato and onion (and whatever else) is called “salad.”  So when I go to Wibbly Wobbly for a yummy lamb burger they’ll ask me if I want any sauce (ketchup, mayo, etc.) and then any salad (tomato, onion, pickles, etc.)

4. Chips = french fries and Crisps = potato chips  BUT they do call curly fries “curly fries.”  I asked someone once why they don’t call them curly chips and they said “That just sounds stupid.”

5. Cheese toastie = grilled cheese.  Jen and I have gotten a lot of crap for calling it a grilled cheese since we usually make it in a frying pan rather on a grill.  We also get yelled at for not using the toastie maker.

6.  They don’t eat a lot of Peanut Butter over here and it’s no wonder why! The PB here is awful! It’s not as creamy and peanut-y tasting.  They also don’t have extra crunchy :-P  My flatmate Jude said that he has never actually had  a PB&J sandwich! :-O That is my mission before I leave.

7.  Speaking of PB&J, don’t call it jelly, call it jam.   Jelly over here is the same as Jell-o at home, and they don’t have “jell-o” over here.  

8.  Don’t make any reference to pants unless you’re among friends…it means underwear.  I’ve heard several stories about American students saying they are cold and should have put pants on while out and about.  This statement was quickly followed by strange stares from everyone that heard them say that.

Hmmm that’s all I can think of now.  

~Carolyn"

From Carolyn's blog

Adjustment

It wasn't a very eventful week, which is why there is a lack of update.  I've mostly just been going to class and doing a lot of reading for it.

On Thursday, though, Carolyn's parents came to visit her and took me out for dinner at the hotel they were staying at.  They were really sweet!  It was nice and the food was yummy.  I had fish and chips for the first time.

I stayed up to finish reading Dr. Jeckyll and Mr. Hyde and to talk to Janet.  I don't think I fell asleep until at least 4:30am.  I had to get up at 8:30am to get ready for my class at 10am.  And I had lectures and seminars all day.

I really do not like how some things are run here.  During my Gender and Women's Studies' seminar (discussion), we were told to bring in something that showed class and gender, be it an advertisement, newspaper article, or a book or movie.  I chose The Help.  We were going around sharing and commenting.  I really enjoyed this discussion, but when it got around to the girl sitting next to me, she cut me off and skipped my turn.  Now, I understand that she is running the class, but students should have some say in what they would like to discuss.  I think it was rude that she cut me off and skipped my turn when I put the time, thought, and effort in the assignment.  And besides that, we simply moved on, ignored the activity altogether and started to just talk about what she wanted.  It felt like she didn't care about our opinions, she just wanted us to know hers.  Why would she have us do this task if she didn't want us to have an in depth discussion about it?

Anyway, I was pretty upset over the whole ordeal.  And frankly, a little disappointed.  I don't feel like I learned anything.  It was honestly just a waste of time.

I finally managed to download the 18th episode of City Hunter.  I plan on making a cheese toastie and eating it in bed with some tea while watching City Hunter.  Yay!  It's the weekend.

Cheers! :)

Le Week-end

Friday (Oct. 14)

I had classes alllll day.  I remember just being really frustrated at getting lectured all day.  It was pretty depressing.

After sitting in class all day, I had far too much energy in my body.  I just wanted to playyyy.  So I went and learned some guitar from Shaun.  It took me a looong time and I think it was a fail, because I probably couldn't play it again if anyone asked.

I had to work on my creative writing piece too.  I still hadn't a clue what I was going to write about.  It ended up being about me, drawing inspiration from the movie The Proposal. Yeah, don't ask. It's pretty terrible.

Carolyn had to watch a movie for her class (Indiana Jones!), so I basically sat in her room all evening working on my creative writing/watching Indiana Jones.  We had some girl talk in between. :)

Somewhere in there we played some Corridor Jousting.  Take a look below!



I don't remember exactly what happened after that, but I played Shaun's Formula 1 game for quite some time...longer than I expected.  But I got better!  I kept at it, and Cíara was telling me she was impressed with my patience.  I went from 2:05 to 2:00 to 1:55 to 1:43...I was so proud of myself!

More girl talk...

Then sitting around, chatting in Greg's room, playing more Formula 1 in Shaun's, playing guitar and singing...then, everyone went to bed while Carolyn and I stayed up to do laundry.  At 4am.  It was brilliant and stupid, all at once.  While we waited for our laundry, we watched the Formula 1 race in South Korea. :)

Saturday (Oct. 15)

Because I ended up falling asleep at around 6:30am, just before the sun came up, I slept in and woke up at 1pm.  I did some work (finishing up my story and writing up my Global Identity response).  I later got some food with Carolyn at the Chinese restaurant we went to on our first day here.  I had the sweet and sour chicken with fried rice.  Mm...

Then we played board games.  Cluedo and Trivial Pursuit.  I suck at games.

Girl talk!

Sunday (Oct. 16)

I woke up early to wash up and get ready for the day, but it was so cold, I crawled right back into bed.  I ended up falling asleep.  (Surprise surprise)

I met up with Carolyn and Cíara at the library to get some reading/studying done.  We made quite a bit of progress.  I'm pretty satisfied. :)

I don't know what I'm going to do now.  Guess I'll just curl up with a book.  Something will likely happen, and I'll have to update again.

It's a bit rainy here today.  I hope yours was sunnier. <3

Cheers! :)

First Day

The last night before class was spent in the flat playing a video game in Shaun's room, playing card games (Go Fish and War, for the curious), and watching my favorite TV show, Friends.  Carolyn showed me this website and we watched it on my computer in my room, starting from the beginning.

I had my first class today at 11am.  I was so excited, I didn't sleep much the night before...but now that I have time in between this class and the next, I decided to work on some reading, blog...and maybe nap.  :)

My first class today was Gender and Women's Studies 101.  I left the flat at maybe around 10:45am and got there early.  This campus is super small!  Back at home, I would typically leave the apartment at least a half hour before class started.  I love that everything is so close.  It makes life easy.  Thinking about it today, I'm already getting sad about leaving.  Because now that classes have started, I feel like I finally have a life!  Ha.  I am definitely starting to fall in love...

It is a little rainy here today, but not bad.  I just wore my white, waterproof jacket and my Converse.  Actually, the classroom I was in was really hot!  So it was kind of nice that it was cool out.

After my first class, I met up with Carolyn to run some errands and grab lunch.  We ate at Sultan's on campus.  I had a Tomato and Mozzarella panini with chips and a drink.  It was sooo good, but I couldn't finish.  I felt bad -- I hate leaving food.

Then we went to Waterstone, a bookstore here in the UK, and Proust's, Swann's Way, was screaming my name.  I bought it.  Excellent purchase.  I can't wait to curl up in bed and start reading it.

My next class is a film showing for my Literature and Film class.  I can't remember what we're watching, but I found out last night (when I was being an insomniac) that I actually do have quite a bit of reading to do before I go.  It begins at 5pm and I've still got about 3 hours to do it.  Better start now if I want to get started on Proust!

Cheers! :)

You can't see it here, but the lecture theatre my first class was in is on the left!