2 Days

Whoa. Already?!

I turned in all my papers today...I hope everything turns out okay. Turning things in is very confusing and complicated here. We don't just turn things into our professors during lecture/seminar. They send us on this wild goose chase to find what is called the "mixing bay" and we are supposed to dump our work into this plastic box labeled "Third Year" or whatever year you're in.

As an international student, things work differently for me (only God knows why) and I was told by my creative writing tutor that I have to turn in my portfolio to the guy in the English department in charge of international students. That, and grading works differently here. Ugh. Such a headache. So much stress.

Tonight, I'm staying in because I gots no moneys. I think I'll barely have enough for tomorrow and until I get to the airport. Yay! That includes taxi/train (haven't decided yet), hotel, and food.

I have been packing and throwing things out like a crazy person. My large suitcase weighs about 42 lbs. I hate this part of travelling...I always get so stressed out. I wish there was some way to skip the security, the packing, the waiting, and the sitting and somehow just teleport myself home.

Le sigh...

Cheers! :)

4 Days

I am freaking out.

I am excited to go home, but now, the realization that I will actually have to leave this place to get there has finally hit me, and I don't want to face it.



This song pretty much sums up how I feel right now. I think it's perfect.

I will miss this place so much. I promise to come back. Times infinity.

Today, I woke up and there was some stress involving printing...end of term is like the apocalypse. Seriously. I went to Pendle college's computer lab to print my poetry, but all the computers were taken. I walked over to the Learning Zone and it wouldn't let me log in to the computer. I finally ended up trying the library, and I had to go searching for an open computer (didn't take me long, but still) and I finally -- finally -- managed to print out what I needed in time for class.

My creative writing tutor said some really nice things to me today. She specifically asked me to stay after class to talk about things. She told me I'm a natural writer, and that when I wrote my short story about Korea, she thought it was beautiful. She told me I'm good with descriptions, space, and that I have issues with tense, which I thought was funny. And she told me she has problems with tense too. It was really nice to directly hear from someone say these things to me. Especially someone who actually knows a thing or two about writing.

I got kind of bored today and since I always freak about packing, I decided to start a little early. I packed most of my things away, and I have my outfits set for the rest of this week. I did some laundry, and I now have to plan out how I'm going to pack in the rest of my stuff as the week goes on...it's funny because I actually feel like I'm bringing less back. That never happens. But maybe it'll change once I get to Manchester.

I made a list of the things I must do when I come home:

1. Actually meet up with the friends that I said I would meet up with.
2. Eat Chipotle.
3. Hang out at Target.
4. Get out my guitar. I miss her.
5. Bake.
6. Write letters to Lancaster.
7. Shop. I miss the Mall of America!
8. Organize my photos, print them out, and make a photo book through Snapfish.
9. Work out.
10. Watch holiday related movies. (The Holiday, The Last Holiday, Love Actually, Elf, Miracle on 34th Street, The Polar Express, Edward Scissorhands, Night Before Christmas, Just Friends, etc.)
11. Watch Bollywood films.
12. Catch up on my K-Dramas and K-Pop.
13. Read.
14. Karaoke.
15. Piano.
16. Get a haircut.
17. Have an amazing time with Carolyn and her family on New Years Eve in Buffalo, NY!

That's all I've got so far. I feel a little less sad now, than I was before. There's a lot to look forward to this winter break! I need to quit thinking I'll never be able to come back, because I already promised I would. These next few days will be a bit emotional for me, which is weird because I'm not usually outwardly emotional. I have a feeling I may shed some tears, because I actually almost felt like crying today.

I have a big place in my heart for Lancaster, because I think I've changed a lot and grown up a lot these past few months. But at the same time, I'm still the same. This experience will forever be a great milestone in my life, something unforgettable.

Cheers! :)

London

I am blogging from a coffee shop in London. :)

Carolyn and I arrived here at about 11am.  She ran to catch a taxi to the Excel to see Top Gear Live.

Now I'm just waiting for my phone to charge before I leave to catch a taxi to get to the Natural History Museum.  It's taking soooo looonnnggg.  Grr...

Funny story -- There was a huuuuuge line at the Euston station for maps and whatever, and I decided to be cool and just wing it.  That was a bad idea.  Basically, I wandered around for about an hour into some sketchy part of the city before I decided to get back to where all the people were and sit at a coffee shop to charge my phone.  (Stupid phone.  The battery dies so quickly...)

I've already been to so many museums while studying in the UK, but they never get old.  They are always so much fun for me!  I guess I'll just always be a geek.

On a different note, I'm really excited to be in a city big enough for me to get lost in!  Every other place I've visited here so far has been fairly easy to figure out.  It's nice being somewhere HUGE.  I guess I'll always be a city girl, too.

Occupied

It's been a long while since my last real post.  I've been busy.

School is going well. I really enjoy all my classes. Except my seminar for Gender and Women's Studies is still a waste of time. The tutor just makes everything more confusing...and she doesn't really answer our questions. Oh, well. It's okay because the lectures are good.

The highlight of this week was going into town on Wednesday with Carolyn, and buying some presents for my sister. I also got my hair done, which I desperately needed. Why is going to a salon always so therapeutic?! I've been homesick, and it was just heaven. Some conversation and a good head massage.

Funny story. Last night, I went to throw my trash out, and I ended up throwing both my trash and my keys in the dumpster. A lot of cursing ensued.

I also went to a party in a flat next door last night, but it turned out to be a bit awkward since none of us really knew each other. I stayed for a little while, but ended up coming back to the flat and hanging out there. Later, Jude came back to show me and Carolyn his special spot on campus. :)

Tonight is Bonfire Night in the UK, and I'm excited! I'm going into town tonight to participate in all the festivities. They have guided walks, storytelling, arts and crafts and lantern making workshop, and music. Plus, fireworks. Yeaaaaah.

On Sunday, I will be taking a daytrip to Liverpool with Carolyn. Huzzah! I will finally spend some time outside of Lancaster.

This means, I must do work now. But there will be many pictures following this weekend.

Cheers! :)

EPIC FAIL XD

Thursday (Oct. 20)

I made 닭죽 (Chicken Porridge) for the first time and it turned out pretty delicious.  Carolyn said it was really good!  I was pretty proud of myself.

She and I spent a while in the kitchen (why does Korean food always take so much longer to make?), with her playing music and us singing along.

Carolyn, Cíara and I made an attempt to finish watching Tangled.  I think we ended up finishing this time.  It took nearly 4 nights because internet here is terrible.

There was one night we also watched the Princess Bride.  I fell in love all over again.  I love that movie.

Friday (Oct. 21)

I had class aaallllll day.

I came back from class to get my mail and I got my letter from Justin!  It made me very happy.  I am currently working on sending something awesome back.  I ended up decorating with the things he sent me.

Friday night was actually really lame.  Carolyn and I went to the library because I needed to print things and she had books to pick up.  I am so excited to have things printed out!  Yay!

I could sense Carolyn probably needed some alone time...so I went to go bug Shaun to play F1. I have no idea how long we played.  We ended up watching The King's Speech, which I love, and messing around on Google Maps.  And talking to Kirsten on Skype.

I don't think I went to bed until at least 4am.  I just miss that girl so much!  And I don't like not being able to talk to her every day.  I miss our intellectual conversations on life and people and the way she says my name...Hehe.  Just kidding. :-P

But I really do miss all my friends and my family.  I was a little homesick on Thursday.

Saturday (Oct. 22)

Carolyn and I were supposed to go to Sheffield today and it didn't work out.  We got up, and there weren't even any buses that went out early enough to catch our train.  Ridiculous.  We had a little misadventure taking a different train to Preston, buying some breakfast and magazines, and coming back to Lancaster to sleep and do work.  Carolyn had to text Zhen for the times to get back on the next train.  We will be sending in our billion tickets to try and get a refund.

This makes me incredibly happy right now

Life isn't perfect.  It's full of imperfections and that's what makes it interesting. :)



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! :)

Hooky

Sorry I've been skipping out on writing!  It's late now and I really should get to bed.  But I'll have a new, exciting entry tomorrow! :)

Ring the Alarm

Looking back now, yesterday was quite eventful.  I was thinking about it and yesterday feels like ages ago!

I had just 2 classes yesterday.  A Gender and Women's Studies lecture at 1pm, and then a Creative Writing seminar (discussion) at 3pm.  I felt a little guilty for being so tired during my first class.  I started to do that thing where you catch yourself drifting off and wake yourself up.  I don't even now if my notes are legible...I'm too scared to check.

Creative Writing is the one class I was really excited for!  I went and it was a smaller group of students.  The professor seems really nice too.  She hates American rom-coms just as much as I do!  Haha.  Although, I have to admit that I like watching them every once in a while.  I met some friends in that class. I think I've got most of their names down too.  I sat next to Tom who seemed pretty excited about me being American.  He said he could tell.  Hee.  He wanted to be Facebook friends, but I couldn't find him.

After class, I came back to do...absolutely nothing.  Honestly, I don't even know what I was doing in my room for the next few hours.  I just remember Greg coming to my door asking if I wanted to go to the Beer and Ale Society meeting with him.  Heck yes!  He and Shaun went first to meet up with Jack at County Bar (it's on the north side of campus), and Jude and I waited for Carolyn to get ready.

When we got there, there were a lot of people, but most of them were guys.  I think, now, I want to join just because of that fact.  Because ladies can drink too.

The flatmates + Jack started walking back because the society was moving their party to the Grad Bar (it's past Grizedale, on the far south side of campus).  Carolyn, Jude, and I decided we wanted to get work done at the library.  We were there reading for a while...maybe an hour and half?  But I started drifting off into sleep again.  I don't know how much of my reading I have actually retained, but I'll find out tonight!

The library was funny.  I was sitting in the reading room at a desk, when Jude turns around and tells me that there's going to be a loud alarm in about 3 minutes.  He tells me he just wanted to let me know, and not to freak out because it's loud and it can be scary the first time.  Haha.  So we didn't tell Carolyn and this loud voice comes out from the speakers letting the whole world know that the library was going to close in half an hour.  I had quite a good laugh.

Today, I slept in till 11:30am, got dressed, and went into town with Carolyn.  We went and did some shopping, and got groceries.  Ahhh...they have Topshop here and I nearly died.  I just wanted to buy everything.  There was this other store, River Island, that had a 10% discount for students.  Gah.  I wish I had a million pounds just to shop.  I ended up just buying a pair of earrings and a necklace from this store called Accessorize (and with the student discount, the necklace was basically free!), and then another pair of earrings at Claire's plus a ring.

We got back at around 5pm, so we spent a good part of the day out and about.  It was really nice! :)

Now, I'm in my room, everyone is quiet (studying, I think?), except outside I can hear all these people yelling at the bar.  Hehe.  It's fun.  I wish I could join them, but I should really work on my short story/creative writing piece and my assignment for my Global Identity class that I'm taking through the U.  Today was a nice day off, but tomorrow I only have 1 class (Creative Writing lecture) at 1pm, and then I have to go to the rescheduled showing of that movie, Adaptation, that we didn't get to see on Monday.  I wonder if the professor wanted me to take care of that?  I guess that means I have one more thing to do on my list of things to do tonight.  Busy, busy, busy...I hope everyone is well!

Oh, and for anyone reading this...you should comment!  It's nice hearing from you, and it's motivating for me if I have people who are actually interested in what's going on over here.  Anyone should be able to comment, even just anonymously.  So pass it along!

Cheers! :)

Lancaster University, Week 1

I'm proud of myself for getting everything to fit!

Saturday (Oct. 1)

I woke up really nervous!  I was scared because even though I've been away from home for long periods of time before, I was never really by myself.  I always had family to rely on, and I was extra scared because I would have to adjust to a culture I wasn't familiar with.

My flight was at 2:30pm so I showed up at around noon.  My mom dropped me off but she left me and my sister to meet up with my cousin to have lunch there and send me off.  I was so nervous, I was afraid I'd throw up if I had anything to eat -- so I just ordered a wrap and salad with fries.  I was actually really sad about leaving Minnesota because of the gorgeous fall we were having.  I wanted to stay and go to the apple orchard, hang out with my friends outside with the smell of leaves all around us...I've always loved fall, but I never knew how much until I had to leave!

Minnesota Fall

Arriving in Atlanta was the easy part.  Getting from Atlanta to Manchester was even scarier.  It finally really hit me how far away I was going.  I could already hear everyone's accents and it was just a really crazy moment for me.  And I'm used to long flights and 14-hour jet-lag, but I was still scared, nervous, and really excited.  There was just so much anticipation.  I just had no idea what to expect.

Sunday (Oct. 2)

I arrived in Manchester airport on Sunday at around 8am.  That flight took forever and it took a lifetime just get through the border.  There was a huge line.  I think it took me 45 minutes.  It took me a while to find the bus that was supposed to take me to Lancaster University, but when I showed up, everyone was really nice and very helpful, as was everyone at the school when I arrived.

After I got settled into my room, I totally passed out.  I was sleeping when I heard a knock on my door, and it was just a few of my flatmates going around meeting everyone.  It was really nice, because I've always felt really awkward first meeting people.  They made it easy for me!  I have 7 other flatmates: Carolyn, Simone(?), Cíara, Zhen, Greg, Jude, and Shaun.  They are all really nice people.  It's a mix of exchange students and UK students.  Carolyn is from Buffalo, NY and Zhen is from China/Canada.  I haven't talked a lot with Simone, but she's from Brooklyn, NY.

Later that night, a few of us sat around in Greg's room chatting, drinking beer and wine, and attempting to watch There's Something About Mary.  Ahh...they drink a lot here!  Not to get drunk or anything, but they drink often.  It's fun and I love it.  It's different from college in the US because I feel like most kids don't actually know how to drink.  They get to that drunk point, and then drink more.  It never made sense to me.  I think kids here know how to drink more responsibly.

Monday (Oct. 3)
Today was the beginning of Freshers' Week and exchange student orientation stuff.  Basically, we were getting talked at all day about registering for classes, campus facilities, Students Union, college residence officers, International Student Support, history of Lancaster, etc.  It was so hard getting out of bed.  I got up at 9:25am and had to be in the building that is literally 20 ft from my flat.  So I took my time getting ready.

Zhen and I decided we would walk to the library during one of our breaks to register and get our student IDs -- because without it we had no access to internet.  I thought I was going to die.  It was so annoying!  We had to stand in line for nearly and hour and a half.  Ridiculous I tell ya.  We missed out on all the talks in between our break and lunch.  When we got back, Zhen and I found Carolyn to get lunch at Wong's Chinese restaurant.  It was really comforting.  They had all these Snoopy figurines -- they were adorable!

After lunch, the three of us went back to finish up getting talked at, and at the end we had cakes and tea (with milk!) like real Brits.  Then we headed back to our rooms to get ready to go into town with Cíara.  She is so sweet for taking us.  She has her car on campus, so she drove us into town to get groceries and other essentials.  We went into Sainsbury's and Wilkinson (which I think is like Target).

That night, we went out for pub golf on campus!  Colleges are different here.  It's not really separated into areas of study, it's more just a way to not get lost in the crowd (even though there are only about 12,000 students here).  There are 8 colleges here: Lonsdale, Fylde, County, Pendle, Bowland, Furness, Cartmel, and Grizedale.  I'm in Grizedale. :)

Each college has its own bar.  Like I said, they're serious about drinking here.  All the flatmates went out together (minus Simone), and it was just like bar hopping, except there was a 'par' for a specific drink at each college.  We started out at Lonsdale, I think, then the Graduate bar, and finished off at Grizedale.  I'm not actually positive that we only went to those 3, but I'm sticking with that for now!  Grizedale bar is really nice.  I really like it.  Although I think the Grad bar is my favorite.  I may be biased because everyone else was talking about how it was the best, but I really think that out of all the ones I went to that night, it was my favorite and definitely the most memorable.  My flatmates said it was the one that was most like a real bar, and I would have to agree.  It's small and cozy and not well-lit.  I haven't had that much to drink in a long time, but I had so much fun!  Everyone is really friendly and drama-free.  I don't know if it will always be that way throughout term, but it was nice going out with people who didn't get mad at each other for doing stupid things like my old friends did back at home.

We all came back and hung out in the kitchen until the early hours of the morning.  I love nights like this!  I think at home, I felt really lonely being around people and having "shallow" friendships.  At home, I feel like I have friends, just not ones that I can call up and sit around with.  Maybe it's just me, but I feel like people are more genuinely nice here, not just "Minnesota nice."

Tuesday (Oct. 4)

Today was registration day...and I don't really feel like talking about it or reliving it.  It was awful.  To keep it short, I waited in a huge line for about 2 hours, ran around trying to find the different departments to get into seminars, and ended up only getting to one.  This campus is really confusing to me because there aren't big, separate buildings like the U of M has.  It feels like they're all kind of intertwined with each other.

After that little adventure, I was so tired from running around that I passed out again.  I fear that Carolyn is already catching on to my strange sleeping habits...Hee.

I woke up later to watch Bridesmaids with the girls (minus Simone, plus Jude) in Cíara's room.  But I fell asleep watching that too.  I think I still have jet-lag or something because I can stay up till 4am but I cannot for the life of me get up at 10am.  Oh, wait.  That's normal for me.

Wednesday (Oct. 5)
I woke at noon to go see all the department heads that I couldn't meet with the day before -- and they weren't there.  Again.  Registering for classes has probably been the biggest pain in the butt so far.  I skipped out on all the orientation stuff for the day, and hung out with Carolyn watching SNL and doing our nails.  And that night -- you probably guessed already -- we went out to a club!  I went with some of the flatmates again.  Cíara invited some of her friends over and we chatted, did some pre-drinking in the kitchen.  Jude, troublemaker he his, started messing with the light above the table in the kitchen.  It was full of nasty wasps!  I was scared it was going to rain wasps on us...it was the most disgusting thing ever.  He shook out all the bugs out the window, but it took a while to get the fixture back on.  Hee.  I haven't laughed that hard in a while.  It was hilarious and so gross.

Mint

We took a taxi to a club in town called Mint (I think?).  The taxi was super affordable!  I mean, granted there were 6 of us pitching in, but still.  It was maybe $1.50 each?  After a while at Mint, we migrated over to Sugarhouse which is a Lancaster University nightclub.  The place was huge!  There were 2 rooms and loud music.


Jude, Cíara, Carolyn and I took a double decker back to the Uni.  Jude and some other boys sitting in the back of the bus showed Carolyn and me how to play "backseat of the bus."  Unfortunately, I don't have any photos...only video.  :)



We ended up grabbing some individual pizzas at Pizzetta Republic on campus before heading back to our flat.  It was sooo good!  I tried it with garlic mayo and it sounds kind of weird but it was amazing.

Margherita personal pizza

Thursday (Oct. 6)
Yay!  It's Shaun's birthday! :)


Cíara bought a card for all the flatmates to sign and give to Shaun for his 21st birthday.  Carolyn and I spotted some decorations at Central, a convenience store under our flat, and she decorated his door with balloons and a banner.


This was the day that I finally got registration under control.  It was crazy, and intense, but I got through it.  I ended up waking up at noon again and skipping the Freshers' Fair.  Honestly, I did not want to have to wait in that huge line.  It was so long!  I wasn't even going to try. 

Beer at Grad bar

I spent some alone time in my room to phone home and figure out my courses and such.  That night, a few of us went to the Grad bar to celebrate Shaun's birthday.  It was me, Carolyn, Zhen, Cíara, Greg and Jude that went to meet Shaun and his friends there.  We got to sit in this cozy little corner with our beers and chat about traveling, Thanksgiving, and our different accents.  It was a merry time.


On our way back to the flat, Greg grabbed a stool that was sitting out. Hehe.  It is an ugly thing and we still have it sitting in the kitchen.  We stayed up in the kitchen until Janet skyped me and chatted with some of the boys in my room -- she kept gushing over their accents.  I was surprised they even talked to her for so long.  She was so excited. It was sweet. :)


Friday (Oct. 7)

I went into town with Carolyn and Zhen to get more food for the week from Sainsbury's.  And I found an Asian food market!  Apparently, there are two, but I'm just happy I found one.

Ahhh...I drank so much last night.  It's the most I've had in a really long time.  But it wasn't my fault!  I'm really bad at games, and drinking games are even worse.  I kept losing...it was awful.  I felt pretty crappy this morning, but I'm feeling alright now.  A little hungry and embarrassed, but alright.

Saturday (Oct. 8)

Surprisingly, I woke up pretty early today.  I got up at around 9 to take a long, hot shower because after last night, it was much needed.  But then as soon as I got back to my room, I fell asleep again.  Old habits die hard.  I got up, started this blog entry while listening to some John Mayer (FTW!).  It took me foreverrrr.  If you read it all and got this far -- THANK YOU.  Hopefully, it was worth the effort.  If you want more details on what I'm up to, just leave some comments and I'll try to answer back in the next blog entry.

Now...it is 7:40pm and I don't think I've had anything to eat all day.  I am lazy and I miss home.  Sooo...I think I will make some of the 짜짱면 that I bought yesterday.  Yay!

Cheers! :)