Finally the end

Ok, so I'm finally posting about my last two weeks in London. I've been home for a week now, but I need to write about stuff and finish off the report of my adventure. It's a good thing I keep a nightly journal, or I'd never be able to remember everything. I actually started a new journal just 10 days before I left London, so they majority of my adventure is in one, but not the end.

The week of the first was pretty normal, work etc. I finished the image research for a book about the many wonderful uses of bicarbonate of soda, which is the second of three books that I did all of the image research for. I had to say goodbye to my institute teacher on Thursday because I had the thing for school the last Thurs in London, and it was harder than I thought. Don't get me wrong, the people in my branch in IA are great, but I'm really going to miss the community of Saints in London, like the fact that there are actually people my own age. Institute was cool too, getting to learn from someone who is so smart and knows so much about the gospel. I'm going to miss that.

I had to give a presentation on Friday connecting something in my internship to my academic studies, which is a surprisingly stupid task for and English major in a nonfiction publishing internship. With Dad's help, I came up with a presentation that equated the precision and care of crafting fiction to the work I put into selecting images for the books I work on. I had a powerpoint of a few examples of images that I liked and corresponding ones that I didn't, of sink drains and toilets. I think people really liked it, which was good because I was really worried about it being stupid and unacademic. Friday night we went to our last London play, Twelfth Night at the same theatre where Molly and I saw Ivanov. The production was good (with Derek Jacobi as Malvolio) but it was a very safe and perhaps flat interpretation.

Saturday the sixth I went on a grand walk around London; I really just wanted to walk around and soak the city up. I started at our flat near Regent's Park and walked down to Oxford Street, from there to Charing Cross. Then I noodled around Covent Garden for a bit, shopping etc, and then took Whitehall to Westminster, where I crossed the river and followed it all the way back to the Globe. Then I recrossed to St Paul's and walked for a while until I got tired, and then tubed back to Oxford St, shopped there a bit, and walked home. I calculated later that I had walked around 6 miles, and it was an unusually gorgeous day.

Sunday was chill: I ignored my paper and started packing. I didn't have to say goodbye to church peeps because we decided to have a goodbye party on Tuesday. Before that was my birthday on Monday. I had to work for most of the day, but the night before we stayed up until midnight and took a picture of the clock, which in military time read 0:00. I think that is the coolest time. It's like New Year's every night. Anyway, after work we went out to dinner to a delicious risotto restaurant. Dad and Kathleen surprised me with a package sent from Harrods of cocoa mix and biscuits and I had a bunch of wall posts from friends and I got to talk to everyone in my family; it was a good birthday, I felt very loved. I can't believe I'm 21! So old.

Tuesday for the goodbye party we had planned to meet at Hard Rock Cafe, but I ended up being really late. I got there 45 minutes late, and I was still the first one, except for one of my friends who had come and gone already. So we ended up going to Katherine and Leslie's and just ordering pizza and hanging out. It was tough to say goodbye to people, but I was so lucky to have friends there.

Thankful for the Long Weekend

Last week was good. The first part was normal, just work etc., but I got Thanksgiving off and I had a great long weekend. Thursday morning I went grocery shopping and there was just this holiday feeling in the air even if they don't celebrate Thanksgiving here. It's probably just me, but it felt very fresh and bustly and Christmasy. For dinner, three of my flatmates and I went to Professor Vinter's house, which was just great. I had wanted to make sure that I didn't just spend Thanksgiving hanging out like a normal day, and going to Vinter's worked out just right. She provided the turkey and everyone brought a side dish or a dessert. I made dad's sweet potatoes and they turned out pretty well, considering I was doing it from memory sans recipe, except I got a brown sugar/sweet potato stain on one of my sweatshirts (who knew that was even possible? I didn't). There were about 30 students at dinner, we were all crouching in corners with our plates, but it was a really fun time.

I'm thankful for a lot of things this year. I'm in London, having the best time, I have a new healthy beautiful baby niece, my family's all doing well (despite the obvious crushing missing of me), I have great friends, and I'm going home soon at (I think) just the right time. A good year.

Friday morning I went shopping with Erin. We had the best time shopping and being silly, it was really fun. I had wanted to buy something cool for myself before I go back to the states, a coat was what I had in mind, so we shopped along Oxford St for a while. I must have driven Erin crazy because I'm not good at committing to buying things; I shop and look and pine, but don't buy. I ended up getting a pair of really cool chucks ("Chucks would put you at the next level of cool" -Ben), but no coat. Well, I went out the next morning and bought a coat we'd looked at, red wool, and a super cute hat. Saturday I also went to Portabello Rd. Market with Beth and got some general stuff for me and not for me. Both of these days I didn't get very much done on my paper that's due on Wed. grrr.

Sunday was good, second to last church! Study Abroad really is a weird thing, that we go somewhere completely new and establish a life there, but then bag it up and head home after only a few months. Very odd. Overall, though, I must admit that I do want to go home; I had a long conversation with Ben Saturday night and it reminded me how much I miss him. Of course I'm going to miss London, and I'd love more time here without school work keeping me from everything I want to do, but home will be really nice.

Miss you guys,

See you soon!

New Niece and Thoughts on the Return

I have a new neice! She's tiny and beautiful and wonderful and I can't wait to meet her. She is one of the many things complicating the fact that I'm leaving London in three weeks. I am managing to have two extreme, conflicting emotions at once. I am really excited to go home, hold Amelia, watch movies with Ben, bug my parents, drive my car, all those great things. But at the same time I am extremely sad that this abroad adventure is ending. I really do like it here, living in the middle of the city and having so much awesome stuff at my fingertips. I think this is the best position to be in, though, because it means that both places, London and home, are both awesome. If I wasn't both sad and excited it would mean that I wasn't happy in one of those places.

I had a pretty good week, full of work and stressing/working on my big paper. At work I'm researching pictures for a book on cleaning tips. This, in comparison to researching Morocco, is boring. I mean really, who wants to look at hundreds of pictures of showerheads or car tires or carpet? But I am doing something important for the production of the book, which is a cool feeling. I went to a couple of libraries this week to do research for my paper, and it was fun exploring around with a map to find these different places. Now I actually have to read my sources, oh, and write the paper. Ugh. I'd really much prefer just enjoying my last few weeks in London. Thanks, Grinnell.

On Friday I got to go to the London temple, which was pretty cool. Going to the temple gives you such a feeling of peace and rightness. I love it. Yesterday I hung out with some church peeps; we ate chinese food and played sardines in our six story church building. Tons of fun.

I know this is a really short entry, but there really isn't that much to report in my life. See you all soon! (whether that is too soon or not soon enough, I have no coherent opinion).

Love,

Musing

Hey people, sorry it's been a while. I've tried to write before, but my life is kind of boring right now so there just wasn't much to say. My days are full of doing very interny things at work, not that much interesting stuff to report on that front. Once I get home I don't really want to do anything, mostly just watch the Office. I don't want to grow up and do this whole working all day thing, although at school I'd have classes, work, and then homework all evening, but it's not as exhausting because class is intermitent, work is short, and homework is followed by hanging out with friends. The reality that this adventure is ending is beginning to sink it as I passed the one month mark until I come home. I miss my family and my friends, but I really like it here and I've made friends here too and I don't want to leave. It will be good to be home too, though; I've started listing all the reasons I'm looking forward to going home.

In lieu of current events to write about, I think I'll muse on an issue I've been thinking about lately. For a long time I've said that I want to be an editor, but lately I've reconsidered this plan. For one thing, what I see editors doing at my company is not what I want to do, and while I want to work in publishing and not the nonfiction that Flame Tree does, I still have doubts. A couple days ago I was watching Elizabethtown and there was one scene that really struck me. The main character was at the viewing for his father who had just died and the actor just made the moment amazing through the most minute changes in his posture. By imperceptable degrees, he hunched his shoulders, an action which not only made him look more tentative and vulnerable in itself, but it also made the sleeves of his sports coat inch down on his fists, which made him look like a little boy in clothes too big for him. At other points in the movie there are flashbacks of him with his father when he was just a kid and it just made the moment so poignant. I want to find a career that takes advantage of the fact that I notice and love things like this. It would mean a move from a difficult to get into industry (publishing) to one even more so, and I hope I never say the phrase "make it in movies," but you never know.

I'm sure I'm giving all of my parents a heartattack with that comment, and my film studies brother, but hey, I'm finding myself in London, right? Who knows where I'll end up; I'm almost halfway through my third year of college and the real world is looming. Frankly, I'm terrified. I crave more safe years of school without having to think about my real future. Maybe that's why everyone goes to grad school.

Probably not the "this is what I did this day" you were expecting.

I want to wish my brother a happy birthday and thank him for being my best friend. Ben, you are one of the hardest things about being in this country. I miss you and I hope you have the best birthday (and that you enjoy your London present). I can't wait to watch movies with you on the couch at home and listen to music together. I love you.

Good night

Starting the Internship and Actually Being a Social Animal

Lots of stuff to report on this week, mainly 1) the beginning of my internship and 2) my crazy busy weekend.

1)
The first day was rather overwhelming, as first days tend to be. I’m doing my internship in a company of about two dozen people and I don’t appear to have a direct supervisor, so my services are pretty much up for grabs. I worked on projects for five different people my first day, most of them in my department (which appears to be basically the editing area) but not all of my tasks fell under that umbrella. Some of the tasks I did last week were to:
- write polite rejection letters to people who sent in unsolicited manuscripts
- editing the format of a huge guitar book
- removing all of the english from four books so that they could be printed in dutch with the same picture format
- creating barcodes
- updating a database of freelance editors, authors, proofreader, and indexers ( Flame tree itself does not appear to employ these types of positions but instead hires on a short term basis as need arises.)
- Americanizing a couple of annotated tables of contents
- organizing and downloading images for several calendars (In this company at least, the selection of what images correspond to which month is not the intricate and scientific process I had thought it was. It is, in fact, the first task given to the new intern on her very first day. )

The workplace is for the most part one large room divided into sections for the various departments. Everywhere where there isn’t a desk (and there are lots of them) is a bookshelf crammed with Flame Tree publications; the bookshelf across from my desk is filled with books in other languages. There is music playing all the time, louder in some places of the office, a varied mix of easy listening with some more funk and hip hop tunes wedged in. The brits drink an amazing amount of tea. I was probably offered tea of coffee by four different people half a dozen times before they realized that I don’t drink either, and that wasn’t the last time they asked each other. My desk is on the fringe of the editing area, next to a guy named Jordi; I cannot for the life of me figure out what he does. It’s interesting how into the American elections the brits are. A lot of my coworkers were asking me about it and I noticed multiple conversations about Obama and McCain.

You already got the wonderful blow by blow of my election experience. The next day I went out and bought four different newspapers because I was so excited that Obama was on the front page of all of them. So exciting. Wednesday night we watched V for Vendetta, as it was the fifth of November and that movie is so centered on that day and Guy Fawkes.

2)
This week was aparently the week to have a million church activities - I didn't go to them all and I still had a really busy week. For the last three nights I haven't gotten home before 11 - pretty amazing for little old me. Institute on Thursday as usual. There was a dance on Friday, but I didn't go. I gave it a try last time and it's just not my cup of tea. I shouldn't be surprised, I've never been one for huge crowds of people. Instead I went to the house of a couple of my church friends (the same one's whose house I ate at a few weeks ago) and we watched a movie. It was really fun to hang out with them and nice to do something other than just watch a movie in the flat. Saturday was very full - I'm becoming quite the social butterfly. It started with going to Quantum of Solace (which was awesome!) with some friends from church. There was a talent show at church that night, so instead of going home just to turn right back around, I went to Katherine and Leslie's again with Trey and we all played monopoly. Oh yeah, mormons know how to have a good time. That evening we headed over to the church for the talent show, which was basically exactly what you would expect from a church talent show - various female singers, a euphonium, a guy drinking water, some really random and odd dancing, and two guys on guitar hero, among other things. Today was a pretty normal sunday - avoiding work and going to church. As part of our internships we have to take a class that includes a BUNCH of stupid work that we were not warned about. That's what I was avoiding. I also finally found a way to watch the office online, so there was that too. I am amazingly tired right now, which is unfortunate because I should have spent the weekend resting up for the week, not getting more tired. Ah well.

I hope all is well in the first western country to elect a black president!

Miss you guys

Report from the Middle of the Storm

It is a quarter to midnight here, making it almost 6 in the evening at home. I am conducting an experiment as I wait for the election results in my jammies. I went to bed at about 8 and set my alarm for 11:30. My plan is to then to go back to sleep after I find out what way the world is going. I am so scared and hyper and hopeful. This is truly an historic evening.

Back to my record of the Wales adventure. Tuesday. We spent this day in Conwy, exploring and shopping. It rained a lot, of course, but we were well dressed and ended up having a pretty good time with it, I think. We went to the castle, which was pretty cool, and then spent most of the afternoon shopping at the little shops in town. I keep buying things, and thinking I'm spending too much, but the things I buy are usually for other people. I need to figure out how to buy souvenirs for myself. After shopping we went back to the hostel in an attempt to regain feeling in our feet, and then headed back out again for a while. Conwy, like many other Welsh towns built by Edward way back in the 1200's, has town walls that go all the way around the original town. Most of the circut is open for pedestrians, so we hiked around lots of that. It was really fun and pretty, due in part to the hail that fell throughout much of the walk. I'm really glad mom and I stayed positive (and even a little silly) in the crumby weather. We ate at a little Indian restaurant that was quite tasty and then turned in early once again.

They've called projections for Kentucky (McCain) and Vermont (Obama). Lots of other states are taking longer to report than was expected (yet, this is expected).

Just called S. Carolina (McCain).

Wednesday we took a roundabout bus route to a town called Betws-y-Coed, which was significantly more touristy than Conwy. It was also, amazingly, rainier and colder. We went on a hike in the mountains and got pretty much completely soaked, but I still think we had a good time. Mom's knee was bugging her, which made the experience less enjoyable for her, and the issue continued to plague her the whole time she was here. I hope she is feeling better now. Slogging in the mud was fun-

Just called Pennsylvania. OBAMA!

-but once we got back to the hostel, we couldn't bring ourselves to put back on our soggy shoes. So once again we ate at the hostel.

Now might be a good time to mention that I'm following the election through BBC on TV as well as CNN, MSNBC, and Reuters online, at this point. At this point: McCain 34, Obama 103. Keep it up.

Thursday is what we would call a bust. It was the day of missing trains. We did have a good time in the morning though; we visited Caernarfon and saw another totally cool castle. This one was in much better shape and had tons of cool passageways all through the walls etc. We had a really good time racing up to the tops of the turrets with our backpacks to take pictures and then back down because it was so cold. It was after leaving this town that we kind of started to fail. We took a bus to a town called Porthmadog where we had wanted to catch a scenic narrow-gauge train that mom had heard about. Well, we got off at the normal train station and then discovered that we actually wanted to be at a different train station across town. By the time we got there, we'd missed the train, and of course, by the time we got back to the normal train station, we had missed the train to our next hostel town too. So we hiked back across town to the information center to get the train/buses figured our to get to our hostel and then waited at the train station for our train. By the time we got to the hostel (which involved a train change in a town I can't spell) we were once again exhausted and just ready for bed. The day kind of disappeared in travel.

Friday was our last day in Wales. We had a hearty breakfast at the hostel and then left for a hike along the coast. The plan was to take our backpacks and hike to the next town over where we would catch the train to leave Wales. The hike was something like 7 miles and we were told it would take about two hours. With our backpacks and mom's knee, it ended up taking us 4 hours. We had planned to get to the destination town two hours before our train was scheduled to depart. We got there with 10 minutes to spare. (I prayed really hard for both of us and it worked.) That train took us all the way to Shrewsbury, where we ate dinner and then waited (for a long time) for our train back to London. It was so great to be back in the flat.

2:00 am, 15 states polls close. Results: McCain 76 Obama 175. We're getting there.

Saturday was another day in London. In the morning we went to Borough Market and wandered around there. I think Mom had a good time exploring the crowded market and we bought some tasty goodies. After that we returned once again to Thorntons to get a final stock of delicious toffees. We had tickets to a matinee of the Lion King and it was absolutely amazing. The first song was so inspiring and stimulating that it made me cry. The show was just so cool. I'm so glad we got a chance to see it, in London, and that I got to see it with mom. After that we went back to the flat and then ate dinner at an Indian restaurant near home.

Oh my goodness, BBC just called Ohio in favor of Obama. This is amazing. This should be it.

Dropping Mom off at the airport on Sunday morning was tough, but we had such a great week. I'm so glad she came, it was so wonderful. Church was good that afternoon. It was good to be back after not having been there for a week and a half. I love church.

3:00 am. Obama gets IA. (McCain 135, Obama 207)

4:00 am. Polls close on the west coast. Obama wins CA and Washingon.

OBAMA WINS! We have elected our first black president. I have so much joy in my heart at this moment. This is it, this is the first step towards change.

Good morning. To more than just November 5.

A Wales of a Tale

Me and my puns. Forgive me.

Hello People! Welcome to part one of me catching up on my blog. Tonight you will be treated to the Wales adventure, followed by the report of my internship that I know you are all dying for in the next couple days.

Mom arrived safely last Saturday. It was so exciting to go to the airport and pick her up - I had been so focused on the end of classes, both my sadness that they were over and my stressing over finals, that I kind of forgot to be excited so it all came at once right around Friday. We stopped off at the flat and then wandered down to the Charing Cross area and Covent Gardens. We discovered that that was one of the places we had gone when we were here four years ago. We went to the toffee place and got treats for others, but sadly, those didn't make it very loud (we ate them). We ate dinner at a risotto restaurant on my way to school that has always intrigued me. We had shared two different kinds; one of them was butternut squash with sage and it was one of the most delicious things I have tasted. I am definitely going to have to go back there.

Sunday was full of more brisk wandering - no church, sorry. First we went back to the West End to buy tickets to the Lion King for the next Saturday. It rained torrentially. Foreshadowing? For lunch we went back to the Pakistani restaurant where we ate for my globo class; I had wanted to take mom there and I'm so glad I did, even if it involved a little nervous adventuring. I love London because you can get on the tube and get off in what seems like another world. In a matter of minutes we left the theatre district of the West End and stepped out next to a mosque where we could hear chanted prayers. Totally cool. The food was of course to die for once again. After that end of the world, we went to Camden Market, which let me tell you is even more alien than the last neighborhood. I never would have thought that I would walk down a street and look into shops with rows of two foot neon bongs. Totally bizzare. I did buy a cool hoodie though, that is in no way related to bongs.

Monday morning we left for Wales. We got into Chester, the first leg of our journey, around lunch time. We decided to check out the town a bit, but the weather was cruddy and it made us rather grumpy. Luckily, it improved sufficient for us to enjoy a walk on the town walls and some pasties. The next train was the one to Conwy, where we were staying for three nights. Unfortuantely, the stop for Conwy was "request only," so we had to alert the conductor that we wanted to get off there. One glich in the system was, however, that WE COULD NOT FIND THE CONDUCTOR. Mom literally went up and down the whole train more than once and he was hiding, I swear. He turned up just in time for us to get off though, but at that point we were both exhausted from the stress of a day of traveling. That, coupled with the premature darkness brought on by daylight savings last Saturday night, made us rather lethargic once we reached the hostel tired and soggy. We had planned to go back into town for dinner, but we ended up staying in, eating at the hostel, and going to bed at 9:00. Disgusting, but delicious.

Ok, I know I made bold promises, but I'm tired and I'm going to bed. I am so stressed about the election. I'm not sure what I'm going to do tomorrow, but it will probably involve me being up at 3 in the morning. I just found out that Obama's grandmother died. How sad, and oddly timely. She believes we have it in the bag -COME ON THE REST OF AMERICA. THIS IS THE MOST INTENSE LARGE SCALE THING I'VE EVER EXPERIENCED. LOOK AT THIS, I NEVER WRITE IN ALL CAPS BUT I'M SO STRESSED/SCARED/HYPER/ELATED/NERVOUS/HOPEFUL/EVERTHING ELSE THAT THERE IS NO OTHER WAY TO EXPRESS THE YELLING IN MY BRAIN.

Ok, I've calmed down a bit now. Go Obama!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

GOODNIGHT

Finals Week and the Arrival of Mom

I'm going to stop apologizing when it takes me forever to post. Just a fact of life we must accept. Last week was the last week of classes for phase 1 of my program. Now I'm at the beginning of a week off and then I'll start and internship for the last 6 weeks. I can't believe we're already this far through the semester! Unreal.

Last week was kind of crazy. I had a globo essay due on Friday, and I tried to get started on it early, but the week was instead a rather stunning example of my procrastination skills including several sudoku and an hour and a half long IM chat with Ben. Needless to say I didn't get to the paper until Thursday night, when I stayed up until 4 to get it done. Don't worry, I slept in the next day. I think the paper actually turned out rather well, but we'll have to see what someone who actually knows politics thinks about it :). Thursday during the day was also the inclass essay tests for my other two classes, so it was a really busy day. My lexicon was a quivering mass by the end of the night.

Now mom's here and it's just great. She got in yesterday and we explored around Covent Garden (which is a big market that is in fact largely devoid of plants) and around the West End theatre district. Today we went back to the West End to buy tickets for the Lion King (yay!) and then went to the Pakistani restaurant for lunch. It was totally delicious again and I'm really glad I got to take mom because I knew she'd like it. After lunch we went up to Camden Market, which was a huge mass of crowded stalls, but pretty fun. I got a cool hoodie that I'm excited about. We've come home just exhausted both nights and we really just chill all evening. Last night we went to a risotto restaurant that was absolutely delicious, but tonight I just cooked for us at home. I'm so glad she's here! Tomorrow we head off to Wales for another grand adventure.

Hope all is well in the States. Just over a week until the elections and Obama's up and climbing. Come on America!

Sleep Tight!

Quite the Week

I'm sorry I've been so erratic about posting. I assure you, you aren't missing anything - as my life becomes more busy it also becomes more homogenous, just filled with school. I've had the craziest week of frantic work. When last you heard of my life, it was Sunday I think and I was just about to jump off the diving board into the week. Monday I had globo, in which I made a couple of comments that I don't think were too stupid, a nice feeling in a class where I am often way over my head. We went to a play called A Disappearing Number, which was good, less than fabulous acting balanced by a psychologically stimulating script and a vistually interesting presentation. I was in a squirrely goofy mood afterwards, which is always fun, even if I don't get much done.

I've been feeling rather spiritually cloudy lately, and whatever you think, that's an important part of my happiness and stability, so I decided to listen to podcasts of old conference talks instead of music when I'm walking to class or on the tube. It appears to have the desired effect; I feel less isolated and weird. Tuesday we started talking about Macbeth. I was mostly just sad to be finished with Hamlet; I think I could talk about that play forever. I'm just not connecting with M. the same way I did with H. Tuesday night we went to another play, called the White Devil, written by one of Shakespeare's contemporaries, Webster. It was pretty good, although distinctly lacking in both acting and directing talent, and also further illuminated the genius of Shakespeare.

Wednesday was an odd day. We had a walking tour for globo, which was pretty much our prof leading us around the Brick Lane area and showing us the evidence that this area had seen many different cultures and races over the years. The best part was that the tour ended with the most delicious Pakistani restaurant-- mmm, so good. Wednesday afternoon I learned a particularly interesting lesson that I think Dad will particularly appreciate: I had a Shakespeare paper to write that I hadn't started yet because my weekend had been full of reading and the week full of school and plays. Well, I was rather bewitched by the paper, and completely zoned out a meeting I had at school about my internship. It wasn't a super big deal, I got the information later and everything, but it was still a pretty dumb things to do. Well, when I went into my prof's office to talk about what I missed, the first thing she did after I apologized profusely was tell me that she knew I wasn't the type to just blow stuff off and that she didn't hold it against me because I am normally so responsible. I really appreciated that, I value her opinion and I'm glad that good things that I strive to be are visible.

The paper: I spent Wednesday evening in its thrall, which was postively delightful. Sometimes a paper comes along that is just so fun to write. It was great to explore the text and make connections and use my vocabulary to express what I see. I don't know if the paper was any good, but my affection for it plays a close second to The Poe Paper. What I argued was that the famous "to be or not to be" speech was not just a debate of suicide, but also Hamlet trying to decide if he was going to fulfill his promise to his father's ghost and kill his uncle. I think the paper was rather scattered, but I ended up making some points about the end of the play and the overall meaning of the character of Hamlet that were kind of gutsy and fun.

I turned the paper in Thursday morning and later that afternoon we had our last walking tour for History of London, which we've done every week. I hate when classes end; I'm going to miss all of my classes (even globo- I don't mind being informed). I'm going to miss my profs and it's sad that I won't have another opportunity to take more classes from them because, well, they live in London. Institute Thrusday evening, pretty cool. Normally Thusday is like Friday because we don't have classes on actual Friday, but this week two extra things = a normal day of school. In the morning we went to the British Film Institute to watch a filming of a production of Macbeth. It was a little boring, but some of the actors were really good. After that we visited Anti-Slavery International for globo. That evening I looked at train tickets for mom and I as we figure out our fall break plans. I'm so glad she's coming!

Today Molly and I went to a production of Ivanov by Chekov, which was pretty amazing. Kenneth Branagh was Ivanov and Kevin McNally (Mr. Gibbs in Pirates) was in it too and did an amazing job with a well written character. Tonight I rediscovered Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. That movie is really amazing. Thank you Ben for making sure I took it with me. I love watching movies that I haven't seen for a while and seeing how they've shaped the way I think. The movie is about erasing memories and how even bad memories are worth having because they are part of life. One bit that has always stuck with me is a shot of a woman who wants to erase all memories of her dog from her memory; as much as I miss Skye and as much as that still hurts, I wouldn't trade the wonderful memories I have of her for anything. The movie is rated R, a few too many f-bombs, but really, it's so good.

I've been watching the election like a hawk - they do a really good job of covering it over here. Just over two weeks! Come on America, make the right choice (the right choice is Obama). COME ON!

Off to bed on some freshly washed sheets. Miss you guys.

Perfect Weather, Paper Writing and Tasty Dinners

Hamlet is such an amazing play. From what we've read in Shakespeare, I knew he was a master wordsmith, but Hamlet is above and beyond that to a scale that I'm not sure can be found anywhere else.

Tuesday was a very full day, two hours of Shakespeare, three hours of homework in the library and then another two hours of History of London. It's odd when the day doesn't end until 6:30, and then I still had a paper to write. I didn't really get much done on it Tuesday night, I was much more amenable to being distracted by my flatmates. I didn't have globo on Wednesday, so the whole of the day was given over to my History of London paper. For this, the only paper in the class, we had to explore a certain section of London, the actual 1-square-mile City rather than the rest, and compare it to a very complete survey of what that area, or ward, was like before the Great Fire, so early 1600's. The research itself was very interesting, wandering around my ward and noticing the little marks left by the guilds to show that they own the land on which the buildings rest. The paper, though, was hard to write and it amounted, for me at least, into pretty much a narrative catalogue of the characteristics of my ward and how they differed from what the older document described, both physically and in the general ethos of the area. But it's done and turned in - yea.

Thursday I was really tired, but I am a lot lately. I'm at that point in the semester (I probably said this before) that I just wake up tired. But fall break is coming, faster than I'd like to think, for all that it brings mom. Institute that night, a cool lesson, but an exhausting tube ride. I've discovered that I'm a pretty fair cook when it comes to making tasty things that will keep for a few days. Last week I made a huge amount of what was basically Chipotle filling - taco meat, black beans, sauted onions, and rice. It's good, but the shear volume of food I made has ensured that I'm rather sick of eating it at this point. Yesterday I bought some premade Indian Korma sause and combined it with shredded chicken and rice. Also quite tasty. So in case anyone was worried, I can feed myself :).

Friday my goal was to get started with the staggering level of reading I had to do, but also to enjoy the most beautiful weather we've had in a long time. I spent a lot of time outside, walking around the park and rediscovering places I ended up when I was lost last weekend. Fun movie watching with the flatmates, Sahara, with lots of laughing and expert commentary by yours truely. Saturday I was a little less productive on the homework scene. We visited a huge old cemetary (not really my cup of tea, but a couple flatmates really wanted to go) where Marx was buried. It wasn't a normal cemetary of rows of headstones, but a really old one so it had been largely given over to woods. Beth's word was meloncholoy to describe the crumbling headstones covered in ivy, which is very apt, and it turned out to be a nice afternoon wandering around in the woods. I miss the cabin. Last night I watched Garden State, which is just such a great movie. So many parts of it are so poignantly real and touching. Really a well done film.

Church today, like normal. Church sandwiched with the frantic reading of a novel for globo that I don't think I'll be able to finish be 10:30 tomorrow. Oh well, I tried and I read like 200 pages in 3 days. Sorry peeps, it's London. All told, a good weekend. I got a respectable amount of work done, but more importantly, I enjoyed the absolutely beautious weather. I hope all is well at home and I miss you guys loads!

Cheers!

Catching Up

It has been a really long time since I blogged! Busy life, but also the fact that I usually blog at night and lately, I've just wanted to go to bed. So this'll be an epic blog.

Institute started on Thursday, I'm taking the New Testament class, which looks to be interesting, although I'll be leaving before we hardly even get started. On Friday I explored an area of London after sleeping late. I have to write a paper for my History of London class comparing an old text describing London in the Tudor period and what I can see today. It's an interesting assignment and I enjoyed exploring around, but I don't know how I'm going to write 3-5 pages about it. We'll see. That night I went to my first ever church dance. It was pretty fun, dancing and stuff. I met some new people, which is always nice. It took a lot of courage for me to go, not my normal kind of thing, but I'm glad I did it.

Saturday was the rebroadcast of the General Relief Society meeting, but I realized that I would spend more time in transit than I would at the actual church building, so I just watched on my computer from my couch. After that I went for a really long walk; I got lost in Regent's Park and ended up on the top of a very high hill that I didn't even know was there. I saw two Leonbergers and they were just beautiful. Two hours later I finally get home, but it was quite lovely briskly wandering nowhere. Sunday was General Conference, but I didn't get to go watch it because we had a field trip for Globo. In retrospect, I probably would go to Conference next time, because the field trip was a football game that was a ways out of central London, but it was still fun. I can always watch Conference online anyway - I'm so glad. Today we went to another play, another absurdist piece that in my opinion didn't have a point. At least is wasn't as offensive and corrosive as the last one.

Classes have been going well lately - I feel very engaged in Shakespeare (I LOVE Hamlet) and I made a couple of what I thought were valid points in Globo. It's so weird that we have less than 3 weeks of classes left. Where is the semester going?

I've yet to finish reading Hamlet - I've been savoring it like I do Jane Austen, not reading it too fast.

Sleep well!

Contemplations on Joy

The last couple days have been interesting. We had areally excellent discussion in Shakespeare yesterday, all about the two productions we saw this weekend. I loved Hamlet so much and I wish they filmed it like they do some theatre productions, but I don't think they're doing that for this one. Sometimes that class gets a little boring (two hours is a really long time) but it was great yesterday. In globo right now we're talking about climate change and sustainable development, which is pretty depressing sometimes. I don't know what I can do about it, other than the stuff I already try to do like recycling and trying to not produce lots of waste. It's all so doomsday and it makes me so sad that people don't see what they're doing to the planet.

This is related to a discussion I had with Dad tonight. I'm feeling increasingly like Plato and his general fear and hatred of the masses. I feel it acutely as we prepare for this election; I live in terror that people will elect another republican president. Our country, our environment, our economy, our military, can't take another 4 years of idiocy. I fear the stupid herd of the masses and what their decisions are doing to our world and our country.

We went to a play on Monday and it was just awful. It was very existential and basically culminated with the idea that none of us really exist. It was horrible. Whatever your personal belief system, please believe me that we are all someone and we all matter and there is a part of us that is eternal. It makes me so sad that people watch plays like this one that makes them question everything and their own existence. Should we not seek after things that encourage good things? And please don't just smile and nod and pat me on the head. How much better would we all be if we truly chased after joy, not just happiness, or satisfaction, but true joy. Why contemplate these depressing and generally worthless ideas when it is so clear that YES we do exist and what we are and what we do does matter.

Choose joy and hope, not despair.

Take all the wonderful things in the world, because they are innumberable, and use each one as a brick to build a wall around yourself to protect against all the darkness that also exists.

Y'all are some of my bricks, I hope I'm one of yours.

The Question Resoundingly Answered: To Be (at the theatre) Is Great

Oh goodness, what a bunch of extremely full days. Following the epic marathon of Wednesday, which lastest into the early part of Thursday, I had another full day. My Shakespeare midsem was due Thursday morning, and I then spent the afternoon cloistered in the library studying for my History exam at 4:30. I think it went pretty well, but we'll have to see. From there I went to dinner at the home of a couple of friends from church, Katherine and Leslie, who are over here with their parents and brother. It was so nice to be around a family, especially a Mormon one :). After that we went to the church to register for our institute class. It looks like I'm going to be taking a class on the New Testament on Thursday, which I'm very excited about, both in the unparalleled opportunity to learn from the amazing institute teachers, as well as because it will give me an additional chance to meet people at church.

We got up early for our Stratford trip and piled on the bus from the site. We got to Warwick Castle around lunch time. It was lovely wandering around the castle, climbing up the ramparts and exploring the grounds. The weather was blissfully perfect and it was just great to be outside and in the country. We got to Stratford later in the afternoon and visited Shakespeare's grave in Trinity Church before dinner. Vinter gave us a talk about Shakespeare's life in Stratford and it was really cool - I just love to learn things, about anything really. We ate a cheap and easy dinner of bread and soft cheese overlooking the Avon River before heading of the the Courtyard Theatre for the best theatre production I have ever seen. It was Hamlet and it was absolutely amazing. Hamlet was played by David Tennant, who was perfect ( I mean it) and Patrick Stewart played Claudius. It was kind of surreal to be a matter of yards from someone so famous (I was in the fourth row), but it was really Tennant that made the production so fantastic. He captured the beautiful intricacy of Hamlet's lines so well and made them so understandable and poignant. He also did a really good job of being a sane person acting a sane person acting crazy, which is a very difficult thing to do and not omit the middle man. (Also, for those who care, I never realized how amazing Hamlet's monologue after the players arrive is. I <3 Shakespeare!) Needless to say, I spent the reast of the evening in the most wonderful theatre euphoria. The production made me cry like four times, which even for me is impressive. It was so great.

Saturday morning we did a bunch of touristy things in a hurry, Anne Hathaway's Cottage, Shakespeare's Birthplace, and the home of his daughter and son in law. We went to Merchant of Venice in the afternoon, which was by no means as amazing as Hamlet, but it was still quite good. I had issues with some parts of it, but I really liked the protrayal of Shylock, which is pretty tricky. I liked Portia too, I thought she did a good job of being the witty sharp female but also the girl in love. Last night once we got back from Stratford we went out for dinner for Erin's 21st. We went to an American-style burger joint that was absolutely delicious. I can has cheezburger! We were all pretty exhausted last night, and after a lovely conversation with my daddy-o, we flopped into bed rather early.

Church today, like normal. Next week is general conference, which is going to be weird because it's broadcast live, so that last session ends at like 11. We'll see if I'm going to be willing to take the tube that late or if I'll just listen to it online. I read part of a book today for Globo that was pretty much about the hooligan culture of football [soccer] in europe. We're going to a match next weekend, so we'll be able to do some first hand research.

There's an earfull!

I love the Office. I can't get the new season over here, so I'll have a lot awaiting me when I get home.

Nighty night!

Midsems?!? Already!?!

Yes, it's that time already. Because my program is set up with 9 weeks of classes followed by 6 weeks of internship, midsems come along pretty quickly. My life has been a bit of a black hole of late, but by this time tomorrow it will be blessedly over. I have a complicated (and rather scary) in class exam tomorrow for History, but in the morning I have to turn in a Shakespeare take home exam that included three long quote interpretations and a 900 word essay. Seriously? This weekend we're off to Stratford, which should be a lovely reward for this week of stress. Because of all the work, I have little to report from over here, other than a rising sense of doom wafting over from across the pond. Of course I pick the time for the biggest financial meltdown in decades to be abroad. I hope there's still a country when I get back! The latest I've heard is that Wall Street is asking for 700 billion dollars from the government. That is absolutely mind boggling. How did this happen? I'm dying to hear about what it's like over there; I've been reading the newspaper regularly here, but I want to know what you guys think.

Insanity

OK nose, let's get back to the grindstone.

There and Bath Again

Oh my goodness, what a weekend. Thursday on it's own was a totally crazy day - Shakespeare, hurried packing (rush # 1), walk for History, getting back to the flat before the play (rush #2), play (which wasn't very good) and we haven't even started the Bath adventure yet. So after the play, we went to Waterloo station to catch our train (#3). We had about 45 minutes between when we left the play and when our train was supposed to leave. We got to Waterloo in plenty of time, only to discover that our train was actually leaving from Paddington. So we get to the right station (#4) a matter of moments after our train has left. We had to buy new one way tickets to get there - they were supposed to be 46 but the nice ticket guy gave us a break and they were only 37. Still, not a expenditure I was foreseeing, but such is life. Well, the train ended in Swindon, which is obviously not Bath. Time: about midnight. So the next part of our journey was supposed to be on a bus, but there was no bus there. And by no bus I mean no one, at all, completely empty station. We waited for a while and eventually a train station guy showed up and we found out that our bus would be arriving around 10 to 1. The bus, once it arrived, deposited us in Bath around 2 - we scrapped our original plan of walking to the hostel and took a taxi instead, a good plan since it turns out that the hostel is a few miles from the train station and at the top of a very large hill. Finally, 2:30, we flop into bed and sleep like dogs. For being a crisis, I had a pretty fun time. I figured mom would be proud of me for dealing with such an adventure.

The first day in Bath was very full - walking all day. We visited the Roman Baths, which I just think are amazing. How is it possble that a civilization could create something that works so well so long ago. Fascinating. We also visited the Jane Austen Centre, but we didn't end up going inside because it was too expensive to seem worth it. The rest of the day we just wandered around Bath. In fact, that activity made up a large part of Saturday too. There was a lovely country walk, a large park, and just general nature that was so nice to be around. Don't get me wrong, I love living in the city, but it was so nice to see huge trees and to smell green things instead of cars. Saturday we also say the Fashion Museum, which was pretty cool, and then more general wandering. Our train left Bath at about 10, too late, but they were cheap tickets. Unfortunately, that also meant that we had about 5 hrs between when everything in Bath closed and when we actually left. We got to know the train station pretty well.

All told, a very fun adventure, although my legs are still protesting. I'm doing the dad thing where the first three steps whenever I stand up are accompanied by "ow ow ow."

Today was church, which I just love. I've made a couple of friends there, two sisters from MN who are here with their parents for a few years. It's nice to have someone to sit with and talk to and they're fun. I good part of our congregation is from the states - apparently a large part of the singles ward is usually transient types because most londoners stay in their home wards. Lots of brits though, too. I love being able to go to church because it's so familiar and safe. Yea.

It was so good to be home. I'm so attached to our flat already, and it was also really weird being away from most of my flatmates (except Molly, who was with me). When you spend so much time with the same people, it's weird when they're not there.

Phew!

Good times

Already a Month

It's hard to comprehend that I have already been here a month. Time has just flown by! I hope the rest of this adventure don't go so quickly - it'll be over before I know it! Lonodn is so amazing, I love it here.

Last night we saw a play called War Horse, and it was totally amazing. It included these horse frames that were manipulated by three men, one for the back legs, one for the front, and one for the head and ears. They did the best job of making them move like real horses; a few times during the play I actually got convinced that they really were horses. They even mastered things like the subtle shifting from foot to foot and the breathing that are so intrinsically horse. It made me miss Chloe and Mickey! Over the course of the play, one of the horses died and the men who were manipulating him slowly climbed out of the frame and walked away - it was such a heart rending moment. Unfortunately, the evening once again included the tag along; we just don't know what to do about that issue. Ah well.

Today continued the crazy busy week - I had my interview with the company I'll have my internship with. It wasn't a real interview, more of just a meet and discuss the position thing. The company is rather small and specializes mainly in nonfiction and stationary. It's not quite what I want to do, but it'll still give me useful experience in the industry.

Molly and I are off to explore Bath tomorrow after yet another play. This means that I won't be near my computer for a few days, but never fear, I will have much to report come Sunday. I'm excited; we're taking the train out, which I love, and we're staying in a youth hostel, which I am intrigued about.

Happy monthaversary!

Donkey on the Edge

Church like normal yesterday. There are a couple of girls there who are also from MN who I got to know my first week (it was their first week too). They seem really nice and I'm glad I have someone to talk to and hang out with at church; it's not just me sitting by myself and reading my scriptures. I was a little hesitant about church my first week, not wanting to get super involved and commit a bunch of my time, but I think it's going to be a really good thing.

Globo today - I did all the reading but I had nothing to say in class. I've probably said this before, but I wish I could just sit and listen in that class and not actually be expected to add anything intelligent to the discussion. We're reading this book right now that is absolutely awful. The author's prose style is just abysmal and he's always tossing out these convoluted phrases without ever explaining what they mean. Tonight we went to Twelfth Night and frankly, I thought it was stupid. I liked Viola, and Sir Toby, but the rest of the actors were way too much and the production kept going off on these weird tangents that totally detracted from the continuity and flow of the story. That, and an infuriating tag along made the evening rather taxing, but back at the flat we were all giggly and silly, so I'm feeling good now. More busy week ahead - two more plays, an interview for my internship, and then off to Bath with Molly for the weekend. Tons of fun!

Busily yours,

More Than a Walk in the Park

Yesterday we had a grand adventure, in other words, a really long day. It began with a walking tour of southwark led by Vinter, which was really cool. It was focused on Shakespeare's London, what was there physically as well as the culture. We spent the afternoon at the Tower of London and I think we saw EVERYTHING, except for the torture exhibit because that is disgusting. I was with Beth for most of it, so she understood my desire to take pictures of really random things. I ended the day with Live Free Die Hard, adrenaline pumping, but still asleep by 10:30 after an entire day of my feet.

This morning was entirely devoted to Poli Sci homework. I went to Regent's and read for 4 hours and only got anout 55 pages read. It takes me so long to read this stuff!! It was an odd because when I was in the sun I was too hot, but in the shade the breeze made it too cold. Ah well. Tonight we went to the Globe again, The Merry Wives of Windsor. The play was really fun, but we were groundlings again and my feet are tired! More homework tomorrow and then church.

This post was mostly just solid "I did this and then I did this" but hey, I'm going to bed :)

Toodles

Ok, I Wrote the Paper

Tuesday night we went to a play about American politics. The acting was overall rather terrible, but I thought the philosophical issues they dealt with were really pertinent and interesting. After the play I had to write the dreaded Shakespeare paper. I have discovered something interesting about myself in the last week. I had suspected this before, but now it has been proven. Even if I don't like a book when I read it, if I study it in class enough and delve into the intricacy and artistry of the text, chances are that I'm going to like the book once we're done talking about it. Ok, I admit it, I like Timon of Athens. Sorry flatmates.

Well, the paper's written. It took me staying up until 4, but in fact, I don't actually hate it, but will see what my prof thinks. I met with her about it on Wednesday, which was helpful in clarifying and unifying my thesis. I ended up just chatting with her about productions of Shakespeare for a while afterwards, which was lovely. I really do like her.

Yesterday was a pretty chill day, just class and a meeting about my internship later on. I'm excited about it, another new thing to explore and more new things to learn. I'm working for what appears to be a rather small publishing company, which is good because it means that I'll be given responsibilities beyond getting coffee etc. Last night we watched August Rush; that's such a good movie. It's good for my soul. I remember seeing it in the theater and being so wrapped in the world because no part of that movie is silent. There's always some sort of noice, the city or light music or something else. It's the kind of movie that makes me more aware of what's around me, aware of the music inherent in everything.

Tonight I went to Institute at church. I didn't find out until I got there (late, thank you tube) that it was actually the last day of their summer semester, so instead of a lesson, they were just having a dinner get together. I'd already eaten, and I almost ran away, but I ended up just staying there and meeting a bunch of new people, which was perfect. We have a big day of stuff tomorrow, a tour of Southwark and then the Tower.

Even 7 years later, I still spend this day holding my breath.

Sleep tight!

The Thinks I Think

Nothing particularly of interest today, class and homework. I went up to Regents Park for a little while this evening to continue to plough through Twelfth Night and it was really nice to just be around green and away from the noise and smell of the city. Don't get me wrong, I leave my window open at night because I love the sounds of the street, but it is also quite lovely to get away from that.

It is amazing how much I walk here. No day includes less that about an hour of walking; last Thursday I think I figured that between a walk for History of London, standing through Timon, and talking on the phone with Ben, I was on my feet for almost 7 hours. Goodbye lethargic life of summer!

The lights in our living room are too dim. It's kind of like the bedrooms at the cabin (for those who know). There are a few wall sconces and a couple table lamps, but all told, not enough. I'm going to need to find a library or somewhere like that to study so that I can actually concentrate and not be distracted by my oh so fascinating flatmates and the internet.

I have a paper that I should have been writing tonight. I know what I want to write it on (Apemantus from Timon) but I have no idea what an interesting thesis on that subject would be. Hopefully I'll figure it out by tomorrow evening because I want to have a draft by Wednesday so that I can embark on my masochistic practice of taking everything I write to my prof. Good luck to me.

Welcome to the things I think about when there's nothing else to think about!

My love to everyone at home. You have no idea how little things remind me of all of you. I hope all is well.

Hugs

Adventures, Sorry

Greetings All! Sorry I've been lax in my duties; a series of long days led to exhausted nights and no interest in removing myself from my cozy bed to blog once I'd realized I'd forgotten.

Thursday we were groundlings. We saw Timon of Athens at the Globe, standing in the middle. Considering the raw material they had to work with, the play was actually pretty good. The guy who played Timon was quite good (he managed to make me like the character) and Apemantus was everything I could have hoped for. Being on the ground meant that many of the actors entered and exited through us. We all happened to be standing right on a line that they used a lot, so we were stepping out the way for actors coming through. It was very odd getting so close to them, but it was also really cool. The set was also really cool; there was a net suspended above the audience that actors on ropes dropped through into the groundlings. Pretty sweet.

It poured on Friday - Erin and I walking to the British Museum got completly soaked. After slogging through wet all morning, our afternoon visit to Fleet Street was actually quite pleasant. All told, not the most fascinating of days.

Yesterday was a grand adventure to Hampton Court Palace. I know I'm a nerd, but it was totally cool getting tours around a place where Henry 8 lived. We traveled there by train and I came to the realization that I love travel, just moving in general. Driving, train, flying, the tube, I love it all. Hampton Court was rather expensive, but it was totally worth it.

Church today, that and trying to get myself to do work. Homework on the weekends really just doesn't compute. Ah well. I'm going to try and figure out how to post pictures on this to share my adventures with you visually. I hope all is well in the states!

Love,

A traveling groundling

Another Day, Another Pound

Only one more day of classes this week. I love not having classes on friday. Poli Sci was my only class today. I struggle with that class because I find the reading fascinating, but when I have to say something it just sounds stupid. Could I please just sit in class and listen to the people who know what they're talking about? I didn't have homework for tomorrow, so I spent a large part of this evening in the park north of our flat. After class I read Timon of Athens there for about an hour, and after dinner I walked around for a while. It's nice to escape so much city for a while and walk around in actual trees. I sware, half of London jogs and they all do it in Regent's Park. Also, all of the males between 15 and 30 are there playing some sort of sport. I managed to only get hit by one football :).

Tomorrow we visit the Globe again, this time for Timon. The play itself is rather lame, very simplistic and boring, but we'll have to see what it's like performed. We're going to be groundlings; whoo hoo for standing for hours. And then the weekend. I want to visit Parliament before it gets back in session and maybe Hampden Court, although it's rather expensive. Do I really want to pay $25 to see a palace? I'm not sure.

Goodnight all, I hope you had a lovely Wednesday.

Tacos! (and Palin, I mean Pain In my...)

The highlight of my day today was, you guessed it, tacos. Yestereday I was talking to a friend and I mentioned a chocolate bar, but she thought I said taco bar and was quite curious as to where we had found one. Unfortunately, we hadn't, but the conversation really make me want tacos. So tonight we performed a culinary experiment and it paid off quite well. Our dinner consisted of tacos of seasoned beef, cheese, and carmelized onions and it was absolutely delicious. It was the first time that we'd eaten beef here, so it was quite a treat. So parents who are worried that all we are eating is pasta, never fear.

I know this isn't a very interesting post, but dudes, do you know what's interesting? Globilization, political science and economic theory. I'm sincere. You know what else is interesting? The amount of coverage the US elections get in the papers here. The headlines of a couple of the main newspapers today were all about McCain's running mate and her pregnant daughter. Hopefully that combined with the scaled down Republican National Convention as a result of Gustav will be the beginning of the end of dear old (old, older than water) McCain because seriously we can't elect him.

Amazed? I am.

Sleep tight!

Out of the Weekend and Into the Week

First of all, a formal apology for the title; it was not intended to be so lame, I'm this way naturally.

Greenwich this Saturday began with visiting the Painted Hall, which was absolutely amazing. It was this great giant hall and almost every inch of it was covered with beautifully articulated paint. We also visited the Observatory and did the whole standing in two hemispheres at once. We also looked at a museum thing about how they discovered an accurate way to measure longitude so that sailors would stop getting lost at sea. Pretty interesting, but that was the place at which we spent waaaay to much time. Once we split up, Erin and I went to the Queen's house (Anne of Denmark, I believe, James I's wife) but it wasn't a refurbished home, it was just full of a collection of nautical paintings. We also wandered through the Maritime Museum, full of all sorts of stuff about ships. Anna would have loved it.

Yesterday I went to church for the first time over here and I give it mixed reviews. On the one hand, I was so relieved and happy to be somewhere so familiar that I cried during the opening hymn and passing the sacrament. It felt so good to be doing something that is the same as at home. I brought on a wave of homesickness that I haven't really had to deal with yet. On the other hand, church stressed me out a bit in terms of the responsibilities they might give me and all the activities they want us to do. Sorry guys, I'm not interested in three or four activities a week - I'm busy having a great time in London thanks. Oh well, we'll see how it goes.

For my Poli Sci class today, we went to Reuters, which is a giant news conglomerate here in London. It was a really cool field trip - I learned a ton about the global media industry. Like, this company that we visited makes the majority of their revenue through selling information. In general, and especially in the states, newspaper readers are less and less interested in international news. So because it's so expensive to fund foreign correspondents, they're cutting down and instead buying their stories from companies like Reuters. They also do tons of business news, stocks and prices and stuff. I'm so lucky to be part of such a cool program that arranges stuff like this for us.

Tonight we went to Fragments, which was a group of short plays be Samuel Beckett. Weird stuff. I think I figured out parts what I was supposed to, but on the whole, I don't really know why people clapped forever at the end. Once again, there's a gap for me between what the product is and why the creator was famous.

Well, we're reading Timon of Athens for my Shakespeare class (pretty stupid, if anyone's wondering) and I still have 50 more pages to read before tomorrow. I miss you all so much.

Good luck with school!

Remiss in My Duty

Please forgive me for slacking in my responsibility of keeping you all informed. Classes have started, and without sounding too dour, fun and free time have ended. For all that, my classes are going pretty well. Shakespeare is cool, my prof is both knowledgable and passionate (a necessary and lucky combination) and we've read Midsummer Night's Dream, which I liked. We got to go see that play at the Globe, one of the many late nights I've had this week. History of London looks to be pretty neat too - the prof is just full of fascinating little facts. We have two class meetings a week, one lecture, and the other that is a walk around a part of London with our prof teaching us about the city. It's totally awesome. My Poli Sci class is going to give me a run for my money this semester; it's full of smart poli sci majors and I'm just not that educated in this subject.

Another night this week we went to the musical The Harder They Come. I would not reccommend it. The music was amazing, stunning voices (although it was reggae, so it all sounded the same) but the story was stupid. The audience had no reason to like the main character, he was cocky and stupid, and the whole political backstory left so much to be desired that we had no reason to care.

Today we took a boat down the river Thames to Greenwich, which was pretty cool. We spent most of the day in too large a group, not a good plan (herding 7 people, some of them particularly pokey, through a museum can be tricky) but once we split into smaller groups I had a much better time. I got a little sunburned though - certainly didn't think that would happen in London! Where's the famous british rain?

I hope all is going wonderfully for you in the states. I miss you guys a ton!

Yeah Saturday.

MIA

So sorry that I've been incommunicado lately. Classes have started, so free time has ended. We've also gone to plays the last two nights. I'm so tired! I still have a metric ton of poli sci reading, but I don't have class until 3, so I'll do it in the morning. I hope everything is going well for all of you at home. I miss you!

Goodnight

Lost in a Stinky Crowd and at the Symphony

I think I just might become a symphony addict. We went this evening and it was absolutely wonderful. Enchanting. Bewitching. I tell people that rock concerts are better when you know the words, and it's the same with classical music. The first composer we listened to (prokofiev), I'd never even heard of him, but the second selection was Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 5 in E minor, which I have a recording of. It was amazing to get lost in the music, and knowing the music made it so much better.

Earlier in the day, we went to the Notting Hill Carnival, which was not amazing. It was crowded, loud, dirty, and stinky. Plus, a little girl who shouldn't have been there mushed her ice cream cone on my pants. Eww. Well, I can say I went, and I can say that I'll never go back.

Classes start tomorrow with mixed feelings from Katie. I'm glad to be getting back into academia, but at the same time, I'll miss wondering around and spending all day exploring London. I'm only taking three classes this semester, so there will still be plenty of time to wander.

Cadbury still rocks.

Goodbye Olympics, but Thanks for Existing!

Lovely day doing London things. We got to go on a big bus tour this morning, all around London. It was cool to see all the sights, which we will undoubtedly visit in more depth at some point. Our tour guide was just a hoot, which made it more interesting--yeah that she wasn't some dry, boring old person.

After the tour we did something really cool. In a couple of the larger squares around London, giant TV screens had been set up for people to watch the Olympics. Well, today was the last day of the games, so we went to Trafalgar Square and watched to closing ceremonies in a whole group of Londoners. The summer games are coming here next, so everyone was all excited and patriotic. How lucky are we to be able to be a part of something like that, the British people welcoming the Olympics to their country. I love the Olympics so much. For a couple of weeks we are all united in the common pursuit of being really awesome at things. Way to go world.

We also used the tube for hte first time today. Now that we know basically what to do, it's much less scary. I'm totally going to be able to go to church on my own. We actually drove past my churchbuilding near Hyde Park today, so I got to get a look at it and I know what tube station to use. Sweet. We had company over for dinner tonight, a couple of Oberlin students, and we had crepes with chicken and feta, which was totally delicious. One more day of summer (Notting Hill Carnival and Prom Concert) and then back to the old grindstone. I need to go finish Midsummer Night's Dream!

Goodnight Moon

Today, Peanut Butter. Tomorrow, maybe Peas

Orientation yesterday was kind of boring. It wasn't class stuff, but I have lots of opinions about that anyway. I often feel like stuff like that would be way more useful like a third of the way through the semester. Seriously, who remembers stuff from the first few days of classes. I always write stuff on my syllabus about what the teachers' late policies are and I get all stressed about all the stuff I have to do. Of course, I forget it all immediately. Those first few days of classes (which, remember, I have not yet done for this semester) are more full of more forgotten information (did that make sense) than any other days.

Also- Italian Job is about the coolest movie. Heist movies rock. Even more than a monkey, I want to do that!

Today, we found a huge grocery store that even had peanut butter. It was quite a walk from our flat, but still, peanut butter. I bet they have hummus and frozen peas too. Don't worry, I won't eat them together. We also found an awesome old used bookstore that not only had two copies of Timon of Athens, but also that perfect old book smell. It's one of those smells that triggers an all around state of well being, like the way Anna's car smells, or the cabin. A very productive day of adventuring.

Sleep well!

Interesting Things I Have Realized Today

Interesting things I have realized today:

- We really need much less food than we eat. I've eaten today probably less food than fits in a Chipotle Burrito.

- I'd forgotten how delicious Cadbury chocolate is. Stuff at home just doesn't compare.

- My sense of direction is better than I thought, but still not that great.

- I am straight up a Toys-R-Us kid, I don't want to grow up. Having a full time job takes a lot of time and having to buy real things like food on a limited budget is scary.

- Today, I didn't really wake up and become my chatty, noisy, squirrely self until about 5. Before then, I was largely monosyllabic and unopinionated.

Looks like I'm finding myself, eh?

Cheers

Greetings From the UK

To appease the requests of the multitude who seek a peek into my oh-so fascinating life:

Look out world, someone let Katie have a blog.

Molly and I arrived in London yesterday morning, after a night on the plane with little sleep. Due to some sort of error along the way, I was in first class, which was quite odd. Not only was I the younges person in the section by about 30 years, but I felt much too unsophisticated. The meal was multiple courses and they even put a "table cloth" over my tray table. Weird.

Our flat is nice, larger and nicer than we all expected. It's long and spread out, which means we have to walk a ways from the kitchen to the dining/living room, but that also means that we're not sitting on top of and bumping into each other all the time. We live just a few blocks south of Regents Park, which we discovered today is quite green and beautiful.

The last two days have been mostly exploring the streets of London, getting lost and unlost, and not getting hit by the crazy drivers. Molly and I got asked for directions twice - we must not look like tourists :)

We also discovered today that brits would call Molly's suspenders braces and that we shouldn't call out pants pants because that means underwear, but to call them trousers instead. Seems like we could get into trouble with the second one.

Hope you all are rocking the states!