I am now officially back home, safe and sound. I feel very odd, don't get me wrong I am really glad to see my family and I can't wait to see my friends but I really do miss the people in Canterbury, especially the boy... saying goodbye was so bitter sweet. But I just have to keep telling myself that it is not goodbye forever that he and I will see each other again...

Goodbye for now Canterbury and England, the day is upon us and I am leaving in 2 hours roughly... :(

I am saying goodbye to Luke at 11... (I hate goodbyes)

I just have to keep telling myself the it is not goodbye, I'll see them again...

The pictures of Paris are posted on Facebook. :)

I am back from Paris. I saw many things, but I am too tired to describe them all to you now, in the next couple days the tale will unfold. Until then just know that I had an awesome time. :)

I am going to Paris tomorrow!!!!!!!

As you might have gathered I am super excited for this trip. Tonight I am hanging out with the guys and even if they can't see how short my hair actually is... I can show them pictures, because I put it up tonight and for once I had to use hairspray to make it stay up... it's so short... :P

But overall I really like it, it's cute and flirty and the right style for me. :)

The guys should be arriving soonish, they said around 8 so... And then we are either going out or staying in, I'm fine with either... I'm wearing a very girly dress tonight... It's frilly and lacy and flowing... :P

But anyway I shall hopefully write more later. :)

I have a new haircut. I also put more money on my phone, got my memory cards for my camera so that I can leave my computer here while I am in Paris, and I exchanged my money. Now all that is left is to finish up my work and then it is off to Paris with a smile. :)

Liz is coming to see Canterbury this afternoon. I will hopefully finish reviewing my Shakespeare and ethics papers, almost finish my APM project (I just have to complete 9 more transparencies, 2 journal entries and some creative collages) It's not so bad I should be able to complete that by the end of Monday or Tuesday. The book will be really cool when I'm done with it. :)

I also need to start focusing on the outlines between now and Tuesday I need to finish them as well.

So still stuff to do. :P

But it is under control.

It's a bit windy today and it looks as if it might rain, I kind of hope it does not cause that will make walking around the city less appealing. I did all of my laundry (the last load is in the washer at the moment) I cleaned up my room and I have been planning what I want to see in Paris. :)

2 1/2 days left...

Things that I need to take with me to Paris:
Camera (possibly buy bigger memory card)
Batteries
Clothes: 2 pairs of jeans, 4 tops, 1 jacket, 1 dress, rainboots and flipflops, socks
Passport and Letters
Towel- shampoo, deodorant, face stuff
Computer?
Purse and all essentials
Umbrella
Phrase Book

I think that is it.... And if i buy a bigger memory card for my camera I will leave the computer here.

I have e-mail again. :)

The caz site will not load and by default my e-mail will not load and it bothers me.

London was good as always, I had a fantastic day yesterday and it picked my spirits up by quite a bit, so that is good.

We saw The Tower of London which was nice but I think they allotted way too much time for that particular place. We arrived at 9:30am and were scheduled to stay at the Tower until 2:30pm... when really we could have seen it all in 2 1/2 - 3 hours. Inside the Tower we saw the Crown Jewels which were gorgeous as anyone might imagine, but I do have to say that I was a bit disappointed by their presentation... They had them spread out between 3-4 rooms and I think it actually made them less impressive than if they had been all in one room. There was also an exhibit on King Henry VIII called: Dressed to Kill, which was a intricate display of armor and weaponry. I found that really interesting. Unfortunately like Windsor Castle these two places did not allow photographs inside. So i did not take pictures of the tower, nor did I buy postcards.

The second place we saw was Shakespeare's Globe Theater which was really awesome. Even though there were signs out tour guide let us take photographs. Though I wish I could have seen a play, Ive always heard that it is truly an unreal experience. I tapped into one of my guilty pleasures in the Globe, along with 2 postcards I bought a book entitled: Patterns of Fashion: The cut and construction of clothes for men and women c 1560-1620. Which basically tells you the importance of the garments in the Elizabethan Era, how to create the patterns for some and how to construct them. :) (this brings me back to my days of historical paper dolls)

Then I met up with Liz and since the Tate Modern was right next to the Globe I decided to have a peak at a couple floors, my favorite exhibit was definitely the giant Table and Chairs and I wish that they had allowed photography it was definitely something out of Alice in Wonderland where she is trying to get through the tiny door and the door knob tells her she's too big and so she drinks the bottle and shrinks... that's totally how you feel. :)

I then took my first Tube ride, from St. Paul's Cathedral which is right across the river from the Tate if you walk across the Millennium Bridge, to Hyde Park Corner, because in Hyde Park at the moment is Winter Wonderland (which reminded me so much of Wildwood, except Christmas themed) But apparently it was a VIP night last night, but no one was really checking so Liz and I wondered around, we had a glass of hot chocolate with a shot of baileys, took pictures with a singing moose/reindeer, a penguin and a polar bear. They also had ice skating and rides, shops, food booths and games. After we wondered for a bit we decided to go find a coffee shop and sit for a bit, since our dinner reservations were not until 8:30pm. We found a starbucks, I got my usual and Liz had tea. We talked about what we wanted to do in Paris. Then we headed to dinner, at Mango Tree which is on the corner of Groveranor Street across from the Queen's gardens. It was delicious, I wish I could have stayed longer and enjoyed it. Thai food is always good. :) Thanks to Adi and Liz for inviting me and for dinner. I caught my 10pm bus and talked to mom a bit which was nice to hear from her. :)

Today I am going to accomplish some work, probably take a walk later. And that's pretty much it, Liz is most likely coming tomorrow but I'm sure we'll hammer that out when she calls. I'll probbaly have more to write later, but this is all more now.

It's been a rough week, between being forcibly ignored to disappointment because I never dreamed given his behavior when we do see each other that he would behave so ill. To making people jealous which is ridiculous in and of itself... I am not the type of person that should ever make anyone jealous and certainly there is nothing special about me...

I suppose if you did not know already you have surmised as much that I'm feeling a bit down lately. At least tomorrow should help, our last trip to London and I get to see Liz and Adi. :)

Also this time next week I shall be in Paris.


And the guys promise to arrange something for Mon. or Tues. next week... maybe it will happen but my bitter self would say likely story...

I am harsh only because I am extremely disappointed.... I hope that he can make me reconsider that view.

I finish writing my out of class essays. I still need to read over them and make any corrections. Hopefully printing most of them out Thursday, and the rest by Monday. I feel a little bit better now that they are written. I'm sure I will be very happy to have everything done. :)

Paris in just about a week. I'm so excited.. and plus I think I need a bit of a change of scenery... I feel like the wind...

Another week is upon me... That means I am one more week closer to leaving and one more week closer to the end of the semester and one more week closer to having to say goodbye... :( I don't like the last one at all, I need a teleporter...

I want to be able to come back, all the time...

My mind has also been way to distracted this weekend.. for obvious reasons... What am I getting myself into?

I need to complete my work in order to have time to dwell on those thoughts. :P Hopefully by this weekend that will be the case.

Do you think I can convince a guy to watch a Jane Austen movie with me.. this is quite a challenge maybe if I claim that the settings are gorgeous and the costumes are to die for... and as a bonus there is that witty humor. :P

And we all know that romantic elements as well.... We shall see, won't we...

It is 11:08 and I am not tired... this does not bode well I have Shakespeare tomorrow and a meeting in the afternoon about my Health Care paper... hopefully it is not too intolerable. Then I just need to focus.... really focus... and if I can accomplish both essays tomorrow I shall then leave them until the weekend... do my project on Tuesday and Wednesday evening (if nothing comes up) and Thursday for outlines. There are only 4 and it shouldn't be that bad.

I'll return the last of my library books Thursday morning and I'll print out everything by Sunday. :)

I have much to do and not much time to do it in... so hence I must focus. :)

The mind is such a distraction. lol. :P

I have been drawing a bit. :)

It is hard to become motivated when your mind is just too full of thoughts... and none of them have anything to do with what you are trying to accomplish.

Hopefully tomorrow will be better, I just have to remain focused... I have outlined my last two essays and now I just need to sit down and write them which will occur tomorrow. I will also work on my outlines for Modern Brit. and my drawings. :)

I need to accomplish some entries in my reflective log as well, I should probably work on that and the drawings tonight since I am ill motivated where the papers are concerned.

My time is coming to an abrupt end... This upcoming week, I shall finish all my work, hopefully have most of it reviewed and then I can correct it by next weekend. Friday is our last required field trip, into London to see The Tower, and The Globe. Then I am having dinner with Liz and Adi at least, catching a 10pm bus back to Canterbury. Liz and maybe Adi too are coming to see Canterbury on Saturday which will be nice, I hope it does not rain. By that point I should hope to only have editing left if that.

I'm sure there will be our usual Thursday night out with the guys, maybe a movie night for Cheese and I if his schedule is not too busy. :P Maybe a grocery shopping date in there as well. :)

So that is a rough sketch of the week to come. :)

I have just finished watching Northanger Abbey and Mansfield Park, and while romance of that nature is unrealistic and superficial, I wish... for once that a man would wish to date me regardless of situation... I know that's not fair, I'm being horribly cruel, attachment is impossible. Even if I were here for longer what would happen when the time ended? Things would just fall apart, we would go back to pretending it never was, I read too many novels... my expectations are too high. I'm only 21, and yet I would seem as if I was rushing into this. It is not that I long to rush in, it is that I need time to figure out what I want. Figure out what sort of man.... would make me happy. I have picked all the wrong ones thus far, my judgement is clouded where love is concerned. And all the thoughts and all the elements that I would think would make me happy, never seem to be enough... the common solution is that I've not met the right guy yet... but what if I have and it's just not the right time or place? How would I know, what do I have to compare it to... If I were philosophical, what is love? And how do you know when you have found it?

Do not alarm yourselves, I am not in love... I merely suffer from a chonic issue with identity. If I can not identify love how am I to ever experience it?

I have met a boy here in England, he is a gentleman, he makes me laugh and he treats me right but alas I have no time to really get to know him in person. From what I have gathered thus far, he's kind, sweet, complimentary... almost too much sometimes, generous, reasonably handsome... :P, funny and quite intelligent in certain areas. We shall remain good friends, I do hope that in time, he and I might meet again but who knows when that might be.

With all the male attention the last few years, one would have thought me certain to have a Significant Other, but for one reason or another... I have not found him yet. A part of me wonders about my capability... Yes I know everyone says he'll come around when you least expect it or there are plenty of fish in the sea, or the right man is out there somewhere. I'm sure it is all true and on the one hand I'm willing that time take its course, but on the other hand I wish it might bloody hurry up. lol. I ain't getting any younger. :P


To think it's almost december... I will not know how to feel when I leave. And let me make clear, I do not want promises, nor attachments, when I find love I want it to be free, not hindered by distance or situation. :)


Such a melancholy discussion I am having with myself... and you lot just sitting in the audience I must sound to you like a choir of dramatics. I do not mean to carry on this way and truth be told I don't know how I feel about Luke, and I am voluntarily choosing not to employ any particular feeling for the obvious reasons.

I shall for once sit back and let time take its toll... for better or worse. :)

Ok as promised.... my story from last night. :P

Aaron made really spicy meatballs last night and in the middle of dinner we get this call from Luke, telling us that Paul is not going out with us and instead he is down at the Parrot with Jen and that we should meet them when we are ready... Talk about a little heads up, which is one of the things that bothers me about men, sometimes they just don't think, you know we might like to plan, maybe just a little bit... So I took a quick shower and got all prettied... :P (Strapless dress which later I remarked to the guys that the bottom of which totally could look like a candy stripper... lol, black flats, black belt and my grey cardigan) I looked super cute. :) So we get there and I order a glass of white wine (yes I learned that lesson) especially since I had just bought the dress yesterday... Well anyway to make the middle a little shorter, Jen left maybe half an hour to an hour after we got there, she's super nice and we are going to hang out at some point. Aaron also had to leave because silly man forgot he had work to finish. So that left Cheese and I alone yet again... hmmm this seems to happen a lot lately. :P But it was good, it actually wasn't awkward at all though he kept being stolen by the Swedish guys... whom appoligized to me at the end of the night, which was nice. He bought me 3 more glasses of wine so by the end of the night I was really feeling it. And yea I was probably drunk but no where near the point that I can't remember or I was slurring my words, I was just a bit unsteady. So when we left he gave me his arm so that I wouldn't go running into walls all over the place, we stopped at the Kebab shop so that he could get some food. I got a cucumber out of the deal, we also walked one of the Parrot Bartenders home which she's very nice and has a husband and kid coming to stay with her in England. After we dropped her off at her street we made our way to my door... where he gave me a hug and a kiss on the cheek and then we were both standing there and it was kind of obvious... and then Aaron had the untimely foresight to stick his head out his window and jokingly scold us for coming home late even though it was before midnight. :P so then I went up and told him to go back to his work and shut his window and then I was just standing in front of Cheese and we hugged again and there was a moment... before he said: "I would kiss you properly but I'm eating chips and salad..." and I told him it was fine, that I didn't care... and then we kissed. :) and it was good. So the night started out weird but ended up really good. :) :)

Oh man, oh man, oh man... have I got a story to tell you from last night. :P

But, later because I have to go up to UNI this morning and talk to one of my profs. about my paper on the Magna Carta.


And don't worry it's a good story.

:)

I bought 2 dresses today, one strapless that reminds me of a nautical theme, it's blue and white striped (subtle). The other reminds me of Edwardian England, frilly and girly. :P I also bought a floral light yellow dress last weekend that has a slight tiered look in the skirt, all three have defined waists and the floral is spaghetti strapped, the frilly one has little half-cap sleeves and the strapless has optional spaghetti straps.

I have to decide which one I want to wear tonight, when the guys and I go out. I'm thinking the strapless with my black belt. :) and if I can bandage my feet enough the flats. or else maybe flip-flops. :P The black boots i don't think would really look that great, but one never knows.

Aaron is making us dinner and then I'm going to shower and then I suppose I will make all the appropriate clothing choices... (I wonder if I should wear my suit jacket, cardigan or black velvet jacket? hmmm...)

In other news, it is officially 1 month until I go home... (2 papers, 4 outlines, 1 project left)

20th of November -Dinner in London

25th -29th of November - Paris via London

2nd of December -Christmas Dinner?

Somewhere a last trip to London in there

12th of December - Leaving. :/ It is sad at the same time that it is nice. But I will miss everyone so much here.....


Some days I don't feel like I'm living my own life, you know what I mean... when you feel like you're only a spectator in your own life....

I've finished 2 papers, well until they are read by my lecturers and they tell me that they are an utter pile of bullox. :P But I have officially wrote 2000 words on Magna Carta and the Health Care debate.

I have two more papers to do this weekend. One on selfishness and one on Shakespeare.

I will also be working on my drawings, for drawing sake, the random object based drawings and for possible projects. :)

I have a month left... I'm not sure how I feel... I will miss England and it does not seem like I will be packing and getting ready to get back on a plane to take the trip across the Atlantic in 1 month's time. But I think I will also be kind of glad to go home, see the family, sleep in my own bed, take a normal shower... (won't be able to see my friends which I wish I could... :(, I miss the part of me that belongs in Nisky) see my cats.

But until that point. I will enjoy England and I want to come back at some point. Goal in life... come back and see more. At some point in my life I really want to see Europe. Not just England again but Scotland, Ireland, more of France than just Paris, Spain, Italy, Greece, and Germany. :) I also want to see more of the world, there is something about being in a different place, it gives you a different perspective not only of a new place but of your own country as well.

:)

Calling random ideas, preferably objects... so that I can then do dress designs using the random objects as inspiration... Those of you who knew me way back when... this is not the first time nor will it be the last. :P

So far on the list is:
Car
Bag
Pine cone
Donkey
Flamingo
Rudder
Bongos
Violin
Apple Core
Beet
Sword
Red Eyes
Sky
Ocean
Mug


If you think of any crazy ones... just non-normal random objects... let me know...


In other news, I have one more paper to finish today on Magna Carta, joy... joy... then I am reviewing my last 500 word paper on Tower of London and Sir Walter Raleigh, and outlining the 2 papers I need to write this weekend as well as relaxing. :) Will probably write more later.

Have a good day.

So I went out with Luke again last night, just to have a few drinks at the pub down the road and to get away from my (being inside all day) writers block, (so regrettably I still have to finish my two papers but I don't have that much left to do). I am slightly behind schedule but I will finish the papers today, finish reading Beloved and take some notes, and watch the Taming of the Shrew if I can get it on youtube, because I think I will be able to comprehend it more thoroughly after seeing it versus just reading the text.

But anyway, last night was full of epic fail, and I'm not even joking... I completely failed in all respects, the night was good, we were on our last drinks, well technically he was on his last 2, I wasn't really drinking anymore (I had already had 2 glasses of wine and was planning to come back and write some more... which I did, just not as much as I should have) But anyway back to my story... he was finishing his pint and had also gotten a glass of the house red, which i was sipping... (I should have just stuck to not drinking anymore) To give a bit of background because it will drive home the point that i truly epically failed last night, I was the most dressed down I've been going out... Jeans, flip-flops, white tank top and grey cardigan... I know normally I would dress up but the whole eye issue just made me not care... Anyway so we are sitting there and I go to grab the glass to take another sip... but I grabbed it at a weird angle so I tried to correct it so it would not spill.... however I over corrected and it went everywhere (all over me). Now I know how it feels when you get a glass of wine thrown in your face. But it was just my luck that I happened to be wearing white... and as we all know red wine and white never go together.. However on a positive note it all came out of the cardigan, and it's almost all out of the tanktop, maybe one more washing... which is kind of amazing since it was pretty bad last night... Ironically my eye felt better since the alcohol in the wine cleaned it out. lol. :P (This is definitely looking on the bright side of things because although I find it very amusing, I feel bad for Luke and it probably would have been better if it hadn't been just the two of us...)

On a different note, we have fun together, he and I but I kind of feel like it is not the same without one of the other two there. Not that it is bad it just has awkward moments, kind like we know that we like each other but we are not willing to commit... like last night walking home he put his arm around me, so i did the same and he took his arm away and then it was just sort of awkward. I mean I do like him but if it has its awkward moments now, I am not sure that means that if things were different they would go away...

So in conclusion: I think friends is a good place to stay. :)

So my evening ended in disaster, and no I'm not harping on about the date, I turned out the lights and it felt like something was in my eye, so I went to wash it out, get it out and there is nothing there. So now I have a partly swollen eye and nothing that I can see is in it, yet it still feelings like something is there. I'm going to take a shower in a bit and see if that helps, if not I'm first going to have one of my housemates look at it and then if that doesn't help I guess I'll go to the health center, if I can figure out where it is...

I also need to write 2 papers, and do some journal entries, finish reading the Taming of the Shrew and Beloved.

Maybe if I start crying it would help, tears are supposed to clean out your eyes... but unfortunately crying on command is not one of my talents.

Ok, the evening was wonderful, it really was. Luke took me to an Italian place in town where we had pasta and shared a piece of Bailey's cake which tasted divine. Then as we were walking through the high street he bought me flowers which are beautiful and we would have gone to see a movie or watched one at either my house or his but the spiciness in the pasta was making him feel ill so he just went home. (I don't know why I'm feeling slightly anti-climaxtic... anybody would look at that and say that it was a good date) Maybe if he hadn't brought up the fact that I'm only here for 3 months, but then again maybe that's a good thing. I don't need to attach myself to someone who lives 3000+ miles away. I just kind of wish.... for once that I could have an ideal moment... and maybe someday I will. But that day is not today, and I'm going to stop feeling kind of blue because it really was a wonderful evening. (But I think it was when he asked if this was going to turn into anything and I shook my head no because I know that's what he wanted me to say... and then I said that i was only here for 3 months and he said that if I were here for longer then he would have...) I think it was that moment when the euphoric high of the night came crashing down... It's always something... I'm not outgoing enough, I am not around enough, I'm not independent enough... pretty enough... But before I beat myself up, I am going to stop talking about this and say that I had a very nice date with a very nice guy and there might be more in the future.

Windsor Castle was nice, gorgeous on the inside (but alas there was no photography aloud inside) Still I took lots of photos of the outside, and the architecture is breath-taking as well. (Posted them on facebook)

I'm going on a date tomorrow night, with a nice ginger boy. He's taking me out for dinner around 4-5 at The Parrot. :) That's all I'm going to say for now... :P

So the night did not go exactly according to plan... Shall explain soon, and most likely I shall be getting up in 6 hours to go to Windsor Castle even though I think it is a waste of a day. But on a positive note... Cause all this negative tension is never good... I have a date this weekend if nothing untoward occurs between now and whichever night he wants to take me out. And my thought process is that this should be interesting at the very least. :) Anyway I should get some sleep, 6:30 will be here before I know it...

"Remember, remember, the Fifth of November, the Gunpowder Treason and Plot. I know of no reason why the Gunpowder Treason should ever be forgot... But what of the man? I know his name was Guy Fawkes and I know, in 1605, he attempted to blow up the Houses of Parliament. But who was he really? What was he like? We are told to remember the idea, not the man, because a man can fail. He can be caught, he can be killed and forgotten, but 400 years later, an idea can still change the world. I've witnessed first hand the power of ideas, I've seen people kill in the name of them, and die defending them... but you cannot kiss an idea, cannot touch it, or hold it... ideas do not bleed, they do not feel pain, they do not love... And it is not an idea that I miss, it is a man... A man that made me remember the Fifth of November. A man that I will never forget."
-V for Vendetta

Happy Guy Fawkes Day, I am getting ready cause the guys and I are going out tonight. I'm wearing my red dress with a black belt, black tights and ballet flats. Also I am sporting my suit jacket. First of all though I am making them dinner. Chicken Fajitas and Luke is bringing the wine. Aaron bought sparklers so we will have a little fun with some fireworks. After that we are probably going out to The Parrot. I have four sets of batteries plus the ones in my camera so hopefully that will be enough.

Tomorrow is what frustrates me... I did not realize we had a field trip until yesterday... I mean it is to Windsor Castle and yea I kind of want to see it, but I kind of also want to do my work... and actually be able to relax next week cause even though I have less work this semester than I would normally have in a semester it has not made me any less stressed. So I am debating as to whether I really want to lose a day going to Windsor Castle... my deciding factor if I feel alright in the morning I will go, if not I will not. We shall see.

I have to accomplish 2 essays and some journal entries this weekend. The Health Care debate paper and the Magna Carta paper. I also want to revise my last 500 word paper and get that out of the way entirely. My journal for American Postmodernism is coming a long nicely... I'm really enjoying the creativeness of it... So I hope they appreciate it as much as I do. :)

I also am going to cut my hair while I'm over here, which should be surprising and interesting. :)

Anyway I should probably become productive or finish getting ready. More to write later. :)

I'm slightly frustrated...

Tomorrow begins another week of classes, reading week was nice, didn't get as much stuff done as I should have but I did accomplish things. :)

Tomorrow class from 9-11 and then I have a meeting at 2. In between and afterwards I shall continue working on my journal entries, organizing my research, and begin writing my papers.

My boys come back tomorrow. :)

Anyway I should probably get some sleep, have to get up by 7:30 for the first time in a week and 1/2. So goodnight, sweet dreams. :)

Here is my Intro to my Magna Carta paper for British History: (not as exciting as the other two but whatever)

Heavy Taxation and Ignorance plagued the people of England and its Monarchy respectively through out the late 12th and early 13th centuries. With the death of King Richard I in 1199, John, his brother assumed the crown and plunged England into Turmoil. Unpopular to say the least, John was known as “John Lackland or John Softsword” and was constantly defending his crown from his own people while taxing them out of house and home. Finally in 1214, the Barons rebelled and brought before John a list of grievances, which later was signed into law as the Magna Carta. The Magna Carta, which was first issued in 1215, was reissued after John’s death in 1216 under Henry III. This document has become very important throughout history, it has had both short term and long term impacts of both positive and negative natures, from constitutions, to wars and revolutions, the Magna Carta is the foundation of modern government, laws and liberty.

Here is my intro to my ethics paper on selfishness so far:

“A red rose is not selfish because it wants to be a red rose. It would be horribly selfish if it wanted all the other flowers in the garden to be both red and roses."
-Oscar Wilde


The definition of Selfishness has become like beauty, it is in the eye of the beholder. Between the views of the egotist and the views of the altruist, selfishness in both respects is black and white. It is either good or bad, virtue or vice, respectively and there is no grey area present in either view. However, these two views are not the only that exist, there are also many who believe that selflessness or selfishness is determined by morality and society’s code of ethics and the last major group claims that in order to live a full and balance life, a person needs to have a little bit of both, selfishness and selflessness. To elaborate further, using the quote by Oscar Wilde as an example, selfishness is a virtue when applying it to personal desires and values. However when one tries to apply their personal desires upon someone else, selfishness becomes a vice.

I've been fiddling with the intro to my Shakespeare paper: (here's what I have so far)

“For those whom God to ruin designed. He fits for fate, and first destroys their mind.” -John Dryden

Shakespeare focuses on many different elements and themes in his various plays. One theme in particular that he often repeats and as the quote above describes, is the theme of insanity. This is expressed in two of his most famous plays: Hamlet and MacBeth, however while one uses insanity in a deep and complex manner, the other, reportedly Shakespeare’s darkest play is blunt and simple, respectively. Yet insanity is the common driving force that affects the characters, plots and ultimately is responsible for the chaotic tragic stories that unravel in the end of each. The questions then asked are whether insanity is good or bad, necessary or redundant in a tragedy? Would Hamlet and MacBeth be any more or less successful if their main characters were not affected by insanity? To elaborate, using John Dryden’s quote above, insanity and fate are linked, and used interconnectively in Shakespeare’s writing, therefore in terms of chaos and tragedy, insanity is good, and good insanity leads to a successful tragedy.

I found the best quote for my paper on insanity:

"For those whom God to ruin designed. He fits for fate, and first destroys their mind."
-John Dryden

I also like this Oscar Wilde quote about selfishness but I'm not sure it quite works with my paper on selfishness, but it's cute:

"A red rose is not selfish because it wants to be a red rose. It would be horribly selfish if it wanted all the other flowers in the garden to be both red and roses."

I've lastly been looking at quotes for my Health care debate paper and I've found a couple (but I'm not convinced about using any of them yet):

“Government's first duty is to protect the people, not run their lives.”
-Ronald Reagan

"The shepherd drives the wolf from the sheep's throat, for which the sheep thanks the shepherd as his liberator, while the wolf denounces him for the same act, as the destroyer of liberty. Plainly the sheep and the wolf are not agreed upon a definition of the word liberty; and precisely the same difference prevails today among human creatures."
- Abraham Lincoln

"I am going to screw the country, redistribute wealth, destroy the nation's healthcare system, and go around apologizing for everything that America has accomplished in the last 200 years".
-BHO

I've finished 4 entries for my reflective log. And I'm not going out tonight, instead I am working on essays and coloring as well as, watching movies on youtube. (as I mentioned easlier) I'm really liking my coloring, much more than the papers... which is not hard to imagine (one is creative and one is rigorous) But I will work on the papers, since I have more of those and they are time consuming. But here is an update on my coloring. :)

Happy Halloween!

It's Halloween and for once all I'm really going to do is work and probably watch movies on Youtube. I need to go grocery shopping as well. So I'll probably do that sooner rather than later. But as I mentioned before I do have a lot of work and I'm running out of time. So I'm going to strive to accomplish my goal and get my list of things done this weekend, for once. In the long run I'll be happier because when everyone is rushing to write their essays over thanksgiving weekend, I'll be relaxing in Paris. :)

I'm so excited about my project for American Postmodernism. I get to color. I'm also watching a lot of fun movies like: Alice in Wonderland, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, The Matrix, as well as, looking at poetry, literature and art from the post modern era. Here are a few of the entries I'm working on at the moment: (I really like my Alice in Wonderland entry)

It is the busy time in the semester. However it doesn't seem as busy as normal, probably because I don't have garments to do and boards or art projects to construct. It's still warm here, I can still wonder the streets in town in my flip-flops. :)

I've also decided that I really like cooking and can't wait to have my own kitchen. I've made dinner for other people twice recently, once for the guys (Aaron, Paul, and Cheese) and once for Aaron and his girlfriend (Lucy). For the guys I made pasta, with spicy tomato sauce and cheese, steam heated some veggies, made some toast and cut up a baguette and melted cheese on top of it. Then for desert we had the left over cake that I made for Megan's Birthday when she was here and some cookie dough ice cream.

For Aaron and Lucy I made spicy Mexican fajitas. Aaron and I got 4 chicken breasts, 2 green peppers, 2 red peppers, 1 yellow pepper and 2 white onions as well as salsa and a packet of spices/tortillas. Aaron cut up the chicken while I cut up the peppers and onions, then I threw as much of it as would fit into my frying pan with a little olive oil and cooked it until everything tasted done. We had some left over peppers and onions, in the future probably 1 onion, 1 red and 1 green pepper would have been about perfect. It was good though, I am going to have to make these when I get home. :)

I did use some of the extra veggies and onions last night, I made pasta, and sauteed some of the peppers and onions with a little bit of olive oil, salt and pepper. It was also good. :)

Unfortunately I keep burning myself when I cook, I've burned the my right hand a couple times on my fingers on either the frying pan or the toaster and today when I made grill cheese I burned my lip and one of my fingers on the cheese. :( Ah well... everything I've cooked thus far has turned out ok so that's always a plus. :) I also have gotten really good at scrambled eggs. I should try different things, expand my knowledge and I'm sure I will be making dinner for the guys at least once or twice more.

I'm thinking and I mentioned it to Aaron and Cheese that the guys and I should take a picnic (as in pack a picnic) and go out to Herne Bay in early december. :P It might be cold but it would also be nice to see it... lol.

Also I was thinking of making homemade chicken noodle soup at some point. But along those lines, maybe if it gets cold we could have a soup and grill cheese night. :)

But before I go planning too many dinner parties and social engagements (speaking of which at some point the guys and I are going to see Tim Burton's Nightmare Before Christmas, Rocky Horror Picture Show, and the New Christmas Carol Movie that comes out November 5th) But as I was saying before I go planning too much I need to get this work load done. This weekend: I have 7 entries in my reflective log to do, 6 papers to work on, 4 articles to read, some drawing to accomplish and some movies to see. :)

So I think that is all for now I should definitely get back to work. (It's so hard to get motivated these days)

On completely unrelated note I did purchase from a street vendor a nice blue and silver belt today. :)

Also, Also on a further unrelated note... I had an amazing dream last night and even though I was woken up at 8am this morning I just went right back to sleep and back to the dream again. And it seemed so real if only it were possible. sigh...

Alas now I must insist that I do some work...

I booked my Hostel... for Paris.

Now I just have to decide what I am going to see in the 3 1/2 days I am going to be there. :)

List of Paris Attractions I want to see:
Louvre Museum (9 Euros)
Museum of Fashion and Textiles (8 Euros)
Arc de Triomphe
The Palace of Versailles (16 Euros)
Notre Dame Cathedral (7.50 Euros)
Bateaux Parisiens River Cruise (11 Euros)
Eiffel Tower (stairs to the second floor - 4.50 Euros, Elevator to the top 11.80 Euros)
Palace de Bastille (? Euros)
Champs Elysees
Red Light District
Moulin Rouge
Place Vendome
and probably many more which I will research later. :)

There is trouble in river city as the saying goes... you know like Harold Hill, Music Man kind of trouble... except mine is always the same, it's boyish trouble... sigh... what's a person to do... I suppose I should just forget about it, what do you say to that....

Anyway, I have booked my trip to Paris, all except for the Hostel/Hotel, I just haven't found a decent location-price ratio yet... I'm super excited though. :) Look at me telling you all about it when I haven't even told you when I'm going. Silly me... :P

I leave Wednesday November 25th in the afternoon. I take a bus to London, walk to the train station (Kings Cross... yes I will take a picture of Platform 9 3/4) and I catch the Eurostar around 6pm where I shall arrive in Paris around 9:15pm. I am staying until Sunday morning 11/29, where I will catch the Eurostar around 9:13am and arrive back in London around 11am. Then hang out until 5pm where I will catch the National Express bus back to Canterbury.

Still need to find a Hostel for Saturday.

Anyway... I just need to stop thinking about boys... and this weekend I'm going to research and write papers... :) Then next week is reading week. :)

I'm presently Planning my trip to France. :)

It is occurring the last weekend in November. I am going to take a Bus to London Wednesday evening. Catch the Eurostar Train at Kings Cross Station (yes I will take a picture of platform 9 3/4) and arrive in Paris at some hour of the morning on Thursday. :P Depending on the hour I might watch the sunrise over Paris. Then I will be spending Thursday and Friday with Liz and Adi. Saturday I shall probably be on my own, and then I will head back Sunday morning. Spend some time Sunday with Liz and Adi in London before catching the 5pm bus back to Canterbury. :)

It sounds awesome. :)

I want to try and see:
Eiffel Tower
Basilica
Champs-Élysées and the Arc de Triomphe
Notre Dame
Louvre
Red Light District
Versaille
and probably many more sights...

Hello again,

Wow I feel like I have not written to you in quite some time. Well Megan came to visit this week and I have now been to London twice. :)

Megan arrived last Saturday around 3:30pm and so I did a bit of shopping and browsing around beforehand. We then went to London last Sunday for Brunch with Jean and Adi, which was really nice. Brunch was excellent, though I do not think I will ever get used to the English breakfast... it is just too meaty. We then walked through Hyde Park which was massive and nicely manicured. I really liked the Serpentine, and we saw Adi's chairs which apparently you have to pay 1 pound to sit in, ridiculous. Adi then took Megan and I to see Buckingham Palace, which as you might imagine was gorgeous and had copious amounts of beautiful architecture. :) (All that gold) He left us at Piccadilly Circus, which is a huge multi-street intersection with a cute statue of a cupid type figure in the sort of middle which our guide this past Friday told us that it is the meeting spot of lovers. From here though, Megan and I made our way to the Pedestrian bridge which crosses the Thames and there we saw the London Eye, Big Ben and Parliament. We also saw where the Aquarium is and The art museum was displaying the Dali exhibit at the time, which would be cool to see. We then crossed another bridge and walked right next to Big Ben and Parliament, saw Westminster Abbey and then made our way back to Victoria Coaching Station (which is where we took the National Express Bus), via Starbucks of course.

Megan came with me to all my classes, she found Shakespeare and Ethics to be the most boring probably... but that doesn't surprise me because the way shakespeare is taught and the fact that we are studying Romeo and Juliet at the moment (it is understandable) and ethics, well that whole subject is a bit dry so...

Speaking of classes... I have do some reading today for American Postmodernism, We are watching R&J tomorrow and taking notes, Ethics I need to look at Blackboard and probably read/take notes, British History I need to determin what I am doing my 2000 word paper on and what subjects I am using for my inclass essay, then I need to research. Same goes for Modern Britian, I need to decide my second 2000 word essay topic and begin researching.

Well anyway, this past Thursday, Megan and I spent most of the day shopping... though I did show her around the Cathedral which she like me thought it was extremely gorgeous. :) But we did accomplish getting gifts for people and I actually found gifts that people would probably really like. (so when I get my allowance not this week but next week I can go ahead and buy stuff again)

Friday I went to London again, with my group for our required field trip. And I have to say that it was not as cool as when Megan and I went, and I'm not talking about London... because London in my opinion is a really cute city. But traveling in a group is really not possible. So I look forward to going back on my own. I want to go to some of the museums since they're free. :) And I would love to do a bit of shopping here and there. I did get a cute Guardman Bear and I named him Phillip. :P lol.

I baked a cake when I got back from London on Saturday and Megan had made me dinner which was super sweet of her... and on a side note when I have a kitchen, cooking is really relaxing and enjoyable. (so far, everyone ... which is mostly Megan.... loves my Cooking) But anyway back to Cake, It was a chocolate Cake with Vanilla Icing and I used blue piping icing to write HAPPY B-DAY MEGAN and draw crazy designs around it. :)

We didn't do much yesterday, got to sleep in, had cake, Megan packed, we walked around town, Megan picked up some last minute things and then we trudged with her suitcases down to the Bus Station... After I put her on the bus... I came back here and relaxed. :) (She should be flying out in less than two hours, I have hope she has a good and safe trip home and I'm glad she came to visit. :) Thanks Megan for visiting.)

Anyway, that's all for now, going to get dressed then probably head into town.... return library books then do some browsing. :) Later, must clean, read, laundry, etc...

And by today, it is now yesterday and I mean today or (when I wake up after this nice thing called sleep) So in between my cleaning, figuring out plans for Paris next month, reading, and laundry I will write to you and hopefully work on writing captions to my pictures as well. :)

Goodnight.

So yea I have been to London now twice. It was very pretty, very pedestrian friendly which is nice. :) (since you all know how much I just like to walk)

Anyway, Megan leaves today (which is why I have been neglecting you this week) so in other words there are stories to record etc etc... later today.

By the way... I want to travel but I have 7 more papers to write and 1 creative project to do... However when I looked up plane tickets to Spain this morning (cause I failed to see Cassie in London yesterday :-( it was unfortunate) I can fly to Madrid, Spain on Ryanair for 35 pounds. But more about that later.

I also want to go to Paris when Liz and Adi go, and maybe Munich too... And I would like to make it to Scotland... and now I feel like I'm being stretched in so many different directions... But I'm definitely going back to London a couple times more... I can get a bus for 5 or 6 pounds each way.

But anyway that's all for now, I'll write more later this evening. :)

London was cute, more to say on that later. :)

Megan arrived today!

We are going to brunch tomorrow... She is very tired, so we are probably going to call it a night soon. :)

London in the morning... :) Then begins another week.

Ok so I did not finish the paper last night,

probably had too much to drink...

and therefore was really tired when we got in....

But, I did write some last night after we got back and I got up this morning at 7:15am (very surprising since I did not go to bed until 4:00am)

I have 700 words left to write, so I am doing good, just have to put 4 more quotes in, write explanation and transitional statements and then tweak my conclusion before I send it to Ken.

But No, I was not hung over this morning, as of yet... I never get hung over... but then I don't go to the drunken level of not being able to still think, talk and walk fine. I did however have 1 beer, 1 bottle of Ice (70cl), 2 glasses of wine, and 2 shots of JD.

Anyway I am going to finish my paper now and do my readings as well as eat dinner. :)

But first, I have to say: I bought a blue day dress today and a grey cardigan. :) :)

Got a good chunk of the paper done, I tweaked my Introduction and showed it to Erin, who said she thought it sounded better.

I wrote my social argument and I just need to tweak it a tad, wrote about 1/4 of my cultural argument, wrote about 1/4 of my political argument as well. I also wrote my conclusion but will tweak that later cause I need to re-write a good portion of it when I am done with the body. Also accomplished 1200 words so far, only 800 more to go as a minimum. :)

Celebrating Paul's Birthday tonight, I did dress up (I know shocker), I'm wearing my purple dress for the first time. :) I also bought him a cake and wrote on it with piping icing, Happy B-Day Paul.

But anyway when I get back tonight which who knows when that will be I am going to first of all scrub my face, cause I'm wearing makeup (yes I know another shocker) and then I am going to sit down and try and finish my paper...

So that I can read over it tomorrow morning and if I don't foresee any major problems, send it to Ken. I need to tweak my 500 word paper, this 2000 word paper, read and take notes for ethics, get the short stories/read/take notes on for American Postmodernism and make sure I don't have to do anything for Shakespeare. In other words finish all homework tomorrow, maybe do some shopping. Then clean and relax.

Saturday.... is all about the cleaning and relaxing, all homework must be done by Friday night.

I also need to remember to write that book title down and return it to the library on Saturday. I hope the weather is nice on Saturday, cause I want to take Megan around Canterbury if she is not too tired. Sunday we are going to London. :) I'm super excited. Anyway must finish getting ready... Will probably write more later. :)

Ok, so I was not as productive as I would have liked last night.

I did go out for 3 hours to celebrate Kathryn turning 21. We went to a little Japanese Restaurant called Yoshi, we ate lots of sushi and then made our way to a pub down by the West Gate called The Lady Luck Bar. I had one drink, we sat in there for maybe an hour, in which time we had one spillage... Mike hit the table and almost spilled everyone's drinks but fortunately there was only one casualty. However unfortunately it happened to be a glass of red wine, which kind of sloshed unceremoniously into a couple peoples' laps.

After The Lady Luck I dropped a couple people off at the Jolly Sailor and walked back to the house with the goal of writing a lot of my essay. However when I got back and read Erin's corrections of my introduction, which I did correct grammatically and I agree that it might need some tweaking idea-wise, I sat down to write some of the body and realized that I need to figure out what exactly I am saying...

I'm still hoping to have it written by the time I go out tonight or if not completely done by then, hopefully by mid-day tomorrow. Tomorrow I have my meeting with Chris about my BH paper and how I can improve the Dover paper which would be good. I also have to pick up some readings tomorrow and do all my readings/take notes tomorrow and Saturday morning. I have to find time to clean and I will probably do some laundry today.

But right now I'm going to examine how I can make my thesis clearer, maybe then I need to separate my souces into Social, Political and Cultural examples and then I need to research ideas for each topic and finally I need to sit down and try and write a cohesive argument.

So much to do... but I need to do it so might as well get it done.

1 more class and then it's another weekend. :)

To do today!
-Celebrate Kathryn's Birthday (Sushi tonight 6pm)
-Write most of my paper for MB
-Send my 500 words for Review to Chris if he will review it (must e-mail him after I'm done filling all of you in)
-Sleep

To Do List for Tomorrow!
-Finish paper for MB and send it to Ken for review
-Buy a Cake or make a cake for Paul
-Celebrate Paul's Birthday (his house sometime in the evening)

To Do List for Friday!
-Meet with Chris around 10:30am
-Finish editing papers and Print out in Ramsey if they are done
- Do readings and notes
-Relax

To Do List for Saturday!
-Clean Room
- Pick up Megan at the Bus Station
- Tour Canterbury
- Relax

To Do List for Sunday!
-Catch the 7:25 bus to London
- Brunch with Adi and Jean
- Relax

Then after all that we start another week.

I have music in my head but there is no one particular song, just chords.

I had one of my meetings today and the paper seems clearer now. Which is good. :) But I still need to sit down and write it before Saturday. I wrote my 500 word paper as well but I still need to edit it. I also have a meeting for that class on Friday so that we can discuss my last paper and how I can improve this paper, which should be good. :)

Dinner at Dr. Boyer's residence tonight (6pm) I'm not going to stay super long, cause I want to work on the papers. Then I have my 3 classes tomorrow and then it's the weekend again. Goal is to be done with papers by Friday evening. (Maybe with the exception of correcting after peer review)

Thursday we are celebrating Paul's Birthday... I think I should make him a cake or something. We'll see, I would then have to locate all the ingredients and the English really don't believe in baking anyway... But I may ask him what his favorite kind of cake is. :)

So list of things to do for the rest of the week:
Write 2000 words on a comparison between GB and the US on National Identity
Edit my 2000 words and have Ken edit it too (send it to him by Thursday or Friday)
Edit my 500 words and maybe have someone look it over after I talk to Chris about it on Friday
Bake Paul a cake if he gets back to me and I can find all the ingredients (for Thursday evening)
Clean my room
Return Library book and Pick up Megan on Saturday
Go to London on Sunday.

About to start another week. This will be my fourth week here. Somehow it seems like it is going by really fast. And I don't know how I feel about that...

I accomplished a few things this weekend. I researched quite a bit, set a meeting with that Professor for Tuesday at 3pm so that we can discuss my topic and where I am going with my paper. I also wrote a very rough draft of my 500 words on Dover and will revise it greatly once I get back my paper on Thomas Becket tomorrow. I also finally took out the garbage in my room. I need to run the sweeper and put away things.

Megan comes in a week!!!!!

I need to write my two papers, finish all other homework, clean my room, do my laundry and figure out where I am going to put her all before she gets here..

Hmmm....now that I finally got a burner to work, I am going to make pasta for dinner and then take some more notes, maybe watch a movie and then go to bed. :)

Ok now I am going to complete my Shakespeare notes and begin writing my 500 words on Dover, now.... lol. At least tomorrow is Sunday and not Monday... look on the bright side. :)

Epic Fail!

Food Time did not turn into Motivation....

Food Time instead turned into Social Time which turned into Let's go to the Grocery Store Time... and completely forget about focusing... Now I have returned and should probably once again Focus! for real.

I need to focus, why can I not focus. Food time. Then more focus... hopefully.

Stressing out over the week to come, I need to write a 2000 word paper on Britishness, Britain's National Identity and what it means to be British as compared to what is means to be American and the U.S' National Identity. And I also need to write 500 words on Dover but then you already knew that...

I also need to clean because Megan is coming in 1 week exactly... I'm so excited! I have been thinking lately and this may be the stress talking... but I will be really glad to go home, don't get me wrong I love England and I want to travel but there is just something about home and seeing the people that matter most in your life that makes it better. I'm not homesick and this is an amazing opportunity but I think when it is all done and we are on that plane back to the other side of the pond it will be sad but it will be happy too. :)

Sad because I really do love it here, and I want to come back some day when I'm not weighed down by academics and I can actually take it all in like a sponge.

But it will also be nice to go home, sleep in my own bed, see my family and friends. :)

*Be able to call people again and not worry about how many minutes I am using...

See my cats again.

By the way I think I know what I am going to base my senior collection on... Architecture, and specifically Architecture I've seen on this trip and today in the Library I found a book by pure happenstance called The Fashion of Architecture and it's a look at how Fashion and Architecture relate and how each influences the other. :P

Anyway I should get back to the present workload, I still have a year to go before my senior collection...

I also need to improve my sewing skills, I was telling this to Erin earlier and yes I know Practice, Practice, Practice... but I'm not good at practicing... I need someone to make me practice. Hopefully after I get home in December I can sit down and devise a plan.... I should make a list of projects that I should do... or I should get a sewing book with lessons in it and just do every single lesson until it's perfect. I don't know does anyone have any suggestions?

Still sick, though I don't feel particularly bad right now... I do cough a lot and my nose is still stuffy and when I take a deep breath in, it sort of rattles in my chest and my voice is still frogy. But what I am saying is that it is not as bad as it was a couple days ago.

How encouraging I'm sure...

On a positive note I did send out 5 more postcards today, I have 5 to send out tomorrow and 5 to send out Saturday. :)

My goal for today is to accomplish 3 subjects of homework: Shakespeare, American Postmodernism and Ethics, so I suppose I should get working on that instead of procrastinating here...

Alice is having a house party tonight, hopefully I'll be coughing less by then.

The Work Load begins...

So officially my week of classes is over, and finally the work load begins. All my classes went well, they just take some getting used to I think. Unfortunately I am rather swamped for the weekend. For Shakespeare I have to read Romeo and Juliet and take notes on it (but it does help that I have already read it a couple times before). For American Postmodernism I have 4 handouts to read and take notes on. British History I have to write another 500 word paper on "Why has Dover Castle been called "the key to England"? How successfully did it defend England between 1066 and 1945?" and I have to get my paper on Thomas Becket back either Friday after we get back from Dover or on Monday. For Ethics I have to go buy the text (it costs 5 pounds) tomorrow and then I have to read the first 2 pieces and answer the questions posted on Blackboard. And finally for Modern Britain I have to pick a topic to start analyzing and organize my first 2000 word essay which is due on the 13th. So busy busy. We are going to Dover as I mentioned before on Friday adn we should be there for most of the day, our itinerary looks like this:

Leave Canterbury 10:00am

Arrive in Dover 11:00am

Depart Dover 4:00pm

Arrive in Canterbury again 5:00pm

Now it's wed. and I have 4 days to do all this work, but it's just sort of overwhelming me... I just need to take a deep breath and take it one assignment at a time. And before long it will all be done and then another week of assignments will come and go... etc. And pretty soon the semester will be over and I'll be flying home (which reminds me I should consult with mom about how I'm getting home)

Anyway I need to write a mass e-mail and some postcards. :)

Nap was a no go... :(

I'm tired but I just can not sleep, maybe if I just go to bed early again tonight it will be better.

We got our allowances today (I feel as if they jipped us) but whatever I guess I'll just have to budget myself more than I already have. I still have to find gifts for people and I possibly want to go to various places, so I'll just have to watch what I spend my money on. :)

Things coming up:

This Friday we are visiting Dover Castle, the White Cliffs, and the War-Time Tunnels

Megan arrives in 12 days... and we are going to London for Brunch with Adi and Jean on that Sunday (October 11th)

On the 16th of October we have a scheduled trip to tour London (and I might get to see Cassie)

So all and all some pretty exciting things coming up. :)

So I am 21 as of yesterday and I feel like crap, though I did get a lot of nice notes from people, so thank you to all who remembered. :)

I've been sick since Friday morning, so it was not as good of a Birthday as I would have liked. And apparently I should be one of those people who announces my birthday everywhere I go cause I casually mentioned it yesterday and today and both times the two people basically asked me why I did not say anything... (well first of all, in my opinion I think it sounds quite self-centered and rude to tell people that it's your birthday and then they feel obligated to wish you a happy birthday or buy you a card when normally they would not have)

Mandy did decorate a corner of the Kitchen and left me a card on the table, it was very sweet. :)

The Weekend trip was good as well, we went to Oxford, the Cotswolds, Bath, Lacock, and Stonehenge. I took many pictures which I will try and put up soon. Everything was very pretty and I would love to go back at some point and spend some more time in certain areas, but all and all it was a nice weekend (if only I hadn't been sick)

Ok so I am going to nap now. but I'll write more later. :)

I'm glad it has been a rather peaceful day. I have a bit of stuffy nose and a little bit of a cough, so I think I am going to relax, finish packing for our trip and head to bed early.

My cupcakes came today. :) And they are too cute (Thanks Mom). Also got Mom and Dad's cards today. :)

Went grocery shopping, and walked around some of the shops. Did the last of my laundry too, now I think I will relax and possibly nap. :P

It was a good night. :)

We went to the Jolly Sailor, I had my first Real pint of Guinness (Happy Birthday Arthur). Hung out with Aaron, Luke, and Paul, which was awesome. And Malika when we went to the movie.
(So a night out with 2 of my housemates and some of Aaron's friends)

I had:
1 pint of Guinness
1 Baileys'
2 Double Vodkas and Coke
and 1/3 of another beer

We went and saw Ghostbusters 2 at the Oedon and ate Burger King. All and all it was a good night. :) Now I am all for bed, pleasant dreams.

P.S funny moments from tonight, Paul jumping poles and mike defending my honor that did not need defending... :P ("if any of you blokes do anything to her I'll beat your asses..." or whatever he said... he was drunk so it was probably pretty useless... but amusing all the same)

Also just as a side note: I don't like telling people here what I am studying in America cause so far they've all put it down... I guess if it is not becoming a doctor or doing anything "practical" like the sciences, it's a joke, something to sneer at...

I haven't been outside at all today, I just realized that. Kind of strange but I have been doing laundry and cleaning, as well as surfing the web and copying some recipes. And trying to figure out where I'm going to put up Megan for 5 days, cause the rule here is 1 guest for only 2 nights in a given week... (this is a problem) And even when she stays here, where is she going to stay, we have no common room (that is to say we have no couches unlike other houses) and I have no extra sheets or anything soft, the floor is rock hard and this is the first thing since coming here to make me stressed out... :(

List of Pubs and information

So far I have been to:

Penny Theatre
Jolly Sailor
Parrot
Seven Stars
Bar-Kandi
Casey's
Alberry's
Baa Bar

I still need to go to:
Two Sawyers
and any others that anyone should suggest to me.

Last night I only had two drinks, a small glass of Merlot (Penny Theatre) and a vodka and coke (Casey's).

*note to self, Baa Bar is 5 pounds to get in...

So far my top 3 pubs are: Penny Theatre cause they're cheap and they also serve cheap food, Jolly Sailor cause the atmosphere is warm and fun, and Parrot cause I like the outside terrace.

Bar-Kandi and Casey's are expensive, and I was not too impressed with Seven Stars; it was not bad it just was not that impressive. Baa Bar was expensive to get in but interesting though I'm told the Lue was absolutely disgusting and I did not drink anything there last night so I can not rate them on drinks... Alberry's the same, didn't drink anything there and really didn't go in so maybe have to give them another shot eventually.

Sarah wants me to go to Two Sawyers so I definitely have to make it there at some point. And I'm sure I will discover more a long the way, on one of my walks the other day down past the West Gate there is this pub called The Unicorn. :P

On unrelated news, my mother is sending me cupcakes from some local bakery (that's really cute) for my birthday and if it works they are supposed to be here tomorrow late afternoon (around 5:30pm) I hope they get here. :)

Saturday and Sunday we are going on our excursion, the itinerary looks something like this:

Saturday:
7:30am -Leave
10:00 am -arrive in Oxford (where we do a walking tour, and have some time to explore on our own)
1:00 pm -leave Oxford
1:30 pm -arrive in Cotswold Village (where we are touring Burford, Stow on the Wold and Bourton on the Water)
7:00 pm -Arrive at our hotel

Sunday:
7:00 am -Breakfast
8:30 am -Depart our hotel
9:15 am -Arrive in Bath (where we will have a walking tour, ending at the Roman Bath museum)
12:00 pm -Depart from Bath
12:30 pm -Arrive at Lacock
1:45 pm -Depart from Lacock
2:45 pm -Arrive at Stonehenge
4:00 pm -Depart from Stonehenge and travel back to Canterbury.

So today, I am going to shower, clean, rest my feet :P, finish copying recipes, maybe take a walk later, and relax. :P

Tomorrow, I have no idea (maybe more exploring...) :P

We finally get our allowance on Monday (too bad it could not have been in time for the weekend but oh well)

Never again am I wearing high heels on a pub tour, I had to walk back barefoot because my feet hurt so much and believe me the path back was not paved in squishy carpet, but it was better than those shoes...

Pub Tour went well, Barbie v. Action Man, I was Office Barbie. Anyway now I am tired and going to bed. Goodnight and sweet dreams. :)

I had my worst bit of sleep last night since coming here... People can be so inconsiderate... not too mention that my back is sore from this lack of a mattress I am sleeping on... and you can literally hear everything going on in the house as well as outside... there is obviously no belief in insulation. :(

It's the first day of fall, did you know that. :)

I did end up finding the library and ironically the bus station all in one moment this morning on my 2+ hour walk. Visited some more stores, things are either too expensive or not really my style. Though I can't say that for everything because I have found some things that once I have my allowance I will definitely try on. (I feel kind of out of style and frumpy here... yes I know me the fashion major...) But I think part of the reason is that the style here is not entirely my style and most of the people walking around here are stick thin, pretty and they can pull off anything... it's not fair at all... :P

*Plus I need to rethink my style a bit, I'm getting to the age where juniors clothing is just not acceptable anymore, (A.) I don't like how some of it looks on me anymore, B.) it's not well made and C.) I have curves which most younger teens do not) I need to sophisticate my style... And I really like a lot of the styles that Ann Taylor etc... do but I can't afford them on a day to day basis.

The phrase: My eyes are too big for my stomach comes to mind but in terms of my eyes are too big for my budget. :P And if you know me, I'm not a big spender, in fact I'll debate buying something until I eventually talk myself out of the whole thing. :) lol.

Another problem I have is putting things together, I can do it for others, I know what looks good together, things I put together for myself (when I have time to sit around putting outfits together) look good in the closet and on the hanger but on me, not so much... maybe it's all psychological... :P

Tomorrow it is supposed to rain, So I am going to wear Skinny Jeans, my Rainboots (if it is raining when I get up for class in the morning, flip flops otherwise) and since it is supposed to be 66 tomorrow as the high; a cream tank top and I'll bring my green zip up hoodie in case I get cold.

I'm staying in again tonight (mostly because nothing is going on (except for the comedian)... also I just don't feel like going out) Tomorrow night is the Action Figure/Barbie Pub Tour, I am going as Secretary Barbie (Black pencil skirt, Black High Heels, and either Maroon or Blue and white striped Button up, only thing I don't have is the glasses)

I started doing my laundry for the first time since I got here, and so far so good... nothing has bled unlike other people I've heard. Also it sucks not having a dryer but it's not the end of the world. It also sucks that washing anything takes like 2 1/2 hours but what can you do. :P I'm going to air dry everything, except maybe when I wash my bedding, I'll just go down the street and ask if I can use one of the other houses dryers. I kind of wish we at least had a yard with a clothesline since we don't have a dryer but oh well... maybe i'll string up my own. :P

I went to ASDA to look at baking my own birthday cake versus buying my own birthday cake and a thought struck me if I were to bake anything I would need flour, sugar, oil, eggs, mixing bowl, pan to bake in, etc... so I decided that buying was the preferred method. :P (Though i do want to bake, I miss it) And I want to cook, again once I get my allowance and I see exactly how much I get each week I will be able to plan out meals. :)

Some meals I have on a list:
Masaman Curry with Chicken
Pasta in Spicy tomato sauce with Chicken and Veggies

And From the Student Recipe book they gave us...
DIY Chicken Fajitas
Portuguese Soup
Chicken Quesadillas
Beef and Spinach Curry
Lamb with Ratatouille
Pizza (build your own)

I at least want to try a few, but I will be copying down all the recipes I like and taking them home with me to make dinners at home even if I can't make them here. :)

Classes tomorrow: Still just British History and Modern Britain, I think I will be really glad when the rest of them start, cause then I will actually have things to do... other than walk around all day exploring and what not. :P

Anyway that's all for now, write more later. :)

Still tired.

I probably have not been getting enough sleep, nor probably have I been getting particularly good sleep. The bed is not that comfortable unfortunately. The bedding they gave us is passable at best, the fitted sheet is so thin that it's like sleeping on the mattress without one, so therefore I have to sleep on top of the duvet if I am to be comfortable at all. Luckily they gave us a top sheet and I stole the little red blanket from Virgin Atlantic. :P Otherwise I would have had to buy some blankets.

I finished my paper, printed it in Ramsey along with the article from 2002, I may get a paper tomorrow and see if there is anything on Britishness in it; just in the case that he wants a more recent example. I mailed the first of the postcards to come after locating a post office that actually sold stamps. And I ate a really random combination of sandwich for lunch: Teriyaki Chicken with Mint and Cucumber Salsa. It was interesting, probably will not get it again. That is the thing I am learning about the English, they tend to put interesting things together, or have weird combinations of food. (at least weird in the sense that I have never heard of them before) But I suppose that is part of getting to know a new culture. I also decided that the English deep fry a lot of things, yet most of the people I see are stick thin, it does not make sense... (I think however that I will refrain from eating Fish and Chips, maybe just once, but honestly it's a heart attack in a basket)

I went on another long walk today, really most of my day was spent walking... a couple hours this morning and then a couple hours this afternoon. This morning was more about running errands, while this afternoon was a leisure stroll through some of the shops (which by the way I did see some things worth trying on... but I won't even try them on until I get my allowance b/c if I like them and can't buy them what was the point of trying them on in the first place. :P) But hopefully soon they will give us our allowances. (At least when I have it, I can always have cash on hand and I won't have to use my card all the time or take money out and pay horrible ATM fees or 3% on every purchase) And I can buy more groceries as well...

Speaking of food, I am for the first time going to make or but my own Birthday Cake this year. Since you know Sunday is the big day (I won't be here on Sat. or Sun during the day but Monday I am going to make a cake if I can figure out the oven, if not I guess then I'll just buy one. :P)

Apparently my mother has sent me cards and will be sending me a box, that's rather sweet. It kind of makes me miss my family and I'm sad that I will be with neither my family nor my close friends this year for my birthday. :( (And I know that my opinion may change but somehow I don't think so, when december comes although I feel like the English style is more in line with my own, and I really like it here thus far... I think I will be glad to go home, and glad to see the people whom I miss most excluding my nisky and college friends b/c I won't be able to see some and the rest I won't see until spring :-/)

I decided to stay in again tonight, I don't know if it's because i'm tired or because the party scene is definitely not me or because a part of me still doesn't feel like I fit in... My housemates go out, though Aaron is also taking a night off after he about faceplanted through the door last night, he was quite plastered. The first thing he said to me as I was helping him to his room was that he was never going out with the Americans again. :P (I could have warned him but I didn't think he would be that silly, though he told me today that he went out with not only the heavy drinking Americans but some Irish too, and all I could say was "and you didn't see that one coming" But apparently he didn't think the Irish and Americans would drink so much... (not smart) But he was much better this morning, so all is well.

I watched a movie (Coyote Ugly) and I took a nap before dinner so I am wide awake yet there is nothing to do and it would be silly to go out now... A part of me wishes I had gone out with Jenna and the rest of the Caz group but I know that I would have disliked it immensely... Kate came over with Neil (also Irish) earlier and Mandy left (for 10 minutes, though I'm not surprised she's not back yet.. lol) I just kind of wish I guess that there was a happy medium. I think it will be better when classes are underway and I will actually have something to do other than settle.

I can't wait until this weekend, lots of pictures will be in order. (I love how thin our walls are in our house as a side note I can hear all the merry drunks. :P) But anyway... back to what I was talking about, I hope the weather is nice. We are going to Bath, Oxford, Stonehenge and some smaller towns in between. (It seemed like a nice Birthday present if I do say so myself)

Speaking of presents, hopefully I can put a dent in my list...

Anyway enough chatter for now... Tomorrow I shall probably take another longer walk see if I can discover where the new library is and see what else I can see. Also should try and locate some local shops, not just the namebrand ones and maybe try and locate the best route to the bus station and the train station (that knowledge could become very useful in the near future). I should also just walk becuase it is very good exercise... I'm glad that we live out on the edge of town, walking is good exercise as i've just mentioned and I think people are silly when they complain about it... Walking is how you discover new places, it's a good way to stay fit, and in the nice weather we have been having (sunny and mid to upper 60's) it's the best way to travel. :P

But anyway i'm going to finish getting ready for bed, goodnight and sweet dreams. :)

I be Tired (said in a pirate voice)

I decided to stay in tonight. I did accomplish writing my 500 word paper on Thomas Becket though I'm not sure if I like the end of it, so I'm going to sleep on it and decide before I print it off tomorrow. I did find an article from 2002 on the BBC website for Britishness but I'm not sure if that's what he wants.

Going to call Mom, Dad and Alec soon, tried earlier but Mom and Alec were not yet back from Grandma's and no one picked up the house phone.

The last two of my housemates moved in today: Henrietta and Daniel and the last girl up here's name is Malika. They all seem really nice so that's good. :)

Malika, Aaron, Mandy, Kate, (a couple of Kate's friends, didn't catch names) and I went to the Jolly Sailor earlier today to watch the Irish football match. (Cork v. Kerry) Cork lost unfortunately... to all of our dismay. It was interesting, different but good. Irish football is different from American and even European football. It's kind of cross between the two with a little bit of basketball thrown in. :P

Well anyway another week starts tomorrow... I only have class on Wed. British History 9-11, Ethics 11-1 and Modern Britain 3-5. So it is a slow build up to a full schedule. lol. But I think I shall go ahead and call them and then maybe head to bed... :)

First paper and already I'm frustrated...

Frustration abounds... and not for the usual reasons, the length is good (only 1 page or 500 words), the topic is interesting, it is the question that bothers me and the boundaries of the paper.

We were told to base our short 500 word essays on our field trips alone, not to do extra research, to write solely based upon what we learned from the tour guide... yet, the question clearly states that I should have learned why the murder of Archbishop Thomas Becket was important to Canterbury as well as England... And yet, while I can hypothesize why it was important to Canterbury based upon what little the guide told us, I can't for the life of me see the answer to the latter part of the question...

And I am also having issues starting it and writing in a coherent fashion... I wish I were better at writing... :(

I tried writing it last night and it turned out very ill indeed, I feel as if I have never written anything before; looking at what I wrote last night. :P But hopefully with a bit of focused revision I should come up with a better composition. *Hopefully*

But today I have that to revise, I need to find an article still, need to do some cleaning and organizing... Need to call the fam. later, see how they are doing...
Monday I need to see about getting my computer registered if in fact it still needs to be... I need to mail out the first of the postcards, and relax a bit.

Irish Football later with Kate and Mandy (Cork v. Kerry)

New Housemates...

So our house gained 2 new people today (and we have room for 2 more... probably tomorrow)

Downstairs lives Aaron and the 2 empty rooms (I hope for balance sake that 2 guys move in tomorrow)

Upstairs it is Mandy, Jenna, myself, and one more girl whom I can't remember her name at this point but I think it began with M.

If 2 guys move in tomorrow it will be a 4:3 ratio Girls:Guys.

I also just met Aaron's friend Paul, Aaron is from just outside of London so not too far away.

And that's pretty much all I can tell you about them... (this is a pretty sad entry) maybe I'll have more to say later... I still have to finish writing the page on TB and finding an article for MB. Anyway Cheerio.

I've been gone now officially a week.

I got up around 8 this morning, and walked to campus for breakfast at 9. (The English breakfast is not my favorite, it's not bad, just different... I had sausage, scrambled eggs and a piece of toast. The best way to describe the sausage here is that it is not as solid as I'm used to it kind of falls apart once the skin is gone. The scramble eggs (first of all need some salt and pepper) are one step away from being liquid, not to say that they are bad, they look gross and the texture is really off but they taste good. And the toast kind of tastes and feels like it was deep fried but again it tastes good even though it looks weird and the texture is really off.

After I got some food into my system, I walked into town and looked in some of the shops. I went to the Cathedral "Gift" shop, I bought 5 postcards which I will be distributing into the mail by Monday at the latest and a book on costumes from 1500 - present. (very light reading but really beautiful pictures and it was small so it should not take up too much weight)

I also looked at the different clothing boutiques along the High Street and in the various streets off of it and everything is just so expensive. However I did see a Freakum dress (as Erin would call it) It was strapless, cornflower blue, fitted, extremely short (I think when I held it up to me it only reached upper to mid- thigh, and it had an exposed zipper down the middle of the front (from the top to the bottom) :P (I am tempted however... it is at H&M and only 24.99 pounds)... But then I ask myself where would I wear it, and I can just hear what mom would say if she saw it. lol. But we shall see...

I could not find the secondhand clothing store I was disappointed I know that it is somewhere... maybe I shall find it on another adventure.

I still have to come up with gifts for people.... hmmm....

Anyway, I have 5 postcards to write, a 1 page assignment on Thomas Becket to do ("Why was the murder of Archbishop Thomas Becket in the Cathedral in 1170 such an important event in the history of Canterbury and England?") and also I need to get a paper so that I can find an article about Britishness... (If you see such an article send it my way)

Well that's all for now, probably write some more later. :) (I still have to tell you about the new people who moved in today...)

Pirate Night...

It was good!

I had 4 drinks, a cider that mandy gave me before we left, 2 sex on the beach cocktails, and a vodka and coke. I'm still feeling a little out of it, but for the most part I am fine. :)

I hung out with Mandy, Kate, Alice, and Elisa again. Met Sean who is from Canada on the west coast not the east coast, and Jasmine who I believe is from some part of Ireland.

They had good music and we danced and hung out until it appeared that the party was winding down and then Mandy, Kate and I walked back to our houses.

It was brought up whether I miss home, and yea I miss it but I definitely think I'm settling in well here. I don't miss it as much as I did when I fist got here and I think I miss the people more than anything if there was someway that I could transplant the people here then that would be perfect. :)

Anyway I should sleep, goodnight all. Pleasant dreams. :)

Tour of Canterbury and the Cathedral

Before I get to how beautiful everything is here, let me write a few notes for myself on Thomas Becket whom I have to write a 1 page summary on for British History:

*Under reign of Henry II
*Post of Archbishop falls vacant
*Henry tired of the church having too much power appoints his very good friend TB (whom does not want to position) to priest and then Archbishop of Canterbury
* A quarrel errupts
* TB's loyalty changed from Henry to God and the Pope (this infuriates Henry)
*Henry is frustrated at this turn of events and threatens TB, TB then threatens to excommunicate Henry
* Legend has it one night surrounded by his supporters Henry in a drunken stupor exclaims in frustration "Will no one rid me of this turbulent priest?"
*Several of his followers having not recently been in the good graces of the king, take matters into their own hands
* they head to Canterbury, meet with TB and they argue. They leave but they assure TB that they will be back
* They come back the next day in the evening weapons in hand.
*They hack TB to pieces, Henry is forced to do a pentence and assassins are forced to flee the country.
*TB then becomes a saint and a martyr
*Church gains much capital


Ok now onto the tour. The town is gorgeous, the Cathedral is breath-taking. There really aren't words to describe it... It's one of those things that no matter how well someone can describe it, the actual sight is a million times better, my pictures don't even do it justice and there are lots of pictures.

All the intricate details and the architecture, it is just mind blowing...

By the way I had a thought this summer... that since I love architecture and this semester being here in England I was going to be able to see all this wonderful architecture that I think maybe I will base my senior collection off architecture. The only problem becomes that they probably will want me to focus on a specific period of time and I'm not sure whether I would find that too boring or not as interesting as maybe focusing on a place and basing my collection on influences of all kinds of architecture throughout different time periods... but we shall see. I still have time to think of that.

As I said a moment ago I did take many pictures and they will be posted. Tomorrow I also plan to go into town and buy some post cards as well. :)

Tonight is a Pirate themed party so I'm going to wear my rainboots which actually being black are pretty similar to pirate boots (just not as flashy), dark wash skinny jeans, white shirt with a frilly collar, and Idk what else, kind of wish I had an eye-patch or a black bandana and I know a lot of people will go buy things, but if you have to buy things for every party it's bound to get fairly expensive and I rather spend my money on gifts, things for myself, post cards, and travel.

Speaking of Travel, it's so expensive but I think I will at least take one trip outside of our planned ones and probably going to Paris with Liz and Adi in Nov. And I think I really want to go to Scotland, but 230 pounds seems so ridiculous.

I'm sure it will all work out. :)

Look for the pictures on facebook....

Day 6

You know... I really do find the British System of what we call higher education quite charming, different... but I like it. :)

Some of the differences include:
-They divide College and University into two separate things: College to them refers to the ages of 16-18 and University is 18 and beyond.
-They also teach their courses for the entire year so essentially they are on Trimesters.
-They don't have Gen. Eds. (but most people were already aware of that fact) This is also why they operate a 3 year program rather than a 4 year program.

I would go on... and I probably will later but I must run and finish getting ready so that I can walk the 15min. to Campus in order to have a decent breakfast and then it is off on a tour of Canterbury and the Cathedral. :)

It's been a Lazy Day

At least I never have anything on Thursdays...

I woke up late and it was probably a good thing that I slept in anyway because I felt a little groggy but no headache, showered and went to ASDA as I mentioned earlier. Ate cereal for breakfast and a pizza for lunch, it was really good, and I was starving at the time. Then around 1 I decided to lay down and ended up napping until between 4 and 5. Went for a long walk around 6, saw a bunch of cool shops that I want to go in at some point and found at least 3 of the pubs I went to last night.

A word to the wise if you are looking to shop just keep in mind that most shops are closed by 6pm maybe 7pm on certain nights and most shops open around 9am.

But all and all it was a nice walk, I got back around 7:30 and I guess both my housemates went out...

It's now 10:45 almost and I'm tired again... maybe this is jet lag or maybe my walk actually did tire me out or maybe I'm coming down with something, who knows...

I should get some sleep soon, Tour of Canterbury and Canterbury Cathedral tomorrow at 10:50... So therefore I am waking up at 8, showering, breakfasting, and then meeting at the SU at 10:40. There will be lots of pictures. :)

Grocery Shopping...

So I just got back from Grocery Shopping:

I bought...
*Wheat pasta and pasta sauce (Spicy Tomato... sounds so good)
*Special K
*Whole milk
*2 boxes of frozen pizza which have 2 pizzas each in them and I can microwave them too. (since you know they didn't supply us with a baking sheet...)
*Detergent so that I can actually do my laundry, I went with Woolite for delicates... A.) b/c it's the only brand I recognized, B.) I always wash everything I own on delicate and/or cold and C.) although the very pink color of it gave me pause I figure I won't have to do laundry all that often anyway it's only 3 months... plus as a bonus D.) it was small. :P
*Bread which is in my freezer right now and I'll just thaw it when I want to eat it. lol.
*And last but certainly not least Batteries, I finally found some place that sells batteries, because I had a mishap with my rechargeable ones and the charger, I think the charger got shorted out by the old adapter and therefore since the rechargeable batteries weren't pre-charged I can't use them.

I also left my pasta sauce at ASDA because you bag your own stuff and I probably just missed it between having to sign the bill and get everything in the bags... So all and all I had to run back and get another one.

It's been one of those days... (not necessarily in a bad way, though I had a mishap with a heater this morning)
I was using the downstairs bathroom because it actually has a standup shower unlike ours up here which is more like a bath made for a 5 year old because the seat in the bath takes up literally half the bathtub, whoever designed this bathtub obviously did not have the average person in mind... But anyway I am getting sidetracked, So I took a shower just fine, had to play around with the burning hot vs. the warm just right temperature water or the freezing ice cold water... But the shower was actually really nice. I get out and I'm cold so I pull the string that turns on the heater box unit and I let it run till I'm pretty much dried off and warmed up and I go to turn it off and it won't. To make a long story short apparently sometime between me getting the Warden and us walking over to the house again it had shut off, he then explained to me that it takes a bit of time to shut down again even though the one up here shuts off right away. So whatever as long as it shuts off and I'm not going to burn down the house. Thats all I care about. :) (It just wanted me to freak out slightly... lol)

I just hope that whoever moves in this weekend will let us use that shower still...