January 2010
13 posts
Technical Difficulties
This blog has been heinously neglected over the past few days due to my preparations for traveling back to Salem and consequently arriving at my apartment to find that I could not get an internet connection. As of right now I only have access to campus internet and therefore have not gotten a chance to upload pictures from the past few days. Obviously the plan to make this a daily blog has...
Communication Breakdown
I have failed myself with this blog the past few days, so I’m using this entry as a way to catch up on things since the weekend. Sunday evening I went to Rob’s for dinner and to watch (500) Days of Summer with him, Chris, and Amanda. Rob made a delicious pork tenderloin and Caesar salad (with dressing from scratch), Chris and Amanda supplied cheesecake for dessert, and I brought some...
The Same Deep Water as You
Just a quick one tonight. Once again, I had an incredibly late night and wound up sleeping in until late morning. So, once again, I spent my afternoon and early evening at home, mostly just hanging out with my parents but not doing much of anything in particular. I went out to Andrew’s house for awhile (tonight’s picture is of Dom playing with Sophie and Oscar, Andrew’s...
Be True to Your School
Today I had the marvelous pleasure of having dinner and (super-delicious) margaritas with Linda Davey, my former AP English teacher, and some friends that were also in her classes in high school. Lionel was unable to attend, so I’ll just assume that he had some sort of top-secret government mission to attend to. I will accept no other excuses. We had a fabulous time at El Pinto catching...
Mutha'uckas
Another late night. My old friend Andrew Turley is in town from Arizona for a long weekend, and I wound up meeting him and Jackie at IHOP around 11:00 since it’s the only place around here open 24 hours (besides Wal-Mart, which is not an option for me). We talked a lot about our elementary and middle school days and all of the people that we used to know, catching each other up on what...
Too Little Too Late
I neglected to take a picture today, but I’m updating this anyway so I don’t feel like a total failure. I began my day around noon, since I was up until about 4:00 yesterday morning. Spent the afternoon at home with my mom, then saw my dad briefly before heading out to meet Laura and Kara at Satellite. We stayed there almost until closing and then went to Dom’s to hang out...
The Art Teacher
Today (yesterday, if you want to get technical about it), Christian, Cosette, and I visited Lionel Betsch, one of our high school teachers. During my junior and senior years, I had AP U.S. History, Literature at the Movies, and AP Art History with him. He was an incredibly influential figure for me in those two years and in the years since. Without teachers like him, who truly challenged me,...
After Hours
I’m beginning to realize that my nocturnal nature is going to prevent me from posting these on time quite often. Today I went with my parents to have lunch down in ABQ with my grandparents and great-aunt. In the few hours we spent at my grandparents’ house, the conversation was dominated by the price of land and how they all wish they had invested in property back in the ’80s...
The Lights and Buzz
Two pictures today. The first is my coffee cup and book, taken while I was at Satellite Coffee this evening with Laura. The second is the moon from outside Dom’s house (using a lot of zoom, of course). Had another late start today since my sleep pattern is always ruined over breaks, so I spent the majority of the afternoon reading more of The Lost Symbol (although I didn’t get...
Sleep All Day
Today was a lazy day at home; I spent yesterday (the 1st) recuperating from a fabulous New Year’s Eve, and a good part of today was devoted to reading Dan Brown’s latest (The Lost Symbol) since Dad finished it yesterday afternoon. While I didn’t venture out of the house today, I knew I at least had a willing subject in one of our two cats, Val (or, more formally, Val N....
Champagne From a Paper Cup
The beginning of a new year - one that promises to be quite an interesting one for me: a new internship, completing a thesis, college graduation, and applying for graduate schools. Not to mention my sister’s wedding (to the best brother-in-law I could ask for), my parents’ 30th wedding anniversary, and hopefully many other happy occasions. I was fortunate to have my best New...
The New Year
I am starting this a day late, so I will be posting two entries after this. I have never kept a single New Year’s resolution, and I don’t know if this year will be the year that one sticks, but I’m going to try. Since this blog originally started as my way of keeping family and friends updated on my travels abroad, and I will not be going abroad this year (that I know of; one...
October 2009
1 post
The World in My Eyes/Globes and Maps
In some ways I can’t believe that it’s already been five months since I left London, and in other ways it feels like it was so much longer ago. I find myself getting more homesick for London than I do for my actual home; maybe this is normal the longer you’ve been away from home and the more places you’ve lived. When I think about the fact that I was incredibly hesitant...
April 2009
2 posts
Reflections
What did you assume before you left that you are not finding in your host-country, host-culture and/or host family and friends? Why did you make those assumptions?
I have found that what I expected from my host family and what I expected from my host country are very different, and what I would have expected in each of them has instead been present in the other. I know that probably sounds a bit...
Life is Wonderful
Okay, so it is time for me to confess something that most of you have probably already realized: I am a terrible blogger. When I started this blog I was hoping to update it weekly, maybe even more, but that plan quickly failed. So, with that being said, here is the quick update on the past few weeks here:
I managed to survive my midterms in my usual procrastinating ways, and once that was done...
March 2009
3 posts
Oscillate Wildly
So, the past few weeks have involved trips to Scotland and Greenwich (including the Prime Meridian!), more excellent theatre, my first couple of papers of the semester, and (as of today) a St. Patrick’s Day festival in Trafalgar Square. I also have two papers, a theatre journal, and a history midterm all to be completed in the next four days, so I am beginning to freak out a little over...
A Little Less Conversation
Okay, so it’s been a really long time since I’ve properly updated this thing. The past few weeks have been incredibly busy, and it’s only getting busier as I’m preparing for my midterm tests and papers this week. Thankfully, this coming Friday begins spring break! My friend Christian from high school is coming out from Boston, and we’re going to spend a week in...
At Full Speed
So, I realize that I haven’t updated this in two weeks now, but I chalk it up to an increasingly busy schedule, a migraine followed by a nasty cold, and an extended trip to Scotland. I’ll be writing more about those later (at least the schedule and the Scotland trip, probably not so much the sickness) within the next few days when it’s not 1:40 in the morning and I don’t...
February 2009
5 posts
Friday I'm in Love...
…With Bath, that is!
This past Friday everyone in our program took a train from Paddington Station in London to Bath. I have to admit, when I woke up at a quarter to 6 that morning, I was not particularly in the mood to go explore a medieval city, and a few of my friends seemed to be in agreement with me. By the end of the day, however, we were all in love. Bath is absolutely gorgeous,...
Transatlanticism.
In the past 10 days I have:
Met and hung out with some incredibly cool people. Walked more than I ever have in my entire life (or at least it feels like it). Drank enough coffee to already fill up a frequent drinker’s card at Caffè Nero. Proven my theory that caffeine does absolutely nothing to keep me awake. Eaten fish and chips (twice!). Had my feet blistered beyond belief (twice!). ...
Streets of London
Our first day of orientation was canceled because we got about 4 inches of snow Sunday night, and according to my host family and my friend Craig, even 1 cm of snow is enough to shut down the entire country. No buses or trains were running, and the snow continued on and off throughout the day, so we were pretty much stuck in whatever towns we all live in. Thankfully, I have an awesome...
A Rush of Blood to the Head
I am in London.
It’s really strange to be able to finally say that. I’m not really jetlagged because I spent a few days in New York before flying out here and took an overnight flight. However, I didn’t get any sleep at all on the way over (combination of excitement/turbulence/awesome entertainment choices courtesy of British Airways), so I AM extremely tired and have a pretty...
Across the Universe
Right now I’m sitting at JFK airport waiting to board my British Airways flight to London where I’ll begin my semester abroad. They want you to pay $9.95 for a day pass on the internet here, and as they begin boarding in about half an hour I’m not desperate enough to pay that, which means by the time this actually makes it online I’ll already be in England and settled into the home where I’ll be...
January 2009
1 post
Leaving So Soon
I’m leaving for New York two weeks from tomorrow, and London two weeks from this Saturday. I just finished UNpacking yesterday what I brought home in December, so I haven’t even started thinking about what I’m going to pack from London and how I’m going to pack it. There’s still so much left to do before I leave and I can’t believe how little time there is to...
November 2008
1 post
Beginnings
I’ve tried to start blogging before and have never really kept up with it, mostly because I never felt like I had much to write about. However, now I have a reason to finally start and maintain one: in just over two months, I’ll begin a semester studying abroad in London! I’m both very excited and very nervous because I have never traveled outside of the United States, let...