please please please please dear Lord in heaven, refrain from dumping even more snow on London so that my Thursday flight will not be cancelled and so that I will get home before Christmas. This is all I ask.
Although, if you could spare a second favor, an earlier flight would also be quite welcome.
It is taking every ounce of my concentration, as I sit in the lobby of this hotel in Notting Hill, not to break down crying as from the window I watch the snowflakes growing steadily larger. In order to combat the despair that will surely overwhelm me as soon as I am out of sight of the desk man, I am going to talk about all the things I have to be thankful for. They include:
Number One: My dad. He is a hero among men. I'm sure he had a lot of important things to do at work today, but as far as I can tell, he has been meticulously combing the Delta website looking for fleeting cancellations that would enable me to come home sooner. He succeeded in moving my flight up from Friday to Thursday, which, being the difference between getting in on the 23rd and getting in on Christmas Eve, is like, a big ol' Christmas miracle.
Number Two: My London roommate, Lea. She originally was in my situation, of having had her flight cancelled and not being able to get out until Thursday. She booked a hotel in Bayswater (near Notting Hill) and we were going to share the room. She managed to get on a standby flight this afternoon, but left her reservation so that I could use it. I am eternally grateful. The hotel is nice, and weirdly it's in the same neighborhood as the Eurolearn people had us staying in at the very beginning, so I kind of know my way around. At least, a few things are blessedly familiar.
Number Three: Britain's drinking age. I went to a pub down the road to eat dinner and get a drink after I checked into this hotel. When I ordered, I had sort of forgotten that I had eaten nothing the whole day at Heathrow. Sitting there drinking my Bulmer's pear cider, waiting for my food and reading my e-copy of Emma, I accidentally ended up a little drunk, which really helped, as Jane Austen would put it, "calm my nerves."
Number Four: Heathrow airport's left luggage room: Were it not for that, I would have either had to pay seventy quid for a taxi to my hotel, or I would have had to battle the Piccadilly and District lines with my giant suitcase, my tiny suitcase, my backpack and my computer bag. Thanks to Heathrow, I was able to store the two suitcases and just take my two little bags to the hotel. Which brings me to—
Number Five: H&M. I knew where it was, because I knew where the mall was from staying here in September. Since I stored all my luggage, I only had one change of clothing with me. I was able to buy some basics for pretty cheap, and I have a clean new sweater to wear on the plane.
The snowflakes look smaller now than they did when I started this post. That's Number Six.
Anyway. I am going to try to make the most of this. I am going to go back to the British Museum to see their travelling exhibit on the Egyptian Book of the Dead, and I am going to hit up the National Gallery. I might go see another show tomorrow. Who knows. This whole thing doesn't seem as much of a disaster as it did about four hours ago... that is, as long as my new flight actually leaves when it's supposed to. Touch wood. Perhaps tomorrow I will even be in a good enough mood to write the post I was planning on doing today: top ten things I would miss about England. We'll see.
Hope to be seeing you all sooner than I expect!
Love,
Catherine
Monday, December 20, 2010
Tuesday, December 14, 2010
Partying...
...is happening back home amongst my friends quite often these days, which is tough, because I wish I could join in, but I comfort myself with the knowledge that I'll be back home in a mere five days. Yippee! Aside from a debacle with my English paper, my assignments are coming along nicely. I'm leaving one paper for over the break, because it's about LOST and I can't get Netflix in this stupid country.
That's not fair. I don't really believe this country is stupid. In fact, quite the opposite; I love it here. I can't believe I have to go, without any idea when I might return. Hopefully for grad school, at least. This weekend we went round London taking silly Christmas pictures at places like Abbey Road and Harrods and the South Bank. Every time I go into London I find that I'm going to miss is even more. Kingston I could take or leave. Kingston Uni I could take or leave. Actually I'll be happy to leave Kingston Uni, where I am not impressed with the attitudes of most students. Whatever. London, though. I can't believe I have to go home to Tulsa.
Right now I'm waiting for word from my professor about my English paper, which is probably going to be a fruitless endeavor, so let's revisit my goals.
-5 new countries: Fortunately, this most important of my priorities I have accomplished! Sweden, the Netherlands, the Czech Republic, Austria, and Ireland make exactly five, not to mention France, which I've already visited. This brings the total number of countries I've visited up to a round ten. Awesome.
-Out of the way places: Charleston Farmhouse, yes. Chawton (Jane Austen's house), yes. Charles Dickens' house in London, yes. This one could have been better, but in the last weeks here I decided with the combination of my dwindling funds, my mounting workload and the blistering cold, some of those places, like Durham and Wales, just weren't going to be possible. Which sucks, and is just another reason I wish I could stay longer. But, you know. Grad school.
-London buses: Epic fail. Whatever. Really, everything I ever do in London is either within walking distance of wherever I am, or within walking distance of the Tube. I didn't bother visiting on Tube strike days. Kingston buses, on the other hand, which are a part of the London bus system, I am an expert in. Which is unfortunate because they are all terrible.
-None of my parents' money: Mostly a success. The only substantial thing I used their money for was a travelcard, but really, that's all. Everything else has come out of my savings and money from TU.
-More friends: While I haven't made any friends as close as Lea or Carolyn, I have managed to make at least one friend in each of my classes, and in my seminars and my journalism class I feel a lot less like an outsider than I did at the beginning. Not to mention, I've hung out several times with Carolyn's boys, who are great. Also, I've made connections with most of my professors, which is reassuring because that's usually how I operate at home.
-Room tidy: Mostly a success. Lately it's been more difficult, as I've been more busy and staying out later, but all in all I've been a lot neater than I usually am at home.
-One postcard per week: Overall a success, but lately a big fail. I've sent enough postcards to average out one per week, but I have a pile of them on my desk right now that have been sitting there for weeks that I haven't sent. Oops.
-One thing per day I fear: This one is so weird. For about the whole first half of my time here, I was hyper focused on this, and it took a conscious effort to do anything, because I was afraid of everything. I know that I am still afraid of things, like turning in papers and going to seminars and singing in the choir and filming interviews and ordering at pubs and talking to people in shops... but I don't notice it anymore. That is, I don't notice the effort it takes to do these things. I don't know if I'd say I wasn't afraid anymore; rather that I have proportionally more ability to cope with my fear. This is the part of me that I think has changed the most over the past twelve weeks, and the thing that I most hope sticks when I go back home. But, I think it will. I am, of course, so afraid of sliding back into my timid, always-assume-the-worst mindset. In the spirit of not always assuming the worst, however, I am confident that I can keep it up.
-Internships: Just applied to six, but I still have the Tulsa World, Breakthrough Collaborative, and NPR to do when I get back. The point is, I didn’t slack off and miss all the early deadlines like last year.
-Don’t say mean things: This might have been a success simply because I know fewer people about whom to talk. I am converting this one into a goal for when I get back.
With this evaluation, I score myself about an 80%. But that does not take into account all the other stuff I accomplished, which I did not think to incorporate into my goals. Like writing a novel. And embracing feminism. And making a lifelong-caliber friend. And developing a taste for beer. And gin and tonics. And re-investing myself in my faith. And re-wetting my literary appetite. And taking a few excellent photographs. And becoming a regular at a pub. And knowing my way around London. And discovering the electric kettle. And going to the Globe three times. And not wanting to come home.
So, you know. I think I earned some bonus points.
<3
C
That's not fair. I don't really believe this country is stupid. In fact, quite the opposite; I love it here. I can't believe I have to go, without any idea when I might return. Hopefully for grad school, at least. This weekend we went round London taking silly Christmas pictures at places like Abbey Road and Harrods and the South Bank. Every time I go into London I find that I'm going to miss is even more. Kingston I could take or leave. Kingston Uni I could take or leave. Actually I'll be happy to leave Kingston Uni, where I am not impressed with the attitudes of most students. Whatever. London, though. I can't believe I have to go home to Tulsa.
Right now I'm waiting for word from my professor about my English paper, which is probably going to be a fruitless endeavor, so let's revisit my goals.
-5 new countries: Fortunately, this most important of my priorities I have accomplished! Sweden, the Netherlands, the Czech Republic, Austria, and Ireland make exactly five, not to mention France, which I've already visited. This brings the total number of countries I've visited up to a round ten. Awesome.
-Out of the way places: Charleston Farmhouse, yes. Chawton (Jane Austen's house), yes. Charles Dickens' house in London, yes. This one could have been better, but in the last weeks here I decided with the combination of my dwindling funds, my mounting workload and the blistering cold, some of those places, like Durham and Wales, just weren't going to be possible. Which sucks, and is just another reason I wish I could stay longer. But, you know. Grad school.
-London buses: Epic fail. Whatever. Really, everything I ever do in London is either within walking distance of wherever I am, or within walking distance of the Tube. I didn't bother visiting on Tube strike days. Kingston buses, on the other hand, which are a part of the London bus system, I am an expert in. Which is unfortunate because they are all terrible.
-None of my parents' money: Mostly a success. The only substantial thing I used their money for was a travelcard, but really, that's all. Everything else has come out of my savings and money from TU.
-More friends: While I haven't made any friends as close as Lea or Carolyn, I have managed to make at least one friend in each of my classes, and in my seminars and my journalism class I feel a lot less like an outsider than I did at the beginning. Not to mention, I've hung out several times with Carolyn's boys, who are great. Also, I've made connections with most of my professors, which is reassuring because that's usually how I operate at home.
-Room tidy: Mostly a success. Lately it's been more difficult, as I've been more busy and staying out later, but all in all I've been a lot neater than I usually am at home.
-One postcard per week: Overall a success, but lately a big fail. I've sent enough postcards to average out one per week, but I have a pile of them on my desk right now that have been sitting there for weeks that I haven't sent. Oops.
-One thing per day I fear: This one is so weird. For about the whole first half of my time here, I was hyper focused on this, and it took a conscious effort to do anything, because I was afraid of everything. I know that I am still afraid of things, like turning in papers and going to seminars and singing in the choir and filming interviews and ordering at pubs and talking to people in shops... but I don't notice it anymore. That is, I don't notice the effort it takes to do these things. I don't know if I'd say I wasn't afraid anymore; rather that I have proportionally more ability to cope with my fear. This is the part of me that I think has changed the most over the past twelve weeks, and the thing that I most hope sticks when I go back home. But, I think it will. I am, of course, so afraid of sliding back into my timid, always-assume-the-worst mindset. In the spirit of not always assuming the worst, however, I am confident that I can keep it up.
-Internships: Just applied to six, but I still have the Tulsa World, Breakthrough Collaborative, and NPR to do when I get back. The point is, I didn’t slack off and miss all the early deadlines like last year.
-Don’t say mean things: This might have been a success simply because I know fewer people about whom to talk. I am converting this one into a goal for when I get back.
With this evaluation, I score myself about an 80%. But that does not take into account all the other stuff I accomplished, which I did not think to incorporate into my goals. Like writing a novel. And embracing feminism. And making a lifelong-caliber friend. And developing a taste for beer. And gin and tonics. And re-investing myself in my faith. And re-wetting my literary appetite. And taking a few excellent photographs. And becoming a regular at a pub. And knowing my way around London. And discovering the electric kettle. And going to the Globe three times. And not wanting to come home.
So, you know. I think I earned some bonus points.
<3
C
Thursday, December 2, 2010
Perhaps...
...you've noticed my abysmal posting record of late. Rest assured that those days are gone. Prior to Tuesday morning at two thirty, my time was primarily being commandeered by National Novel Writing Month, which for some idiotic reason I decided to attempt this year, despite the ridiculous amount of work I have to do and generally being overwhelmed just by being in this country. And somehow I finished! I completed, for the second time in my life, a 50,000 word novel in the month of November. I now feel I have earned the title "novelist."
A lot of things happened while I was doing all this noveling. I skipped class one day to go to Jane Austen's house, and I skipped class another day because I was in Ireland with my family. Now I am done skipping class, because I have far too much work to do to be missing anything.
Unfortunately the weather does not seem to agree. We had a snow day today — my one class got cancelled. Which is fine with me, because my seven minute walk to the bus in the morning turns to fifteen (at the least) in the snow, and my twenty minute bus ride turns into forty. So not worth it for an hour of class.
So I guess I'll say some things about some things. Like.
Jane's Austen's House!
This is in a tiny village near Alton. This is the house that she spent the last good chunk of her life at, and where she wrote and published most of her stuff. I loved it. The nice thing about out-of-the-way sites like that one is that in the middle of November in the rain and cold, there are virtually no tourists. We almost had the house to ourselves. Unfortunately they do not allow photos inside, but it was worth it to go around. A lot of the stuff is really well preserved, and they have a lot of letters and things on the walls, and some really amazing stuff like her sister Cassandra's watercolors. I got a ton of nerdy stuff from the gift shop. The little village was so cute; about every third house has a legit thatched roof, and I'm sure only about a hundred people live there. Unfortunately the village pub wasn't serving.
It was definitely worth skipping class. I re-read Sense and Sensibility for my term paper in 18th Cent. Lit and I was happy to find that I understood it far better than when I read it in high school, and that I enjoyed it a lot more. I'm sure the two things are linked.
So, that was cool. I'm glad we went when we did, because it was about the last tolerably warm (i.e. not deathly cold) day that we've had.
Then, you know, my parents and brother came to visit me, which had the bittersweet affect of making me super happy the whole week but a lot more homesick after they left. But I'll come back to that and instead talk about...
Ireland!
One of my professors at TU swears that Ireland is magical, and I can see what he means. It was overcast for a lot of our visit, but one thing that really struck me was that the way the sun is, the way the light hits everything, it never quite lights it up properly. Instead it sort of bathes everything in a whiteish glow. It's most pronounced when there's mist or fog, but even on the clear days, the sunlight was never as bright as it is here or at home. It was really strange but really lovely.
I'm glad my family was happy not to spend most of our time in Dublin, because, as most people have told me, the Irish countryside is where it's at. We spent most of our time driving around, visiting castles and cliffs, and popping in to local pubs. Everyone is so friendly, too, and everyone has a dog. The perfect combination of these two features was when the woman selling admission to this ancient ruin site, who had her dogs in the ticket booth with her, let us take one of them for a walk down to the old fort. Who does that? Irish people, that's who. Then, at the Cliffs of Moher, there is a three-legged sheep dog who hangs around for all the tourists to love on him. I think what he used to do is like, lead you up this path to the top of one of the cliffs, but they stopped letting people go there because they would get blown off the cliffs by wind gusts or whatever. There are all these signs everywhere for help with depression for all the people who go there to commit suicide. They don't have those at the Grand Canyon, let me tell you. It sounds awful to say, but it was horrifying and hilarious at the same time.
Our last day we spent in Dublin, which was nice to get to see, but did not capture the imagination quite like Stockholm or Prague. We took one of those bus tours, and we were lucky to get a live instead of a recorded guide as we passed the Guinness brewery (which probably takes up like, half of Dublin). You could tell he loved talking about Guinness. I guess back when it started, it was a really good company to work for; it was the only one at the time to give paid sick days and stuff like that. You can't actually tour the proper brewery anymore, just the museum/shrine to Mr. Guinness, which is too bad. Anyway, the whole time we were around the Guinness quarter, the guy was chattering on and on about Guinness and telling us all these funny stories, and then as soon as he got to the part where he had to announce the next stop, all he said was something along the lines of, "And the next stop is the Modern Art Museum," which was followed by three minutes of dead silence. My dad an I were cracking up; it seemed so stereotypically Irish.
We saw St. Parick's cathedral, (we thought) like good Catholics, but as it turns out, St. Patrick's is actually an Anglican church, thank you Henry VIII. This really upset my mom and me. We came all the way to Ireland and didn't even manage to see a single Catholic church? Ridiculous. But it was beautiful, and really, not being Catholic doesn't diminish it in any way I guess. It's just sort of sad.
The last thing we did was, I sort of tricked my family into agreeing to go to the Dublin Writer's Museum, which after seeing Jane Austen's house, I thought was going to be really cool, but was actually sort of a bust. It was pretty informative, but not all that interesting. I thought it was going to have a lot more artifacts or manuscripts or whatever but it didn't, so much. It more just made me feel guilty about all the stuff I haven't read.
So, all of this was a lot of fun. The rest of the time, I spent going to class and sending my family off on adventures during the day and then meeting them in London in the evening. We saw a couple of shows, and then on Saturday, we did a whirlwind of tourist stuff, including Westminster Abbey, the Churchill War Rooms, and the tour of the Globe. Westminster Abbey was my favorite; poet's corner, where are buried like, all the important writers ever, was really mind-blowing. Dickens is there, and really, countless others. Outside there, on the other side of the wall sort of, I randomly found Aphra Behn. She's barely marked at all, and she's not on the audio guide or whatever, so I was really excited to find her. Her epitaph reads: "Here lies proof that wit can never be/Defence enough against mortality" which is just proof of how much of a badass she was.
Oh, also. I went to the Houses of Parliament, which is cool mostly for all the weird things they told us Parliament does. And the copy of the Magna Carta that is just chillin on one of the walls.
So. That all happened. And now I have a hot 18 days before I come back home. Having my family here has made me really really homesick. I mean, I still love London, and I would be happy to live here forever, but right now my life is in Tulsa and I woud like to get back to it. It doesn't help that I have a mountain of homework to do before I can leave. Four papers, two films, a still portrait of God-knows-who. If I finish one paper this weekend, one paper next week, one paper next weekend, and the last paper the last week, I should be okay on that score. Then as long as I can get my stuff filmed over the course of the coming week, I should be able to edit over the last week, and that should be okay. I just really do not know who to photograph for my portfolio. It has to be of a Kingston "hero." I have only lived in Kingston for three months. I don't know any heroes. So that's going to be an issue.
As long as I can get through the work, however, I am going to survive. There have been times when I really did not want to leave England at all. Those days are mostly over. I am going to miss it so much, but right now I really just want to be home. Every time I see something about Christmas in Tulsa, I just miss it more. I thought I was going to be able to switch my flight and come home a day early, but that isn't possible.
I don't think this would be so bad if it were not snowing and a complete ordeal to get anywhere. But the trains aren't running, so I can't even get into London. Oh well.
I hope to be able to post several more times before I go, and at some point I should re-evaluate my goals. Get super psyched for that!
Peace.
C
A lot of things happened while I was doing all this noveling. I skipped class one day to go to Jane Austen's house, and I skipped class another day because I was in Ireland with my family. Now I am done skipping class, because I have far too much work to do to be missing anything.
Unfortunately the weather does not seem to agree. We had a snow day today — my one class got cancelled. Which is fine with me, because my seven minute walk to the bus in the morning turns to fifteen (at the least) in the snow, and my twenty minute bus ride turns into forty. So not worth it for an hour of class.
So I guess I'll say some things about some things. Like.
Jane's Austen's House!
This is in a tiny village near Alton. This is the house that she spent the last good chunk of her life at, and where she wrote and published most of her stuff. I loved it. The nice thing about out-of-the-way sites like that one is that in the middle of November in the rain and cold, there are virtually no tourists. We almost had the house to ourselves. Unfortunately they do not allow photos inside, but it was worth it to go around. A lot of the stuff is really well preserved, and they have a lot of letters and things on the walls, and some really amazing stuff like her sister Cassandra's watercolors. I got a ton of nerdy stuff from the gift shop. The little village was so cute; about every third house has a legit thatched roof, and I'm sure only about a hundred people live there. Unfortunately the village pub wasn't serving.
It was definitely worth skipping class. I re-read Sense and Sensibility for my term paper in 18th Cent. Lit and I was happy to find that I understood it far better than when I read it in high school, and that I enjoyed it a lot more. I'm sure the two things are linked.
So, that was cool. I'm glad we went when we did, because it was about the last tolerably warm (i.e. not deathly cold) day that we've had.
Then, you know, my parents and brother came to visit me, which had the bittersweet affect of making me super happy the whole week but a lot more homesick after they left. But I'll come back to that and instead talk about...
Ireland!
One of my professors at TU swears that Ireland is magical, and I can see what he means. It was overcast for a lot of our visit, but one thing that really struck me was that the way the sun is, the way the light hits everything, it never quite lights it up properly. Instead it sort of bathes everything in a whiteish glow. It's most pronounced when there's mist or fog, but even on the clear days, the sunlight was never as bright as it is here or at home. It was really strange but really lovely.
I'm glad my family was happy not to spend most of our time in Dublin, because, as most people have told me, the Irish countryside is where it's at. We spent most of our time driving around, visiting castles and cliffs, and popping in to local pubs. Everyone is so friendly, too, and everyone has a dog. The perfect combination of these two features was when the woman selling admission to this ancient ruin site, who had her dogs in the ticket booth with her, let us take one of them for a walk down to the old fort. Who does that? Irish people, that's who. Then, at the Cliffs of Moher, there is a three-legged sheep dog who hangs around for all the tourists to love on him. I think what he used to do is like, lead you up this path to the top of one of the cliffs, but they stopped letting people go there because they would get blown off the cliffs by wind gusts or whatever. There are all these signs everywhere for help with depression for all the people who go there to commit suicide. They don't have those at the Grand Canyon, let me tell you. It sounds awful to say, but it was horrifying and hilarious at the same time.
Our last day we spent in Dublin, which was nice to get to see, but did not capture the imagination quite like Stockholm or Prague. We took one of those bus tours, and we were lucky to get a live instead of a recorded guide as we passed the Guinness brewery (which probably takes up like, half of Dublin). You could tell he loved talking about Guinness. I guess back when it started, it was a really good company to work for; it was the only one at the time to give paid sick days and stuff like that. You can't actually tour the proper brewery anymore, just the museum/shrine to Mr. Guinness, which is too bad. Anyway, the whole time we were around the Guinness quarter, the guy was chattering on and on about Guinness and telling us all these funny stories, and then as soon as he got to the part where he had to announce the next stop, all he said was something along the lines of, "And the next stop is the Modern Art Museum," which was followed by three minutes of dead silence. My dad an I were cracking up; it seemed so stereotypically Irish.
We saw St. Parick's cathedral, (we thought) like good Catholics, but as it turns out, St. Patrick's is actually an Anglican church, thank you Henry VIII. This really upset my mom and me. We came all the way to Ireland and didn't even manage to see a single Catholic church? Ridiculous. But it was beautiful, and really, not being Catholic doesn't diminish it in any way I guess. It's just sort of sad.
The last thing we did was, I sort of tricked my family into agreeing to go to the Dublin Writer's Museum, which after seeing Jane Austen's house, I thought was going to be really cool, but was actually sort of a bust. It was pretty informative, but not all that interesting. I thought it was going to have a lot more artifacts or manuscripts or whatever but it didn't, so much. It more just made me feel guilty about all the stuff I haven't read.
So, all of this was a lot of fun. The rest of the time, I spent going to class and sending my family off on adventures during the day and then meeting them in London in the evening. We saw a couple of shows, and then on Saturday, we did a whirlwind of tourist stuff, including Westminster Abbey, the Churchill War Rooms, and the tour of the Globe. Westminster Abbey was my favorite; poet's corner, where are buried like, all the important writers ever, was really mind-blowing. Dickens is there, and really, countless others. Outside there, on the other side of the wall sort of, I randomly found Aphra Behn. She's barely marked at all, and she's not on the audio guide or whatever, so I was really excited to find her. Her epitaph reads: "Here lies proof that wit can never be/Defence enough against mortality" which is just proof of how much of a badass she was.
Oh, also. I went to the Houses of Parliament, which is cool mostly for all the weird things they told us Parliament does. And the copy of the Magna Carta that is just chillin on one of the walls.
So. That all happened. And now I have a hot 18 days before I come back home. Having my family here has made me really really homesick. I mean, I still love London, and I would be happy to live here forever, but right now my life is in Tulsa and I woud like to get back to it. It doesn't help that I have a mountain of homework to do before I can leave. Four papers, two films, a still portrait of God-knows-who. If I finish one paper this weekend, one paper next week, one paper next weekend, and the last paper the last week, I should be okay on that score. Then as long as I can get my stuff filmed over the course of the coming week, I should be able to edit over the last week, and that should be okay. I just really do not know who to photograph for my portfolio. It has to be of a Kingston "hero." I have only lived in Kingston for three months. I don't know any heroes. So that's going to be an issue.
As long as I can get through the work, however, I am going to survive. There have been times when I really did not want to leave England at all. Those days are mostly over. I am going to miss it so much, but right now I really just want to be home. Every time I see something about Christmas in Tulsa, I just miss it more. I thought I was going to be able to switch my flight and come home a day early, but that isn't possible.
I don't think this would be so bad if it were not snowing and a complete ordeal to get anywhere. But the trains aren't running, so I can't even get into London. Oh well.
I hope to be able to post several more times before I go, and at some point I should re-evaluate my goals. Get super psyched for that!
Peace.
C
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