or
I'm on my way; I don't know where I'm goin'
Okay, that's not entirely true. I technically know where I'm going: Utrecht, Amsterdam, Prague, Vienna, Salzburg. But really, that is the extent of my planning.
I am already loving ferry travel. Checking in was super easy, there was practically no security hassle, my cabin is (so far) empty of other passengers, there is free wi-fi, and you have lots of room to wander around. The only downsides I have detected so far are that everything is pretty expensive, and the bar won't make me a Sidecar. Fortunately, savvy traveler that I am, I expected the first hurdle and have surmounted by packing my own food: a sleeve of milk chocolate oatmeal cookies. The second issue can't be helped I suppose.
Right now I am sitting in the coffee bar/lounge by a window looking out on the rainy port sipping a coffee. It is very peaceful. Barack Obama is giving a speech on CNN, which they have streaming on one of the TVs opposite. I am trying not to glance over, because it is making me feel like a bad citizen for not having a clue what is going on in my country right now. Oh well.
I noticed as I was walking to the bus with my suitcase earlier that I have approached this trip with a vastly different attitude than any of the other journeys upon which I have embarked in recent memory. I have been trying to examine why that is.
It probably has a lot to do with the fact that I know I am going to be around friends. It is a really comforting thought that I'll be with Tara tomorrow, and I'll be with Carolyn on Tuesday and for the rest of the week. A lot of the problem in the past has been just having to dive into the unknown. That was certainly the case with Sweden, and especially with initially coming to the U.K.
For another, I am not leaving any person of whom I am particularly sad to take my leave. The exception is my roommate, Lea, but it is not like if I stayed, I'd be able to hang out with her. She is going to spend her fall break with her friend Lauren, where she is studying in Italy this semester.
Additionally, I'm only going to be gone for ten days. Not 4 months.
So, this all explains why I am not terrified of doing this. But then, why am I so excited? I suppose because I have never been to any of these places, and we have a lot of excellent prospects for stuff to do. And you know, the absence of a lot of fear helps excitement actually to manifest. But, you know. I'd also like to think that maybe I have gotten just a tad bit braver, after having spent nearly two months pretty much on my own on another continent? At least, I really hope that has something to do with it.
Anyhoo. I can feel the engine just started; I think we are supposed to leave in like 15. I have to dash off one more cover letter tonight I guess, so that I can send off the last of my internship apps tomorrow: Denver Post, Seattle Times, St. Petersburg Times.
Hope everyone has a good weekend, and don't forget to vote. No on 744!!
<3
C
Friday, October 29, 2010
Thursday, October 28, 2010
Parachute
I'm running out of p words.
I have been hard at work on internship applications all last night and this morning, and my eyes are nearly bleeding from filling out employer information and writing cover letters, so I'm taking a break and devoting it to my readers. Lucky you!
I guess I could have called this post "Paris" since I haven't given an update about that yet. So, yeah, some words about Paris:
It is a beautiful place. Bet you didn't know that, right? Bet that's some really big news to you, isn't it?
Well, yeah. It is. The thing about Paris, though, is that although pretty much every street and alley and view is lovely, close up it is kind of grody. It's just a dirty city. So far in London I haven't noticed a huge amount of trash on the ground or graffiti on the walls, but in Paris that stuff is pretty much everywhere, except for the super-expensive places. Alright, London's no Stockholm, but it's respectably clean. Where Paris beats London though is staying true to traditional architecture, at least in the city. For on thing, many places in London got destroyed in the Blitz, and some of the newer buildings are just really depressing eyesores. That is something I didn't see in Paris, really.
Didn't really notice too much rudeness, either—they say that's one of the worst things about Paris, but as long as you say, "Bon jour, parley vous engles?" (I'm sure I butchered that spelling), they are pretty happy to help you. The first night we were there, we checked into our hostel and went down the street to a cafe/bar (right across from the Moulin Rouge!) and ordered Sidecars (Carolyn and I are both Princess Diaries fans; if you've read them you understand why that's amusing). I don't know why, but our waiter and the bartenders were really tickled that we ordered them. No idea what they were saying, but they were totally making fun of us in French. Whatever. They were delicious, and it is totally my new favorite drink.
Saturday morning, we went to explore the graveyard where Oscar Wilde is buried, along with Sarah Bernhardt, Jim Morrison, Isadora Duncan, Marcel Proust, Moliere and a host of others. We wandered that damn graveyard looking for Sarah and Proust for ages, and we must have passed right by them like 20 times, but we never found them. We did find Jim, Isadora (who's cremated), Moliere and Oscar Wilde though. Wilde's grave is great; its covered in red kiss marks and little thank-you notes to him and stuff. (Jim Morrison's is as well, but I was more excited about Wilde). I wrote a tiny little "THANKS -C" on it. I hope he sees it.
After this we went to eat—French food is DELICIOUS—and had a wander up the Seine past Notre Dame, the Louvre and the Royal Palais toward the Paris Opera.
Carolyn and I have both seen Paris before, which was a really big advantage to this little weekend trip. Neither of us really wanted to go see the Louvre again, or needed to go up the Eiffel Tower, or walk up the Champs Elysees. That gave us a lot more freedom to be relaxed tourists instead of crazy time-budgeting ones. Plus, Carolyn's friend Elizabeth who is studying in Paris was able to take us around and show us some great out-of-the-way places.
The Paris Opera was one thing we'd neither of us seen before, so we paid 5 euro to have a look inside. It is the first place I've seen this term that I would describe as opulent. The Brighton palace came close, but this was still the most extravagant and intricate interior designing I've ever seen. I wish we'd gotten a chance to see Paquita, like we planned, but it didn't end up working out. Seeing inside the place was still a treat, though. I had Phantom of the Opera stuck in my head for a long time, because you can totally see Andre and Firmin freaking out on the entrance hall stairs, or imagine a ghost haunting the back rooms on the sides and stuff. It was so cool. I wish we could have gone down to see the lake underneath the stage—it's real; it's there for acoustics—but I get the feeling access to that is pretty exclusive.
We spent the rest of our weekend window and flea market shopping, pub crawling and chocolate buying. On Sunday morning I went to Mass at the basilica on Montmartre, where our hostel was, and where I went to Mass last time I was in Paris. Last time though, it was a Wednesday evening, and no one was around, and they shuffled out all the tourists before they started the service. This time, not so much. It was weird to have this constant stream of onlookers wandering past as Mass was going on. But, oh man, I wouldn't have been surprised if the organist had been the Phantom of the Opera himself, he was so good. And he played all this ridiculous dramatic organ music pretty much all throughout the ceremony. It was so neat.
Anyhoo. Paris was awesome, but what was even more awesome was the feeling of relief to be able to come home to London. I can't believe it's even possible for me to write that.
Plus, I've had a fantastic week here so far. Monday I started filming the interview and other footage for my first film for video journalism (Carolyn's story about her first time going to the Globe) and I think it is going to be excellent. I can't wait to get started editing when I get back from fall break. Tuesday I ran errands in Kingston, but then went up to London to meet up with Peter and have a drink. It was awesome to get to see him—I have really enjoyed being around him and Tara, people who know what I'm talking about when I talk about McFarlin or the Schroeders or poor Igor. It's refreshing in a way. Plus, we went to this excellent pub, the Cheshire Cheese, which looks like the Leaky Cauldron on the outside and is where Charles Dickens wrote books. Also, it sells pints for £2, a price unheard of pretty much everywhere else in the greater London area, except for Wednesdays at the Berry. I think I am going to be frequenting it a lot this coming month, because I am crazy and am going to try to do National Novel Writing Month (write a 50,000-word novel in November), and I think it will be a good place to go and be inspired.
Yesterday I finished filming Carolyn, and we went for fish and chips at the great pub by the Globe. She went to go see a show, and I went to find an independent bookstore I found online. Turns out Charing Cross Road is like London's bookstore capital, so I had a lot of fun looking around at all the little places. The first place I went to, the one I was trying to find, is called Foyles, and it's like an independent version of Borders. What makes it way cooler than Borders is that it has a far wider selection, and I had a lot of fun browsing titles. I purchased a Hungarian phrasebook and another book (a surprise) for Meredith and a collection of Seamus Heaney poems called District and Circle. I love that I'm enough of a Londoner to understand that title. On the next corner there was a tiny little discount bookstore, crammed with stacks of thrift-edition classics for just £2. I bought Anne Bronte's second book, The Tenant of Wildfell Hall.
And so we come back to me filling out internship apps. I am almost done with the State Department and am working on the Washington Post, St. Petersburg Times, and Seattle Times. I still have to call the Denver Post to see if I can submit my stuff electronically. Basically all I need to do still for these places is write a couple of cover letters, but filling out the damn apps online is so time consuming and boring. I'd much rather be writing long and rambling blog posts about the random things I do in the U.K.
Ooookay. Back to the grind now I guess. I'll probably update when I get onto the ferry to go see Tara.
Peace.
I have been hard at work on internship applications all last night and this morning, and my eyes are nearly bleeding from filling out employer information and writing cover letters, so I'm taking a break and devoting it to my readers. Lucky you!
I guess I could have called this post "Paris" since I haven't given an update about that yet. So, yeah, some words about Paris:
It is a beautiful place. Bet you didn't know that, right? Bet that's some really big news to you, isn't it?
Well, yeah. It is. The thing about Paris, though, is that although pretty much every street and alley and view is lovely, close up it is kind of grody. It's just a dirty city. So far in London I haven't noticed a huge amount of trash on the ground or graffiti on the walls, but in Paris that stuff is pretty much everywhere, except for the super-expensive places. Alright, London's no Stockholm, but it's respectably clean. Where Paris beats London though is staying true to traditional architecture, at least in the city. For on thing, many places in London got destroyed in the Blitz, and some of the newer buildings are just really depressing eyesores. That is something I didn't see in Paris, really.
Didn't really notice too much rudeness, either—they say that's one of the worst things about Paris, but as long as you say, "Bon jour, parley vous engles?" (I'm sure I butchered that spelling), they are pretty happy to help you. The first night we were there, we checked into our hostel and went down the street to a cafe/bar (right across from the Moulin Rouge!) and ordered Sidecars (Carolyn and I are both Princess Diaries fans; if you've read them you understand why that's amusing). I don't know why, but our waiter and the bartenders were really tickled that we ordered them. No idea what they were saying, but they were totally making fun of us in French. Whatever. They were delicious, and it is totally my new favorite drink.
Saturday morning, we went to explore the graveyard where Oscar Wilde is buried, along with Sarah Bernhardt, Jim Morrison, Isadora Duncan, Marcel Proust, Moliere and a host of others. We wandered that damn graveyard looking for Sarah and Proust for ages, and we must have passed right by them like 20 times, but we never found them. We did find Jim, Isadora (who's cremated), Moliere and Oscar Wilde though. Wilde's grave is great; its covered in red kiss marks and little thank-you notes to him and stuff. (Jim Morrison's is as well, but I was more excited about Wilde). I wrote a tiny little "THANKS -C" on it. I hope he sees it.
After this we went to eat—French food is DELICIOUS—and had a wander up the Seine past Notre Dame, the Louvre and the Royal Palais toward the Paris Opera.
Carolyn and I have both seen Paris before, which was a really big advantage to this little weekend trip. Neither of us really wanted to go see the Louvre again, or needed to go up the Eiffel Tower, or walk up the Champs Elysees. That gave us a lot more freedom to be relaxed tourists instead of crazy time-budgeting ones. Plus, Carolyn's friend Elizabeth who is studying in Paris was able to take us around and show us some great out-of-the-way places.
The Paris Opera was one thing we'd neither of us seen before, so we paid 5 euro to have a look inside. It is the first place I've seen this term that I would describe as opulent. The Brighton palace came close, but this was still the most extravagant and intricate interior designing I've ever seen. I wish we'd gotten a chance to see Paquita, like we planned, but it didn't end up working out. Seeing inside the place was still a treat, though. I had Phantom of the Opera stuck in my head for a long time, because you can totally see Andre and Firmin freaking out on the entrance hall stairs, or imagine a ghost haunting the back rooms on the sides and stuff. It was so cool. I wish we could have gone down to see the lake underneath the stage—it's real; it's there for acoustics—but I get the feeling access to that is pretty exclusive.
We spent the rest of our weekend window and flea market shopping, pub crawling and chocolate buying. On Sunday morning I went to Mass at the basilica on Montmartre, where our hostel was, and where I went to Mass last time I was in Paris. Last time though, it was a Wednesday evening, and no one was around, and they shuffled out all the tourists before they started the service. This time, not so much. It was weird to have this constant stream of onlookers wandering past as Mass was going on. But, oh man, I wouldn't have been surprised if the organist had been the Phantom of the Opera himself, he was so good. And he played all this ridiculous dramatic organ music pretty much all throughout the ceremony. It was so neat.
Anyhoo. Paris was awesome, but what was even more awesome was the feeling of relief to be able to come home to London. I can't believe it's even possible for me to write that.
Plus, I've had a fantastic week here so far. Monday I started filming the interview and other footage for my first film for video journalism (Carolyn's story about her first time going to the Globe) and I think it is going to be excellent. I can't wait to get started editing when I get back from fall break. Tuesday I ran errands in Kingston, but then went up to London to meet up with Peter and have a drink. It was awesome to get to see him—I have really enjoyed being around him and Tara, people who know what I'm talking about when I talk about McFarlin or the Schroeders or poor Igor. It's refreshing in a way. Plus, we went to this excellent pub, the Cheshire Cheese, which looks like the Leaky Cauldron on the outside and is where Charles Dickens wrote books. Also, it sells pints for £2, a price unheard of pretty much everywhere else in the greater London area, except for Wednesdays at the Berry. I think I am going to be frequenting it a lot this coming month, because I am crazy and am going to try to do National Novel Writing Month (write a 50,000-word novel in November), and I think it will be a good place to go and be inspired.
Yesterday I finished filming Carolyn, and we went for fish and chips at the great pub by the Globe. She went to go see a show, and I went to find an independent bookstore I found online. Turns out Charing Cross Road is like London's bookstore capital, so I had a lot of fun looking around at all the little places. The first place I went to, the one I was trying to find, is called Foyles, and it's like an independent version of Borders. What makes it way cooler than Borders is that it has a far wider selection, and I had a lot of fun browsing titles. I purchased a Hungarian phrasebook and another book (a surprise) for Meredith and a collection of Seamus Heaney poems called District and Circle. I love that I'm enough of a Londoner to understand that title. On the next corner there was a tiny little discount bookstore, crammed with stacks of thrift-edition classics for just £2. I bought Anne Bronte's second book, The Tenant of Wildfell Hall.
And so we come back to me filling out internship apps. I am almost done with the State Department and am working on the Washington Post, St. Petersburg Times, and Seattle Times. I still have to call the Denver Post to see if I can submit my stuff electronically. Basically all I need to do still for these places is write a couple of cover letters, but filling out the damn apps online is so time consuming and boring. I'd much rather be writing long and rambling blog posts about the random things I do in the U.K.
Ooookay. Back to the grind now I guess. I'll probably update when I get onto the ferry to go see Tara.
Peace.
Friday, October 22, 2010
Promised
A Day in the Life of a Kingston University Study Abroad Student: A Photographic Documentary
by Catherine Roberts
Wednesday is the best day of the week. Why? Because for one thing, my budget starts over on Wednesday, because it is the day I'm supposed to pay rent. I get to begin anew and forget about how much I went overbudget, as I invariably do, the week before. For another, it is cheap drinks night at our local.
This Wednesday was a particularly good one. Despite it being truly cold for the first time since I've been here, the sun was shining, and there were no clouds on the horizon to threaten rain later, a rarity in this country.
Here is the other reason I knew Wednesday would be a good day:
As I rounded the first corner on the way to the bus, what should greet me but the yowling mew of Sherwin, my favorite neighborhood cat. I have no clue what his real name is, but I call him Sherwin because he looks like he got into some white Sherwin Williams paint. He is the only cat I've met so far who comes up to you to say hello and be petted. When I see him in the morning, I take it as an omen of a good day.
I purposely caught the bus early so I could get a coffee and facebook for a bit before class.
Library coffee isn't so delicious, but it is the cheapest you can find in town. When I go to Paris this weekend, I am going to try to find a small French press coffeemaker, because my landlords only drink decaf, and that just does not cut it for me. As you might be able to tell, I am listening to Regina Spektor, off of Mary's playlist. This particular day I listened to Mary music all day, because I was missing her most keenly, especially in my Gender & Pop Culture lecture, during which we discussed how appallingly late in history women's equality has been put into legislation. When I come back I am going to be a bonafide feminist.
I don't like much about the physical Kingston campus, and especially the library, because it is just freakishly packed with students all the time, but I do like the third floor. Since you have to walk up a ton of stairs to get there, it usually has slightly fewer people. Also it has all the econ books, plus books with titles like this:
After GSPC, I have a new class that I'm just taking for fun: Understanding Britain. It's six weeks long and doesn't count for any credit, but it's a good alternative to the British Life and Culture class which I hear is just full of cliquey Americans from Jersey. No thanks. This class is mostly internationals from Germany and India. We had a quiz on the British monarchy at the beginning, and I scored 4 out of 10. Oops.
In the corner is the note I wrote to Mary about how excited I was about my earlier lecture and about finding out who Guy Fawkes was. Mary, I will transcribe this for you at some point. :)
Understanding Britain let out a bit early, so the usually packed and unpleasant courtyard was relatively calm.
The good thing about when this place is packed is I can pass by the smokers, get a little secondhand smoke and be reminded of home without looking like too much of a creep.
After class, I had to go turn in a very late form to the study abroad office. So, you know, that just requires a stroll up the Thames.
Since I was already in the town center, and it was the beginning of the week, I felt I could spend money on a treat. This is where I wanted to go...
...but I resisted. I walk by here all the time though, and one day I am going to break down. Instead, I walked into the square...
...and bought a mini-pasty.
So cute and delicious. I shopped some of the sales, but everything is still too expensive, and the jacket I really want from H&M isn't marked down yet, so I will have to wait it out. Instead, I did buy a truffle from my favorite place in Kingston.
This place is my main vice. But I only buy one truffle at a time from the case at the front...
Finally, after restraining myself on the retail front, though not on the chocolate front, I caught the bus.
Here's the thing about the bus. For one thing, I have to take the K2, which is like the worst bus in greater London. It's unreliable, it doesn't run at night, and the drivers are maniacs. The other weird thing is, and although this isn't unique to the K2, it's really true what they say about Brits queueing at bus stops. I don't understand why this happens. And it's only at busy stops where several routes pick up that this happens. People waiting form a queue from the approximate point the bus will stop. But you have no way of knowing who is waiting for what bus, and what route's bus will come next. So as soon the bus rounds the corner, there is a mad dash forward as people from all parts of the line, not just the front, rush to be first on, and there's a scrum around the bus door. So queueing had absolutely no point at all. It is a mystery to me, but you know. When in Rome...
Now comes the best part of Wednesday. I ran home, dropped off my books, and walked down the road to our favorite pub, The Berry. It is named after the little town/neighborhood center it is in, The Berrylands. The Berrylands consists of very little other than The Berry, a train station, and a bus stop. The Berrylands is to Surbiton is to Kingston as, like, Drumright is to Sapulpa is to Tulsa, if Drumright, Sapulpa and Tulsa were all within walking distance of each other. Anyway, The Berry is a wonderful pub, which is quiet and never very busy and has friendly bartenders. Plus on Wednesday you can get £2 Strongbow, Vodka&mixers, or G&Ts, plus discount pitchers. It was my week to buy a pitcher.
These are my friends. Lea, my roommate, is on the left, looking like champ. Carolyn, on the right, is polishing off the pitcher, like a champ. That's how we roll.
Shortly after this, Lea left to party with the football girls, and Carolyn and I went to go see The Social Network. As we were walking out of The Berry, I realized that I had forgotten my house key, and Lea had already caught the bus. This was the first omen I had that the joyful, carefree day I'd had all day was bound not to last, though I ignored it of course. I figured as long as Lea got home before me everything would be okay. Working on that happy notion, Carolyn and I went to see the movie, which turned out to be fantastic. I haven't seen that good a movie in theaters in a very long time.
In British movie theaters, you have assigned seating, and pay more for better seats. And people like, actually check your ticket when you're inside the theater. Bizarre.
After this followed a long, drawn-out ordeal consisting of a lot of riding back and forth on the 281 and wandering around Tolworth with Carolyn while I waited for Lea to say she was headed home from the club. At one point I ended up at the Kingston library, which I like a lot more when it's deserted in the middle of the night. For one thing, I can take pictures of the third floor without people looking at me like my skin has fallen off or something.
I stopped taking pictures after this, because I was so distressed at not being able to go home and go to bed. I am a big moron for forgetting my key, and also for not just going home after the movie and ringing the doorbell. Lea finally texted me she was headed home, so I got on the bus, but she beat me back, and by the time I got there, she'd fallen asleep. Totally understandable, since it was 3 a.m. I waited outside for 45 minutes in the near freezing weather hoping she'd wake up*/screwing up the courage to ring the doorbell and wake up my landlady. What about that makes sense? Absolutely nothing, I realize. And I realized at the time, but I was delirious from cold and booze and sleep-deprivation, and I was afraid of making my family mad. Eventually when I finally admitted to myself that it was either ring the doorbell or sleep on the doorstep, I rang it. My landlady let me in, and wasn't mad, of course. I felt like a big idiot.
*I don't blame Lea at all in this, I just want to make clear. I am clearly thick.
So, that is a really extreme but good example of how most of my days here run the gamut between fantastic and disastrous. Though it ended terribly, I am happy the rest of it went so well, and I learned several lessons. 1) NEVER leave home without your house key. 2) If you've been waiting for something in the cold for more that 15 minutes, you've been waiting too long. It's time to try something else. I should have learned that lesson from my adventure to Charleston, but alas, I did not. 3) I can't remember what 3 is. Mostly, don't be an idiot. You'd think I'd have learned that by now, what with all the House I watch. Too bad it never sunk in.
Anyway, I am still looking forward to next Wednesday, as it is always generally a good day, and I am more immediately looking forward to spending the weekend in Paris. My flight leaves in just under 4 hours, so I have to run pretty soon here, but I wanted to finish this damn post that I've been working on since yesterday afternoon. I saw Sherwin this morning, so I am sure our trip will be a successful one. Among other things, we are going to go see the Paris Opera Ballet perform Paquita, parts of which I danced in high school at one point, so I am quite excited about that. I also hope to buy some posh clothes. Also coffee and chocolate. Yes please.
I hope everyone has a pleasing weekend!
Love,
Catherine
Monday, October 18, 2010
Peacefulness
Hello everyone,
I write this post in the best of moods; this weekend was lovely, the week appears to be turning out similarly, and I fly to Paris on Friday. No class tomorrow, so I am writing a few postcards and a birthday card for Sadie, drinking soup, and watching my most recent TV obsession, the new British period drama with Maggie Smith and many other beautiful people, Downton Abbey. It's great; I dearly hope I can get it in the States when I come back.
Tara's visit this weekend went really well (yes, James, I am writing about her in my blog); it was really refreshing to see someone from home. Among other things, we got Mexican food since we were both craving it. It actually turned out to be pretty good, though the guacamole was a little off. Ah well. Turns out Tara is an Agatha Christi fan, so we went to see The Mousetrap, which is something like the longest running play in the West End. It was a lot of fun.
We also visited Hampton Court, Henry VIII's favorite crib. I'd heard it was cool, but it turned out way better than I expected. In William III's (of William and Mary) suite, we got some really interesting info from an overly —ahem— friendly dossen. I think I will definitely take my family there when they come to visit.
Tonight Carolyn and I went to see a play, but not a West End thing. It was a tiny independent production in SoHo about a little orphan in Russia in the 1990s who befriends a pack of dogs. At first I was skeptical but I ended up bawling my eyes out. The independent theater scene in London is really neat; I can't think of an equivalent in Tulsa. Plus, they offer one of the shows in the series free, so it didn't cost anything.
I am just feeling really settled these days. I finally figured out the cheap bus and travel passes for Oyster, which is saving money, I discovered the wonderful things that are digestive cookies (that sounds terrible, it's an archaic name, they're just sugary cookies), and I made a couple of new friends this week (one of them a real Brit!). I am even getting into a running routine, and I have a lovely route through the neighborhood.
Really, I don't have much else to report. I love living here. There's always something to do, but even when you don't want to do anything, you can do nothing in the pub along with all the other lingerers. The one thing that is continually a bother is how expensive everything is, but even that's getting better, with my improved grocery buying skills and the Oyster bus pass. I am sure I'll spend too much in Paris, but at least the Euro's exchange rate with the dollar isn't so punishing.
I miss everyone; when I got home from the play, I saw all these wonderful things people had written on my Facebook wall, and it's just a great reminder of how lucky I am to have such a fantastic group of friends.
Hope all is well in T-town.
Catherine
Monday, October 11, 2010
Potpourri II
HELLO.
How is everyone? I sometimes wish all my friends had blogs, so I could read about the random things you all are doing.
I call this post Potpourri II because there's been no internet at my home for the past week, and I have lots of little things to write about. For example, I went to the Globe again last Thursday to see Henry IV Part II. That seems so long ago, but it wasn't even a week. I am still in awe at how good the Globe players are. I think my favorite part of Part II was John Falstaff's long soliloquy about how much he loves booze. I have never heard a more compelling speech in favor of drinking. And I'm friends with Danny Patten.
So, you know, the next day I went to Sweden. What is that about? Who would have ever thought I'd go to Sweden? Certainly not me. I am still having trouble believing it was real. Here are some things about Sweden:
$$$$ Or I guess I should say SEKSEKSEKSEK. There isn't really a symbol for Swedish kroner. I mention this first, because it was really the only downside to Sweden. I nearly had a heart attack when I looked at my bank account when I got back. Oh well. Surely it's a good sign if I'm broke when I come back home.
English Everyone speaks it. That's not so unusual for large cities in Europe. What I did find astonishing was how hard it was to tell that some of the people speaking English were actually Swedish. Most people under 30 that we talked to spoke with almost no trace of an accent. Not even a British accent — the English speaking Swedes sounded like they were from the States. Or Canada. It was a shock every single time. At first we thought there were just a bunch of Americans working in hostels and bars in Sweden... but no, they just speak English amazingly well.
Everyone is nice. Everyone we talked to is really pleasant and helpful. All our bartenders were super friendly. We walked through an outdoor farmers' market our first day there and whenever we would stop at a stall to puzzle over something, a local shopper would help explain what was being sold. Several times we would be standing on street corners with our map looking lost and people would come up and ask if we needed help. It's not like people in England are mean, but it was really weird to have people consistently go out of their way to be nice. I loved it.
Everything is clean. Seriously. There is absolutely no trash on the streets, not even chewing gum. Stockholm has a really comparatively low population density for European cities. There is very little traffic. I had heard this about Sweden before, but it was bizarre to actually see it.
Everyone is beautiful. I have never seen so many attractive people in one place.
Great bars We went to two bars the night we went out: the first was the Absolut Ice Bar. It is made entirely of ice, with the exception of the ceiling and the floor. It cost an arm and a leg, but was one of the coolest (HAHA) things I've ever seen. The bar is made of ice, as well as the glasses they put your Absolut cocktails in. I still kind of can't believe we actually went there. The second bar was the KGB, which was in our guidebook, and we chose a bit randomly, but was an excellent, excellent decision. It was decorated in all the Communist propaganda and busts of Stalin and Lenin and stuff, so it seemed really weird, but it turned out to be great. In England, there are just two types of bars: pubs, which all close at about 11 and are really just places to gather and drink; and clubs, which if you want to stay out late, is your only option and are mainly for dancing and getting hit on. The KGB was a perfect mix of the two. There was a small dance floor where people were sort of jamming to the Russian music that was playing, but the bar part was also really hoppin and the whole thing was open really late. Our bartender was so nice too, even though she couldn't make me a Sidecar. (That is my new goal for this month: have a Sidecar).
So really, Stockholm is my new favorite place. I never thought I would go there, and now all I want to do is go back.
Unfortunately, I spent a terrifying amount of money, since it is such an expensive city and it was so hard to tell how much things actually cost with the kroner being such a completely foreign currency to me. Whatever. Okay. That's Sweden. Now to change tracks...
Ta daaa! New section.
I decided, since I have now been in England for a month, almost exactly, I should do some self-evaluation. This is the part where I go through that goals list and see how I am doing.
1. 5 new countries — I'm at one of five, with Sweden. In two weekends Carolyn and I are going to Paris, which I've already been to, so that doesn't count (not that I'm not excited of course). But for fall break, I am going to visit Tara in The Netherlands before meeting Carolyn in Prague, where we will stay for a couple of days, then taking a train on to Vienna. So that will bring my total up to 4 new countries. When my parents come to visit, we will be spending a weekend somewhere in Europe, probably either Rome or Dublin, so that will complete my five! Plus right before I leave I think I am going to take a train to Belgium for a weekend to do Christmas shopping. Woo!
2. Out of the way UK destinations — Well, I went to Charleston. That was great, but getting there was a disaster. I am going to try to take a Friday and Saturday in December to go to the Castle Nannau in Whales, and one Tuesday I will call the Associated Press and see if I can visit the television station. We are planning on taking a day trip up to Stratford-upon-Avon some Saturday. I don't think I will make it to Durham, because that is apparently a nine hour train ride, and the only thing I wanted to see there is the cathedral, but when I come back here for grad school, that is something I can do then. So, this goal seems doable for the most part. Really, Charleston was the main one I have wanted to see since freshman year, so I am happy I was able to do that.
3. Don't say mean things — The problem with this one is, while I have not exactly been saying a lot of awful things about people, I have not exactly been making a concerted effort to avoid derogatory talk. This one could use work.
4. Buses — Haven't been to London much, but I am definitely an expert on Kingston buses. They work much the same way in London. I also haven't actually needed to take the bus in London yet, really, as the Tube is so easy. I do plan on going to London quite a bit more, so maybe I will try to navigate that way one of these days.
5. Postcards — I am far exceeding my goal of one per week. That's a cinch.
6. Keep space tidy — Also pretty easy, since I just don't have very much shit. Our family is really nice, and vacuums our floors and cleans our bathroom every couple of weeks. I really appreciate that, since I was worried about having to ask to borrow a vacuum and Windex or whatever.
7. Summer internships — This definitely needs work. I have been writing my resume, and one goal I have for this week is to send off applications to three places.
8. Spend none of my parents' money — For the most part, I have been really really good about this. I had to use their Visa once when the automatic train ticket Kiosk wouldn't take my card, and then I used it once at Gatwick for a coffee. That only amounts to about £10. So while my record isn't perfect, I am still proud of myself.
9. Make more friends — This one is a bit dodgy... I definitely made a friend on the trip to Oxford, but I can't find her on Facebook because I only know her first name and I'm not sure how to spell it. I want to see if she wants to have tea or something, so I have been watching for her in the library and stuff. Also, there are two girls in my econ class who are really really nice and funny. One of them, like me, likes to write down the unintentionally funny things professors say. At some point I am going to try and see if they want to get coffee after class or something. Also I met another American girl in my English class who is study abroad who is really nice. I found out she has Tuesdays off too, so I might see if she wants to take a day trip with me or something. And finally, I signed up to take like a six week, not graded course about British culture, which is for international students, so I hope to be able to meet some people there. So, I feel like this one is slowly but surely coming along. Also, I feel like strengthening the connections I have made with Lea and Carolyn also counts, and anyway having fewer but better friends is my preferred M.O. I feel like this goal is mostly going to be a success.
10. One thing per day I'm afraid of — This is both really easy and really difficult. It must be the nature of doing this kind of thing, but studying abroad is teaching me a lot about myself, and one of those things is that I am pretty much afraid of everything. Like, going to class. Asking a question in the library. Going to the post office. Also things like flying to Sweden and emailing strangers for help on my projects for video journalism. However, all of these things I have done. Today, the thing I was afraid of was going to choir practice at the Catholic church I've been going to, but it turns out it was a really excellent decision. The choir is made up of all these old men and ladies, and they were a riot. I won't be able to sing much with them until November, but I am really glad I decided to join. And that is pretty much what I find, is that when I do things I'm afraid of, I am better off in the end. Even the disaster of a trip to Charleston, I learned a lot and got a great lesson in common sense, and I was scared out of my mind for a long time. And really, how could I ever regret going to Sweden? This is the goal that I feel I have already been most successful with. As I get more comfortable here, it is going to be harder to find things I am afraid of, naturally, but I really don't think it will be too hard. I really am apparently afraid of everything. Going abroad is probably like, the best thing I could have done for myself.
So, on the whole, I feel I have been pretty successful with my goals. The internship thing is really the one I need to get started.
Aaaand last. This one is for Ellen, who asked me to provide the definitions of satire and irony my English prof gave us, so Ellen, here we go. Share with your classes!
Satire
Satire is, as is widely defined both in texts from the 18th Century and now, generally as a kind of writing that seeks out and exposes vice and folly. (This isn't that surprising. The next part is what I found so useful) It consists of 7 elements, all of which may or may not be used in a particular satire, but which are good indicators and tools satirists use.
1. Exaggeration: On a moral level, there is no difference between a small crime and a large crime, so in a satire, something small gets turned into something large, or something large gets turned into something much smaller. That's not the only type of exaggeration, though, obviously. This one is pretty self explanatory. In "A Modest Proposal" (which is what we were talking about that week in class), Swift exaggerates the solution to over-population by suggesting that a good idea would be to eat babies.
2. Parody: Can be a type of exaggeration. To parody is to mimic the most memorable feature or mannerism of someone/something, including a style of writing. In AMP, Swift parodies the language of a sensible suggestion to the government common at the time, which would frequently have a big impact. He particularly parodies their use of statistics and modest language.
3. Irony: Probably the hardest word to define in any English class. There is dramatic/situaitonal irony, in which the audience knows something a character doesn't, or when a character says something without realizing it applies to them. In essays like Swift's, irony is created by setting up a discrepancy between what seems and what is. That's the kicker. A discrepancy between what seems and what is.
4. Bathos: Here's one I'd never heard of. To use bathos is to talke someone on high, or something important or major, and bring it down to the bottom level, creating a descent from the sublime to the ridiculous. Classic example would be a policeman slipping on a banana peel.
5. Incongruity: Similar to irony. The masters of incongruity were Monty Python — coconuts in Arthurian England is just one of tons of examples. An example in AMP is when Swift cites his Native American cannibal friend: it really does not make sense for an Irish clergyman to be talking about eating children with an American Indian.
6. Allusion: Referring to something else, pretty straightforward. In 18th Cent. lit though, sometimes deeply embedded and hard to detect, since they were written for people with the common knowledge of the time.
7. Satiric Norm: Another one I'd never heard of. The satiric norm is the thing that the satirist compares the subject of the satire to. It means a norm of behavior, or something that is usually done or is socially agreed should be done, an ideal mode of behavior. Within a satire, it is not usually stated (by the way, we all know really how a Duke should act isn't to be greedy and cruel), with the famous exception of AMP, toward the end. He even puts it in Italics: He states he can't think of a reason to object to his proposal, and says, "Therefore let no man talk to me of other expedients: Of taxing our absentees at five shillings a pound: Of using neither cloaths, or household furniture, except what is of our own growth and manufacture..." etc. He lists pretty much all the other things he thought Ireland should have been doing to combat its economic woes instead of eating babies.
So. That wraps up this post finally. Stay tuned for a photographic documentary of a day in the life of a Kingston student!
Peace.
C
How is everyone? I sometimes wish all my friends had blogs, so I could read about the random things you all are doing.
I call this post Potpourri II because there's been no internet at my home for the past week, and I have lots of little things to write about. For example, I went to the Globe again last Thursday to see Henry IV Part II. That seems so long ago, but it wasn't even a week. I am still in awe at how good the Globe players are. I think my favorite part of Part II was John Falstaff's long soliloquy about how much he loves booze. I have never heard a more compelling speech in favor of drinking. And I'm friends with Danny Patten.
So, you know, the next day I went to Sweden. What is that about? Who would have ever thought I'd go to Sweden? Certainly not me. I am still having trouble believing it was real. Here are some things about Sweden:
$$$$ Or I guess I should say SEKSEKSEKSEK. There isn't really a symbol for Swedish kroner. I mention this first, because it was really the only downside to Sweden. I nearly had a heart attack when I looked at my bank account when I got back. Oh well. Surely it's a good sign if I'm broke when I come back home.
English Everyone speaks it. That's not so unusual for large cities in Europe. What I did find astonishing was how hard it was to tell that some of the people speaking English were actually Swedish. Most people under 30 that we talked to spoke with almost no trace of an accent. Not even a British accent — the English speaking Swedes sounded like they were from the States. Or Canada. It was a shock every single time. At first we thought there were just a bunch of Americans working in hostels and bars in Sweden... but no, they just speak English amazingly well.
Everyone is nice. Everyone we talked to is really pleasant and helpful. All our bartenders were super friendly. We walked through an outdoor farmers' market our first day there and whenever we would stop at a stall to puzzle over something, a local shopper would help explain what was being sold. Several times we would be standing on street corners with our map looking lost and people would come up and ask if we needed help. It's not like people in England are mean, but it was really weird to have people consistently go out of their way to be nice. I loved it.
Everything is clean. Seriously. There is absolutely no trash on the streets, not even chewing gum. Stockholm has a really comparatively low population density for European cities. There is very little traffic. I had heard this about Sweden before, but it was bizarre to actually see it.
Everyone is beautiful. I have never seen so many attractive people in one place.
Great bars We went to two bars the night we went out: the first was the Absolut Ice Bar. It is made entirely of ice, with the exception of the ceiling and the floor. It cost an arm and a leg, but was one of the coolest (HAHA) things I've ever seen. The bar is made of ice, as well as the glasses they put your Absolut cocktails in. I still kind of can't believe we actually went there. The second bar was the KGB, which was in our guidebook, and we chose a bit randomly, but was an excellent, excellent decision. It was decorated in all the Communist propaganda and busts of Stalin and Lenin and stuff, so it seemed really weird, but it turned out to be great. In England, there are just two types of bars: pubs, which all close at about 11 and are really just places to gather and drink; and clubs, which if you want to stay out late, is your only option and are mainly for dancing and getting hit on. The KGB was a perfect mix of the two. There was a small dance floor where people were sort of jamming to the Russian music that was playing, but the bar part was also really hoppin and the whole thing was open really late. Our bartender was so nice too, even though she couldn't make me a Sidecar. (That is my new goal for this month: have a Sidecar).
So really, Stockholm is my new favorite place. I never thought I would go there, and now all I want to do is go back.
Unfortunately, I spent a terrifying amount of money, since it is such an expensive city and it was so hard to tell how much things actually cost with the kroner being such a completely foreign currency to me. Whatever. Okay. That's Sweden. Now to change tracks...
Ta daaa! New section.
I decided, since I have now been in England for a month, almost exactly, I should do some self-evaluation. This is the part where I go through that goals list and see how I am doing.
1. 5 new countries — I'm at one of five, with Sweden. In two weekends Carolyn and I are going to Paris, which I've already been to, so that doesn't count (not that I'm not excited of course). But for fall break, I am going to visit Tara in The Netherlands before meeting Carolyn in Prague, where we will stay for a couple of days, then taking a train on to Vienna. So that will bring my total up to 4 new countries. When my parents come to visit, we will be spending a weekend somewhere in Europe, probably either Rome or Dublin, so that will complete my five! Plus right before I leave I think I am going to take a train to Belgium for a weekend to do Christmas shopping. Woo!
2. Out of the way UK destinations — Well, I went to Charleston. That was great, but getting there was a disaster. I am going to try to take a Friday and Saturday in December to go to the Castle Nannau in Whales, and one Tuesday I will call the Associated Press and see if I can visit the television station. We are planning on taking a day trip up to Stratford-upon-Avon some Saturday. I don't think I will make it to Durham, because that is apparently a nine hour train ride, and the only thing I wanted to see there is the cathedral, but when I come back here for grad school, that is something I can do then. So, this goal seems doable for the most part. Really, Charleston was the main one I have wanted to see since freshman year, so I am happy I was able to do that.
3. Don't say mean things — The problem with this one is, while I have not exactly been saying a lot of awful things about people, I have not exactly been making a concerted effort to avoid derogatory talk. This one could use work.
4. Buses — Haven't been to London much, but I am definitely an expert on Kingston buses. They work much the same way in London. I also haven't actually needed to take the bus in London yet, really, as the Tube is so easy. I do plan on going to London quite a bit more, so maybe I will try to navigate that way one of these days.
5. Postcards — I am far exceeding my goal of one per week. That's a cinch.
6. Keep space tidy — Also pretty easy, since I just don't have very much shit. Our family is really nice, and vacuums our floors and cleans our bathroom every couple of weeks. I really appreciate that, since I was worried about having to ask to borrow a vacuum and Windex or whatever.
7. Summer internships — This definitely needs work. I have been writing my resume, and one goal I have for this week is to send off applications to three places.
8. Spend none of my parents' money — For the most part, I have been really really good about this. I had to use their Visa once when the automatic train ticket Kiosk wouldn't take my card, and then I used it once at Gatwick for a coffee. That only amounts to about £10. So while my record isn't perfect, I am still proud of myself.
9. Make more friends — This one is a bit dodgy... I definitely made a friend on the trip to Oxford, but I can't find her on Facebook because I only know her first name and I'm not sure how to spell it. I want to see if she wants to have tea or something, so I have been watching for her in the library and stuff. Also, there are two girls in my econ class who are really really nice and funny. One of them, like me, likes to write down the unintentionally funny things professors say. At some point I am going to try and see if they want to get coffee after class or something. Also I met another American girl in my English class who is study abroad who is really nice. I found out she has Tuesdays off too, so I might see if she wants to take a day trip with me or something. And finally, I signed up to take like a six week, not graded course about British culture, which is for international students, so I hope to be able to meet some people there. So, I feel like this one is slowly but surely coming along. Also, I feel like strengthening the connections I have made with Lea and Carolyn also counts, and anyway having fewer but better friends is my preferred M.O. I feel like this goal is mostly going to be a success.
10. One thing per day I'm afraid of — This is both really easy and really difficult. It must be the nature of doing this kind of thing, but studying abroad is teaching me a lot about myself, and one of those things is that I am pretty much afraid of everything. Like, going to class. Asking a question in the library. Going to the post office. Also things like flying to Sweden and emailing strangers for help on my projects for video journalism. However, all of these things I have done. Today, the thing I was afraid of was going to choir practice at the Catholic church I've been going to, but it turns out it was a really excellent decision. The choir is made up of all these old men and ladies, and they were a riot. I won't be able to sing much with them until November, but I am really glad I decided to join. And that is pretty much what I find, is that when I do things I'm afraid of, I am better off in the end. Even the disaster of a trip to Charleston, I learned a lot and got a great lesson in common sense, and I was scared out of my mind for a long time. And really, how could I ever regret going to Sweden? This is the goal that I feel I have already been most successful with. As I get more comfortable here, it is going to be harder to find things I am afraid of, naturally, but I really don't think it will be too hard. I really am apparently afraid of everything. Going abroad is probably like, the best thing I could have done for myself.
So, on the whole, I feel I have been pretty successful with my goals. The internship thing is really the one I need to get started.
Aaaand last. This one is for Ellen, who asked me to provide the definitions of satire and irony my English prof gave us, so Ellen, here we go. Share with your classes!
Satire
Satire is, as is widely defined both in texts from the 18th Century and now, generally as a kind of writing that seeks out and exposes vice and folly. (This isn't that surprising. The next part is what I found so useful) It consists of 7 elements, all of which may or may not be used in a particular satire, but which are good indicators and tools satirists use.
1. Exaggeration: On a moral level, there is no difference between a small crime and a large crime, so in a satire, something small gets turned into something large, or something large gets turned into something much smaller. That's not the only type of exaggeration, though, obviously. This one is pretty self explanatory. In "A Modest Proposal" (which is what we were talking about that week in class), Swift exaggerates the solution to over-population by suggesting that a good idea would be to eat babies.
2. Parody: Can be a type of exaggeration. To parody is to mimic the most memorable feature or mannerism of someone/something, including a style of writing. In AMP, Swift parodies the language of a sensible suggestion to the government common at the time, which would frequently have a big impact. He particularly parodies their use of statistics and modest language.
3. Irony: Probably the hardest word to define in any English class. There is dramatic/situaitonal irony, in which the audience knows something a character doesn't, or when a character says something without realizing it applies to them. In essays like Swift's, irony is created by setting up a discrepancy between what seems and what is. That's the kicker. A discrepancy between what seems and what is.
4. Bathos: Here's one I'd never heard of. To use bathos is to talke someone on high, or something important or major, and bring it down to the bottom level, creating a descent from the sublime to the ridiculous. Classic example would be a policeman slipping on a banana peel.
5. Incongruity: Similar to irony. The masters of incongruity were Monty Python — coconuts in Arthurian England is just one of tons of examples. An example in AMP is when Swift cites his Native American cannibal friend: it really does not make sense for an Irish clergyman to be talking about eating children with an American Indian.
6. Allusion: Referring to something else, pretty straightforward. In 18th Cent. lit though, sometimes deeply embedded and hard to detect, since they were written for people with the common knowledge of the time.
7. Satiric Norm: Another one I'd never heard of. The satiric norm is the thing that the satirist compares the subject of the satire to. It means a norm of behavior, or something that is usually done or is socially agreed should be done, an ideal mode of behavior. Within a satire, it is not usually stated (by the way, we all know really how a Duke should act isn't to be greedy and cruel), with the famous exception of AMP, toward the end. He even puts it in Italics: He states he can't think of a reason to object to his proposal, and says, "Therefore let no man talk to me of other expedients: Of taxing our absentees at five shillings a pound: Of using neither cloaths, or household furniture, except what is of our own growth and manufacture..." etc. He lists pretty much all the other things he thought Ireland should have been doing to combat its economic woes instead of eating babies.
So. That wraps up this post finally. Stay tuned for a photographic documentary of a day in the life of a Kingston student!
Peace.
C
Monday, October 4, 2010
'Pologies...
...for not providing an update prior to now. I had been attempting to wait for a sort of plateau in how I've been feeling before writing another post, but every day here is pretty much a rollercoaster ride, so that's pointless.
Turns out I was wrong about it being a cinch to make the volleyball team. I don't understand how in England of all places, there isn't even a tryout for the football (soccer) team, but the volleyball team is super-competitive. I have another chance to try out this Thursday, which I'm going to do, because I have no shame, and think I can do better than I did last week, but really? It seems backwards.
Classes, though I've only had one week of them and only been to most of them one time, are going really well. My 18th Century lit class is my favorite so far; today we started talking about Jonathan Swift, and the professor gave us the best definitions of satire and irony I've ever had from an English class. For video/photo journalism, our project for the semester is supposed to be a portfolio of two videos and one still photo that each fall into a certain theme. I am particularly excited about the video dealing with history and people who live in the past; I am going to try and do members of different clergies (Catholic, Church of England, Quaker, etc.) and how they bring all the years of traditions of their faiths into the future. It is going to be so good.
Over the weekend, we went out with three guys—one of the brothers Carolyn lives with and his two friends. They were great fun, and I am hoping to be able to see more of them and get to know some genuine Brits. We went into London on Saturday and visited the Tate Modern, most of which went right over my head, but we also visited two touristy train stations: Paddington, where there is a statue of Paddington Bear, and King's Cross, which, duh.
That is one thing about not making the volleyball team: before I found out I could try again, I had already rationalized away the disappointment by telling myself that really, it might be nice not to have too many obligations, since I am going to be travelling pretty much every single weekend in October and November, and it leaves more time for the silly tourist stuff that I want to do but that normal students aren't interested in. Of course, this is all still true, and if it turns out that I won't be able to play in most of the games because I'll be gone or whatever, then I probably won't commit to the team. But hopefully both will be possible.
In other news, I am settling in a bit better here: I have groceries that should definitely last me till Friday, I haven't gone over my budget this week, I finally did some laundry, my phone started working again, I taught myself how to fry an egg, I found a site that streams TV shows so I can watch old seasons of 24 and Arrested Development (even though it's really slow and everything has what looks like Japanese subtitles), and I have started to go running in my neighborhood. By "I have started" I mean, I went for the first time today. But I think I am going to keep it up; I'm not quite as out of shape as I thought, and the neighborhoods are so pretty that it's nice just to get out in them. Plus the weather is pretty much perfect for running outside, when it isn't raining.
On top of all of this, Lea, Carolyn and I are going to Stockholm this weekend. Who would have ever thought I would go to Sweden? I plan to bring back lots of stuff like coffee and chocolate since I expect things will be much cheaper there than they are here.
I hope everyone is doing well! I still miss all my Tulsa people.
Love,
Catherine
Turns out I was wrong about it being a cinch to make the volleyball team. I don't understand how in England of all places, there isn't even a tryout for the football (soccer) team, but the volleyball team is super-competitive. I have another chance to try out this Thursday, which I'm going to do, because I have no shame, and think I can do better than I did last week, but really? It seems backwards.
Classes, though I've only had one week of them and only been to most of them one time, are going really well. My 18th Century lit class is my favorite so far; today we started talking about Jonathan Swift, and the professor gave us the best definitions of satire and irony I've ever had from an English class. For video/photo journalism, our project for the semester is supposed to be a portfolio of two videos and one still photo that each fall into a certain theme. I am particularly excited about the video dealing with history and people who live in the past; I am going to try and do members of different clergies (Catholic, Church of England, Quaker, etc.) and how they bring all the years of traditions of their faiths into the future. It is going to be so good.
Over the weekend, we went out with three guys—one of the brothers Carolyn lives with and his two friends. They were great fun, and I am hoping to be able to see more of them and get to know some genuine Brits. We went into London on Saturday and visited the Tate Modern, most of which went right over my head, but we also visited two touristy train stations: Paddington, where there is a statue of Paddington Bear, and King's Cross, which, duh.
That is one thing about not making the volleyball team: before I found out I could try again, I had already rationalized away the disappointment by telling myself that really, it might be nice not to have too many obligations, since I am going to be travelling pretty much every single weekend in October and November, and it leaves more time for the silly tourist stuff that I want to do but that normal students aren't interested in. Of course, this is all still true, and if it turns out that I won't be able to play in most of the games because I'll be gone or whatever, then I probably won't commit to the team. But hopefully both will be possible.
In other news, I am settling in a bit better here: I have groceries that should definitely last me till Friday, I haven't gone over my budget this week, I finally did some laundry, my phone started working again, I taught myself how to fry an egg, I found a site that streams TV shows so I can watch old seasons of 24 and Arrested Development (even though it's really slow and everything has what looks like Japanese subtitles), and I have started to go running in my neighborhood. By "I have started" I mean, I went for the first time today. But I think I am going to keep it up; I'm not quite as out of shape as I thought, and the neighborhoods are so pretty that it's nice just to get out in them. Plus the weather is pretty much perfect for running outside, when it isn't raining.
On top of all of this, Lea, Carolyn and I are going to Stockholm this weekend. Who would have ever thought I would go to Sweden? I plan to bring back lots of stuff like coffee and chocolate since I expect things will be much cheaper there than they are here.
I hope everyone is doing well! I still miss all my Tulsa people.
Love,
Catherine
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