'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