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

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

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

'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

Potpourri

Time for some random observations and tidbits that haven't really fit in to any of my posts up to this point.

~*~HERE WE GO~*~

—Mind the gap: Everyone has heard this, right? It's one of the quintessential things people think about when they think of Britain. What I wonder is why they say it so much. From what I've seen, in the vast majority of tube and train stations, if you were actually to have an issue with the gap between the train and the platform, you would have to be extraordinarily clumsy, almost to the point of actually trying to fall down, or you would have to be very very small. Like, green army man size.

—Arachnids: I am really surprised "Charlotte's Web" was not written in Britain (rhyme!). Nearly every morning on my walk to to bus stop I notice a new spider web on someone's bush or flowering shrub. And these are not your Tulsa sized spiders or webs. These are big, fat spiders that sit in the middle of huge, beautifully constructed webs. I don't think they are any sort of dangerous variety, but they sure look menacing. Since it rains so much here, it's usually really easy to see them, covered in little water droplets. It's a pretty amazing thing.

—Fun fact: You know those Princeton Review college ratings, like Happiest Students and Dorms Like Prisons or whatever? Well, there's one called Town/Gown relations. That term comes from Oxford! Because of the weird little robes they wear to meals and graduation and stuff. You've seen pictures, I'm sure. And the funny thing is, Oxford and Cambridge both have terrible town/gown relations. In Oxford, although all the buildings are mixed in with the town, there are just certain places the townspeople always go, and places students always go: especially pubs. Apparently if a student walks in to a townspeople pub, the whole bar goes silent and everyone puts down their drinks and stares. How creepy. And in Cambridge, the college and students are in a completely separate part of town as the Cambridge locals.

—College sports: are just really not as big a deal here as they are in the States. From what I can tell, there's not really any sort of NCAA equivalent for like, the elite or whatever. For example, my roommate, who, granted, is really athletic, was able pretty much to walk on to the ladies' football (soccer) team here. Tomorrow I am going to try out for the volleyball team, and if my suspicions are correct, I will be able to join without much of a problem. (This is great for me; I am really looking forward to competing in something organized again.) They are sort of more like club sports, much like the rugby team at TU. I wish TU had more club sports like this; something in between intermurals and the legit school team.

—Gents: The don't call anything "Mens'." It's always "Gents'." Which I love. Gents' toilets. Gents' barber. There are a surprising number of those, by the way. Barber shops. Just for gents, just for ladies, just for ethnic hair. There are also ones fashioning themselves as unisex, which I'm sure means open to both, but to me sounds like the give the same haircuts to both ladies and gents.

—Gardens: I'm sure you've heard of English gardens, and for the most part this is really true. Most people have tiny front yards, which they line with cute little flowerbeds planted haphazardly with flowers and shrubs. Or, if they have all brick in front of their houses, there are still flower beds at the edges, or at least pots and flower boxes. All the houses are really close to the street, which means even in the suburbs the yards are a lot smaller than in the States, which is great, because it makes it much easier to see when there are

—Cats: or kittens in the windows. One house on my way to and from the bus nearly always has a different kitten in the window. It's one of my favorite parts of the day.

That's all I can think of for now. My classes seem great so far; I had Gender, Sexuality and Popular Culture today, and I felt a lot like how Mary must feel in her classes all the time. It seems really interesting, and I am excited to start. One of the lectures scheduled for later in the semester is called Laura Croft's Breasts (It's about gender portrayals in video games. I am going to bring up all that stuff Mary told me about World of War Craft.). Friday is the class I'm most excited about, in which I'll be learning how to do video journalism. I am going to have such a great range of journalism skills!

Now I'm off to read an article about gender in the media, some stuff about 18th cent. lit, and some Jonathan Swift poems.

Catherine

Purgatory

Please excuse the less-than-joyful tone of this post. I know these things are supposed to be about how amazing and fulfilling this *experience* is, but you are all probably jaded and tired of that by now anyway. Right? RIGHT?

The point of this is that I have not had the greatest few days. Remember that solo trip out to Charleston I was going to take? Well, that turned into a profound disaster. All told, I must have made about a dozen public transportation mistakes which ended up costing me more than I care to think about, and in a twelve hour day, I spent only about two hours at my destination, and the rest in transit. And Charleston is only about an hour away from London, technically. The place itself was really cool; it's the old home of Vanessa Bell (Virginia Woolf's painter sister) and Duncan Grant, two of the most important figures in the Bloomsbury bohemian-type movement in Britain. It was great to have learned so much about it in school at TU and then to actually see it in person. I wish I could just have stayed there, and in fact, I probably should have, since it turned out that the bus I hurried to catch never came, and I ended up waiting for it for an hour and a half outside in the cold and drizzle, before having to walk another couple of miles in the shrubs along the highway to get to the nearest train station. People kept honking at me as they drove by too, and I have no idea why. It was really disheartening.

So that was lame. The next day, a trip for internationals to the Cotswolds and Oxford, was not as lame. I was worried because I didn't know anyone on the trip, but I ended up making friends with a girl called Nadua from Bosnia. Problem is I don't know her last name and am having a hard time finding her on facebook. Frustrating. F-game.

The Cotswolds were almost too cute to be real; think England from a BBC original miniseries of a Jane Austen novel. Or even a Shakespeare play. In the Costwolds you have something called cream tea, which is basically just tea and scones, but the scones... They're more like what we call biscuits, only they have fruit and rasins in them and stuff, and for cream tea, you put clotted cream and jam on them. Clotted cream is somewhere between heavy cream and butter, and is my new favorite thing in the world.

Oxford is a strange place. This whole trip was one of those where they really don't give you enough time to do everything you want to do, and I feel like I missed out not getting to just roam around for hours. Also I was feeling a little bitter about not having gotten to go to school there; there was some kind of graduation ceremony going on and all these people were wandering around in their little Oxford robes and grad caps.

What I really wanted to do but couldn't was go to the pub where C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien used to hang out. Our guide pointed it out as we drove by, but of course there was no time to visit. I might try to get up there again. It seems like a great town.

Mostly the problem with little trips like this is that I just want to be a local everywhere I go, instead of an observer. Like, a huge reason I wished I could've studied at Oxford was to eat in the Christ Church dining hall. Hogwarts, anyone?

Oh well. I bought a few school supplies today, and I'm hoping that classes starting tomorrow will improve my mood. I try out for volleyball on Thursday, so I guess I also need to go buy some court shoes and knee pads. I am just writing this week off as a total fail financially.

Aaaaanyway. I'm off to write an opinion piece for the Collegian (Vote NO on SQ744!!!!!!), for which I will hopefully get paid, even though I'm abroad. Dear TU payroll, please understand that I am poor and need your money!

Peace.

C

Percolate?

I couldn't think of another relevant P word.

I am sitting here writing lots of postcards, since I went overboard buying them at the British Museum, so I thought I would do a blog post too, while I'm at it. And I am tired of just blabbing about where I've been going, so I thought I would do this one in a list form.

Top ten reasons living in Kingston is better than living in Tulsa:

10. Developed river: Kingston's full title is Kingston upon Thames, and that is no lie. There is a lovely walking path along the Thames, and High Street (which is what you call the main street/town center of any British village or neighborhood — remember this from Hogsmeade?) runs right along the Thames's east side. The theater and dozens of great restaurants come right up to it, it's full of swans and ducks, you can take river tours and even catch a ferry down to Hampton Court, which was Henry VIII's favorite royal residence. That's on my agenda of things to see.

9. Shopping: There are multiple H&M locations in Kingston, and it is really not that big of a town. Need I say more? I am going to have to be careful not to spend all my food and rent money there...

8. Pubs: I have not really taken advantage of this yet, but we are going to do a typical British pub night tomorrow for my roommate's birthday. Bring on the fish and chips and beer!

7. Developed town center: Going back to High Street — there is nearly always something going on here. There are tons of cute cafes and little shops, and you can get pretty much everything you need, including help from the Kingston study abroad office, right in the space of about a half-mile. Every day there is an outdoor market with the cheapest and freshest produce in town, which is great for day-to-day cooking. Next on my list: the gelato place. I expect I will go here to reward myself after our first day of class, coming up Monday.

6. Old shit: There is a bridge on High Street across a little canal tributary to the Thames which was built in the 1200's. Insane.

5. Food: For one thing, there is delicious Indian food everywhere you go. For another, I just discovered these things called pasties (again, recall your Harry Potter) which are like hot pockets only a trillion times better. Plus they are cheap.

4. Proper public transportation: Our bus stop is a ten minute walk from our house, and on weekdays, 7 to 7, the bus runs every ten minutes. Then, there are trains into London about every twenty minutes during peak hours. Best of all, with an Oyster card, you top off the amount you can be charged for travel at about £6 per day, so no matter how many busses you take that day or how far you go on the tube in London, they won't charge you more than that. Oh, and, the tube. Easiest way to get around ever.

3. Easy access to the ocean: All the study abroad people went to Brighton today, which aside from being one of the cutest towns I have ever seen, is also right on the ocean. It's just an hour away. The beach isn't exactly a Pensacola-type set up, since it is covered in pebbles instead of sand, and the water is pretty freezing, but it is still a great place to be. I did a tiny little sea-bathing today (a la Jane Austen's characters).

2. Easy access to the rest of Europe: Lea, Carolyn and I are going to Stockholm for the weekend in October, and the plane tickets plus our hostel only cost me about $150 in all. That is fantastic, plus, I'm going to Sweden??? Ridiculous. I just wish we could have stayed in the ice hotel.

1. LONDON: Subcategories to this include the British Museum (free), the National Gallery (free), Trafalgar Square (free), the Tate modern art museum (free), the Globe (£5 for tickets to the best Shakespeare in the world), the West End (discount tickets for students, where you can decide to see a random Beckett play and not realize till he says his first line that the show stars Michael Gambon, the guy who plays Dumbledore), Hyde Park (free), places where you can get better fish and chips in a box than you can in Oklahoma at a sit-down restaurant (£4), and really, the list never ends.

All of this sounds great, of course, but in the interest of journalistic integrity, I am going to construct an alternative list.

Top ten reasons living in Kingston is NOT better than living in Tulsa:

10. Paying rent: While it is true that TU is technically paying this, it is a big drag to remember to pay these people £95 per week. I think that is a little bit ridiculous for how far we are living from campus, and how we must use and cook all our own food and stuff. That's as much as my trip to Stockholm. At TU, Stead just pays my rent every semester. Thanks, Stead!

9. Not having a bicycle: The busses are great, but they are only really handy during peak hours. Out much after nine at night and they get more and more infrequent and inconvenient. I really wanted to get a bike so I don't have to depend on them all the time, but people apparently take their biking very seriously here, and I would have to drop like several hundred pounds to get even a used one that I don't have to fix.

8. British accents: While sexy in a select few people, mostly they are just hard to understand, and I hate having to ask people to repeat things.

7. Spinach: is very hard to find here. I knew they had it, since it's in a common Indian dish, saag, but I couldn't find it until recently, at the outdoor market on High Street. Even then, you have to buy a huge bundle, and I am going to have to eat it very fast in order for it not to spoil and go to waste.

6. Lack of Mexican fast food: Even when I am starving, I can resist places like McDonalds and Burger King, because, I'm in England for heaven's sake. But, I don't even have the option of going to T-Bell or Bueno when I am starving in my room after eating toast for dinner yet again.

5. Food in general, I guess: It's very expensive, in most places. I often feel awkward cooking in our hosts' kitchen, and I have been living pretty much on toast and eggs and oranges for the past week here. If anyone has any cheap, fast recipes that they like that don't require use of an oven (because I don't understand the one here), please send them my way.

4. Laundry: I am still too afraid to ask our family about their facilities, since I am fearful they are going to charge us extra. Carolyn's landlady does. But the laundromats (launderettes, here) are also really expensive. I am going to run out of clothes soon...

3. Not having a cat: Pretty self-explanatory. I have always had a cat, since second grade. Even living at TU, I can always go home and see Gracie whenever I want. And we all remember Sodapop. Our host family doesn't have any animals at all.

2. TV: Gossip Girl is a week and a half behind in the U.K., and sites like Hulu don't work here. It's nearly impossible to watch episodes of shows that have aired in the U.S. but not in the U.K. Same with House. It's torture. I just thank heaven LOST is over, and I don't have to be tortured by waiting for it.

1. People: Everything — and I truly mean everything — would be more incredible if I could share how great it is with the people I love. I miss my family and my friends and my jobs so heartbreakingly much.  Fortunately, I have made some great friends here, so I am not lonely, per se. And I am having the time of my life. It's just, it would be even better to be able to share it with everyone I love most.

Sooooo that's that! Two competing perspectives on life in England. I wish everyone could have this experience of becoming a local in a new place, because it has far exceeded my expectations. Next up, joining clubs at the activities fair tomorrow, maybe a solo trip out to Charleston farmhouse near Lewes on Friday, International student trip to Oxford on Saturday, probably another day in London on Sunday, and my first class at Kingston on Monday! Fortunately I met someone today who will be in my very first class, so when I have to skip to go traveling, I can get his notes, and vise versa!

Pleasant day to all,

Catherine