Absence makes the heart grow fonder. I forgot how much I love not sharing a room!

As you can tell, it is no longer Sunday. In fact...it's almost the following Sunday. This week has been absolutely NUTS!! Plans were made and changed and now there's nothing to do but sit in the sun, which I'm currently doing, and relax with a book/homework. Mmmmm. This is seriously the best weather of my LIFE!!! Man, I love outside. Ok, so, like last time, I've kind of forgotten some events of my week, so just fill in the blanks with your own stories. Sweet. I posted on Tuesday so I'll start with Wednesday.

Last Wednesday I can only remember that I went to class and got assigned a group presentation. I decided to be in the first group so that after I was done with that, I wouldn't have to worry about anything in that class. Then that night was our Big Read project thing. My group didn't go that night but all the participants had to be there as the audience. So I did that and then we were supposed to meet after but one of the girls in my group went on a date instead and then the rest of us were kinda burnt out so...we just didn't meet.

Thursday I had class and then I worked on my Big Read project. I can't remember if I've talked about this before. Basically, my poetry teacher got together with the history teacher and they decided it'd be a good idea to make us do a project about a UK poet. It was seriously the dumbest project I've had to do in a long time. But there was a 10 pound gift card to each person in the winning group...so we worked hard. Thursday night we presented and it was crazy. One of the guys in my group was doing the biggest chunk of the presentation and while we were practicing he just said like two things and he was telling us that he was better at making up things on the spot. Whatever, right? Well, we get to his turn and he stands up, and holy cow!!! He went on for out 15 minutes on the extensive influence of our poet and he was quoting things that I've never even read before but it was all accurate! It was incredible. And we should have won, but we didn't. But it's alright. After that, I had to go pack because I was leaving for Berlin! So I went and packed and showered and then at 12:30, my group left for the bus and we made it to the airport but it was too early to check in so we slept on the floor. Then we checked in and got on the plane and slept on the plane and landed in Berlin and took a train to our hostel. We weren't allowed to check in until 2:00 though and when we got there it was 10:00. So we just had to walk around. So that was Friday. We just hung out. We found this awesome Church and instead of going in, we took a nap on the lawn out front. Haha. For dinner, we went to this restaurant and my friend ordered a knuckle of pork. None of us knew what that was but she knew she liked pork. When they brought it out...it was literally the knuckle of a pig! GROSS!! It was still covered in the skin and looked like a pig's foot. It was the most disgusting thing....ugh. She ate it but mostly she just picked at it and made it look like she'd eaten it. But one of the guys ordered the same thing and he ate ALL OF IT! Nasty!!!!

Saturday we got up and went on a bike tour. It was great! We saw so much of Berlin and learned all this stuff about buildings and history. It was really interesting. Then we went back to the train station and our train just didn't come. So we were all worried that we weren't going to make our flight but then another train came and we made it just fine. We got back to our house at 4:00. My feet have never hurt so bad in my life as they did on that trip. I wore my Converse and when I took them off, my toes were so jank. I've got blisters on top of my blisters and on the bottoms of my feet and my right foot feels like I have a stress fracture on the bone! It's getting better but if I walk on it too much it hurts really bad.

Sunday, I slept in. Then I tried to do a little homework but I was so unmotivated so I only got like two things done. Then I didn't have class at all on Monday so I finished a lot there. Tuesday I presented with my group and got that out of the way and then my other teacher moved a big project to next week and we were all SO HAPPY it was ridiculous. Then...I told myself I was going to get a lot done before I left for Italy on Thursday but I didn't...but that turned out to be alright. Tuesday night I played volleyball with some friends for like 3 hours. It was so much fun. We played until it was pitch black outside and we couldn't see the ball anymore, then we went inside and watched the Sound of Music because some people are in Austria for this break and they wanted to watch it before they left.

Wednesday was...eh. I woke up and did some homework and then I went shopping with my roommates and then we came back and went to class. That night, we were packing and getting ready to go and I just got this feeling like I didn't want to go on this trip. I was packing and thinking about how much I just didn't want to go.  So I talked to one of the girls going and she said she understood and she told me that I definitely didn't have to. I went in and talked to the other girls going and I just told them that I wasn't going to go and that I wanted them to have a good time without me. They were upset at first but in the end, I think they understood.

But that night, they were up late and I didn't want to be in the room while they were still planning and everything so I went in the kitchen and skyped people but then I realized that my roommates had gone to bed without me saying goodbye to them so I figured I should just stay up all night and say goodbye to them in the morning. So I did! Hah. I was skyping so it wasn't hard but I did get pretty tired. I made it all night though and in the morning, our goodbye was really anti-climactic and I kinda regretted being up. Hah, it was whatever.

Yesterday was just a really good day. It was one of the best days I've had here. Skyping my people, combined with the lifted stress from that trip and unpacking and just being by myself was amazing. And after they left, I got some homework done and then one of the guys from upstairs came down and made breakfast and made me some breakfast and we just hung out until he left to meet up with his family and then I went shopping with the other girl that stayed and we had a great time and we got smoothies and just walked around. I even decided to wear some new clothes yesterday and it was just a good day. I got back and watched a movie then had dinner with a friend and then skyped people again and then went to bed early and I just woke up about three hours ago. I'm gonna get a lot done today and it's just gonna be good. I've been sitting in the sun and my friend came out and talked to me and he told me not to get sunburned but to 'ration my sun exposure and build up my tolerance' haha. Ok.

No one gets back until late on Sunday and even they are in the other house so I'm alone until Monday morning when my roommates get back. I might go to London and see Wicked. I found some cheap tickets. I might just stay in Oxford and walk around and appreciate where I'm living. Who knows? The world is my oyster!

Now I know why the Irish have to be lucky.

Hello! As you probably noticed, it's been about three weeks since I wrote anything on here. Eh...two? I really don't know. It's alright though, not a ton has happened. And I've only got a few more days here so nothing to extreme is likely to happen. We'll see. Maybe I can throw in something super dramatic just to get the blood pumping and make you all a little more jealous of me than you already should be. The last time I posted was the Monday before we left for Ireland and I'm gonna be honest...I don't remember that week at all. It's been too long. The specifics of it have left me 100%. I'll do my best to recapture it.

Tuesday is a blank until about 11:00 that night. I remember trying to make up my schedule for next semester and freaking out about it because I didn't know what to take. I think I also watched the Princess Bride for someone's birthday...but I don't know.

Wednesday I worked all day on this paper that I had to do for my honors class. It's the ONLY assignment we had so it is basically 100% of our grade and I hadn't started it yet and it was due the next day...so that sucked. I kept getting interrupted by class and then volunteering and in the end, it took me until 5:00 in the morning to finish it. Oh...and I mostly packed.

Thursday I woke up at 8:00 and finished packing and printed my paper and got breakfast and got onto the bus and then got to the airport and flew to Dublin! I went with some people to dinner at the oldest pub in Dublin called the Brazen Head. It was pretty good food and I think it was cheap, but I split a meal with someone so...yeah. Then we tried to find this park but when we got there it was closed so we just walked around and went down this street where there was a band playing and they were SO GOOD! I loved it. I got a video. Then one day (as I was writing this I realized I have no idea what days things happened) we had a walking tour around the city and towards the end, some of us split off and went to see the book of Kells which was amazing. For those who don't know, the book of Kells is the four gospels written and illustrated by scribes from the 9th century about. It was really amazing. I tried to take a picture in there, but this lady started yelling at me and then walked over and had to watch me delete it. Of course, while she was worrying about me, all the people I was with took pictures behind her back!! Lame. Then we went to dinner for someone's birthday and then I went with a group to see some Irish music and watch some Irish dancing. It was really cool. I'm pretty sure the day after that was when I had a picnic...but I don't remember. No, it was that day. Friday all this happened, and in the morning, I went with most of the girls to a park and we had a picnic and played on the playground and had fun feeding some swans we found. It was a lot of fun. Saturday I went to St. Patrick's but it cost money to get in so a few of us just decided to go in the garden out back and hang out while the others went through. Then we loaded up onto the coach and went to Belfast.

Belfast was nice. There was a Mexican food place!!!!!!! It was so dang good. The guy who started it got the idea from Chipolte, so it was that same style and, not as good, but right up there. We weren't sure where it was at first so Erika asked some local people and this was their conversation...not making this up.
Erika: Hi, do you guys know where the burrito place is?
Guy: I'm sorry?
Erika: I heard there is a burrito place around here, do you know where it is?
Guy: Is that the name of it or is that the kind of food they have?
Girl: I don't know, sorry.
Erika: That's the kind of food they have.
Girl: What is a burrito?
Erika: It's a tortilla with sour cream and beans and rice and  meat and you fold it up and eat it...
Girl: You mean, like Subway?
Erika: Not quite.

We all died laughing, which in hindsight, was probably really rude. That couple walked off really fast after that. When we turned around, the place was right in front of our faces. Boojum. Weird name. Great food. MMMMMMM. Then we just walked around the city. There was a concert at the Church right next to our hostel and we went and listened to that for a while. Sunday I went to Church and then lunch and then we had some free time and we tried to plan our trip but got nowhere. Then we went to evening service and then dinner and walked around the city some more.

We left early on Monday for Ballycastle and stayed in Corrymeela. Coastal city. Most gorgeous view. It was so peaceful and relaxing and there wasn't a lot of pressure to go and see a bunch because it's not a big city. We were there for two days and then we went to Derry. On the way, we saw the giant's causeway which is just this huge rock formation that naturally grew up into honeycomb shaped steps all over the place. It was really cool. Derry was uneventful. We went to a museum, walked around the wall, went to eat, saw some Irish music. I went to dinner the second night with a group at a bowling alley. It was a nice 3 course meal and bowling for 17 pounds. That's pretty good. So we ate until we were full and then some and then had a rousing 10 frames of bowling. We did have to walk about 3 miles to get there and to get back...so that sucked. Other than that, it was a great night!I guess that was Thursday night. So Friday morning I woke up and went around town with some people and we went to this store called pound world. It's the UK equivalent of dollar general. So everything was 1 pound and we went crazy! Mostly, everyone bought a ton of candy. I did get some stellar sunglasses though, and I'm super proud of them. I've been wearing them all week! Hah. Overall, Ireland was a success. Though, basically every stereotype you hear about the Irish is true. Loud, drunk, angry, and red headed.

We got back Friday evening and everyone was so tired and didn't feel like cooking so we did something easy: pasta. I'm still sick of pasta from Italy but...there you go. And none of the boys upstairs wanted to cook so they all bought in and we had a nice house dinner. It was actually a really good meal. Emily knows how to cook so the sauce was incredible! Then, Saturday, everyone woke up kind of late and I did some laundry but it was a beautiful day outside and I took a book out there and read for a long time. Then Emily and Mandy (with a little help from some of the boys) decided to make a house breakfast and we had chocolate chip pancakes and scrambled eggs and french toast and bacon and fresh strawberries and bananas. OH! It was so good. Then I went back outside and read some more and played volleyball for a while and then read some more and then had dinner outside and then went to bed.

Sunday I got up for Church and then went to this place called the Mission for lunch. It's a burrito place, also based on Chipolte, also not as good. Whatever. It was Mexican food. Then, I decided I needed some skirts or something to wear since it was so nice out and all I have are athletic shorts. So I went and got two skirts and two shirts to go with them. I found a TON of cute ones, and if I wore them with leggings they would be fine, but without, Erika said they were a little hoochie so I decided I couldn't get them. Sad. After shopping I went and read outside again, then Emily made enchiladas for dinner and they were delicioious!! Then it was time for devo and I did that and I stayed around after and watched the masters with some of the guys. It was getting really intense. I didn't know people could get so upset about golf!!

Monday was supposed to be a big homework day. I went to a cafe with my friend and we stayed there for almost 3 hours and I only finished homework for 1 of my classes. So I was going to come back and finish the rest but then I started talking to people and it got pushed out of the way...so that's what I should be doing today! Hah, right now, in fact. The teachers just keep piling stuff on and I can't get it all done! All this dang reading is taking me forever!!!! Oh well. Gotta do it, right? I leave for Berlin on Thursday night and I'll get back Saturday night. So I'll try to put something up on Sunday. I really did look through my pictures thinking about some that I could put on here and I just don't like any of the pictures I've taken! I mean...they look cool to me, but I don't know how other people would like them. Plus, I'm bad at being IN my pictures...so I'll work on that this last month and see what I can do. Again, no promises.

So, that homework...yeah, you have to do it!

It's been a very busy week in some ways. I spent a lot of time relaxing after my extensive break and most of my assignments kind of just fell by the wayside. Don't worry, none of them were really due last week. So the only thing I did was make things harder on myself...go figure! It's not too bad though. We leave for Ireland on Thursday and I'll have a lot of time while we're driving around to read and stuff. Maybe. If we're taking a bus it'll be iffy. 

Last Monday night, Mandy's mom was here and she took us out to dinner for my birthday. It was the second time I've been in a car in England and it was super trippy. I don't think I'd be very good at driving over here. It's just too weird. We went to a restaurant called the Gourmet Burger Kitchen. It was perfect because I was SO OVER Italian food and all I wanted was a good American Hamburger. I suppose that's still not really what I got, but it was close enough. And I had french fries and on the menu it actually said 'french fries' not 'chips' so it felt a little more like home.

Then on Tuesday, Emily made me some banana pudding! Except, they don't have pudding mix so she had to use ready-made pudding and they don't sell whipped cream so she had to make that as well...and the don't sell Nilla Wafers so she had to use digestives (they're just cookies...nothing gross). I mean, you could kind of taste the differences but it was still SO GOOD! And  a bunch of the guys came over, for the food, but Mandy made them sing Happy Birthday to me. And then I tried to skype with my besties back home but one camera wasn't working and one couldn't figure out their sound and it was so  noisy in my kitchen that I couldn't hear anyone anyway. It was sort of a fail. Erika got me a birthday present: a dress and the movie "Due Date" which we proceeded to watch after pudding. The only problem is that it's the British code disc so I can't watch it in the U.S. without a special DVD or something. So, yeah. But I've already watched it twice here, I love it so much! And I haven't worn the dress yes. It's really pretty though. And I'd tried it on before, Erika and Emily and Mandy made me go shopping with them one day and gave me things to try on and they liked some of the stuff but I didn't want to spend money on it. 

Then Wednesday I was really upset because as I was walking to class, one of the guys walks in and goes, "Hey, we decided to do a cook-out tonight just to get everyone together after the break." and of course, Wednesday nights are the nights I volunteer from 5:30 to 9:30. So I missed the cook-out! And there were hot dogs and hamburgers and lemonade and sweet tea and all sorts of delicious desserts! I got home just in time to stand in the kitchen while some of the girls were doing dishes. It was a bummer. Also, I had two papers due the next day and I hadn't even started thinking about them so at like 11:00 I sat down at my computer and began typing. I finished one of them at around 2:00 and left the other one until the morning.  I usually wake up about 4 hours before my classes on Monday and Thursday and I was totally confident in my ability to write the second paper well before that time was up. I succeeded and, if I do say so myself, it wasn't the worst poetry explication I've ever done!

Thursday I went to a birthday party. One of my teachers here brought his family, I don't know if I've mentioned it before. They have two of the cutest little girls you'll ever see in your life!! Well, the oldest one turned 8 on Friday and on Thursday night, she invited all the girls on the trip over for Cookies and Strawberry milk and a marathon of Charlie and Lola. It was so much fun and that little girl is so dang smart! She's been known to correct Emily's grammar at times. It's hilarious! After the birthday party, we went out to get some Ali's for dinner and we walked all the way there and he wasn't there! The van was not in it's usual spot! It was very upsetting. So we went and got burgers again.

Friday and Saturday and Sunday were really nothing special. I realized how much reading I had to do so I spent most of my days trying to catch up. I really am the slowest reader on the face of the Earth! My teacher assigned a book to be read before class today and told me it'd take two hours at most. Yeah, it took me 4 hours to read less than half of it!! What the heck, reading skills. Come on! And today I got out of class and sat in my room and it was beautiful outside so I opened a window. What should fly in but one of the BIGGEST BEES I'VE EVER SEEN?! Seriously, it was HUGE! And I didn't know what to do and Emily didn't know what to do so, naturally we got on facebook chat and tried to get one of the boys in the house to come help us get it out of here. It took like an hour and the promise of cookies for someone to finally come and when he did, he caught it in a cup, put it on top of my dresser, and said, "Alright...now it's your problem. I'll bring you a recipe later". So I had to pick up the cup and let the bee out of the window! But now it keeps coming back because Emily decided to pour honey on the ledge to lure it out of the room! I feel like that was destined to only work when the bee was on the outside. Oh well.

I realized last night that I only have 45 days until I'm back in Colorado. That is so weird to me. It seems like a long time when I think of it like that, but at the same time...not. It's going to be so sad leaving here and not being able to see all of my beautiful scenery everyday when I walk somewhere. I still need to plan my second five day break and I have no idea where that will take me. Like I said, I leave for Ireland on Thursday, then we get back the following Friday. The next Thursday night I leave for Berlin for the weekend, then I'll get back late Saturday night and on Thursday I'll leave for wherever I'm going on my next trip. After that I think there are only about two and a half weeks left. And I am no closer to finding/marrying Rupert Grint than I was when I got here. What have I been doing with my life?!

Back home in Oxford, and there was much rejoicing.

Let me start off by saying, 8 days is a long time. I mean, when you really think about how much you can get done in 8 days. And I feel like I've been gone way longer than that! I did realize how easy it is for me to go without communication with the outside world. No internet, no phone (so no texting), I barely had an iPod, I had ONE pair of pants (long story), no towel, and I ran out of gum. Honestly, it was like I was back in Biblical times! Oh, and I ran out of money, but that was all good. 8 days is a long time and it takes longer to explain. So let's just dive right in, shall we?

We didn't miss our train! Erika and I left literally two minutes after I posted on Saturday and we got brunch at On The Hoof which, if I haven't explained it before, is just a little sandwich shop one street over and it's cheap by Oxford standards. Erika was a little bummed because she didn't have enough time to go buy buttons (or as she calls them buh-ens.....ugh) for her jacket. She bought this super cute jacket in Oxford a while back and it wasn't a cheap-o thing but every single button on this coat has fallen off! It's a bit ridiculous. So, she was going to buy some buttons before we left and sew them on on the train or something. And she wanted to buy some flats before we left just so she would have more than one pair of shoes to take. The thing was, we left too late for her to stop and do any of that so she was left with a buttonless coat and only one pair of shoes. We ate our lunch at the train station and we were just sitting there waiting for our train to leave at 12:01. Well, a train pulled up at like 11:45 and we decided it wasn't our train. So we were just sitting there and chatting and then at like, 11:56 we decided it was our train. So we got all our stuff and hopped on and we were right and then we made it to the airport and caught our flight. We flew ryanair which, if you ever have the chance to do that, don't. They are just crazy! And none of us had checked bags we all just brought carry on which, by the way, how impressive is it that I fit EVERYTHING I needed for 8 days in my school back pack? I'd say very impressive. Anyway, they made us fit our bags into this stupid little metal box to make sure they were the right dimensions and we could only have ONE carry on. So I had my little purse thing and my backpack and they made me put it in my bag. Well, of course that made my bag unable to fit in the metal thing so they made me move stuff around. I ended up taking stuff out and hiding it in my shirt while the guy wasn't looking and then once I made it through I put it back in my bag. Stupid airline people! After that it was smooth sailing. We made it to Italy and made it on a bus to the train station and from there it was easy enough to find our hostel. It was in a kind of sketch part of town. I mean, it was safe, but it was dirty and didn't look very friendly and whatever else you think of when you think sketch. And the hostel itself was pretty ghetto. And it ended up costing 20 euros more a night than we were originally told. So that wasn't cool. We checked in and got our stuff all put in our rooms and then got dinner and just hung out.

Then on Sunday, one of the guys in the group, Jack, got up super early because he couldn't sleep and he decided to walk around the city. So by the time the rest of us woke up, he basically knew where everything was and how to get there and when it was open and everything! It was like having our very own tour guide who had no idea what the historical significance of anything was but they were more than happy to lead you to where it was. It did rain for most of the day, so that was kinda sad. And there were all these people out trying to sell umbrellas! It was a smart idea, but none of us were paying for a dang umbrella in Rome. I mean, for real, you don't go to Rome and buy an umbrella off a street-walker. Anyway, we went to the Colosseum and got rained on but it was amazing. All the grass was super green and gorgeous and it was just great. Then, since it was all rainy, we decided to go back to the hostel and just hang out for a while until dinner. Apparently, people in Italy always eat huge lunches out and then have small dinners in with their family so none of the restaurants open until about 7:30. So we waited until then and in that time we met another American guy who was staying in the hostel and we invited him out to dinner with us and it was a lot of fun! Then after dinner, for some reason, everyone decided we needed to go and see the Trevi fountain. So at 8:30, we went down into the metro station which is like the subway system. It's SO sketch. And there is SO much graffiti on the trains it's incredible. I got some really awesome pictures. I'm really working on being better about putting them up! Anyway, we were standing down there, waiting for a train and I said, "Guys, did anyone look at what time this closes so we're not going across town without a way back?" and every BOY said, "it doesn't close. You're thinking of the buses." So I let it go and we went to see the fountain. It was so pretty! But my camera took weird pictures because it was night time and I can't figure out the flash on my camera. Eh. I did throw in my coins though! And we got Gelato. Oh goodness, it is so good! I ate it way too much on this trip. I'm actually kind of sick of Italian food. I had either pizza, spaghetti or lasagna for every meal. If I see any of them again in the next week, I'm just gonna throw up without warning. It's ridiculous. Anyway, we got a little lost on the way to the fountain and then on the way back to the metro and we finally made it back to the entrance to the metro at like 10:30. Well it CLOSED at 9:00. I just looked at all those boys and smiled the 'I told you so' smile. And I said, "Weird. It's closed." And they didn't say anything. Haha. But it turns out our hostel was only about two miles from where we were staying so we just walked back and it was fine.

Monday was my birthday!! It was great! We slept in and then went to a little pizzeria and I had the BEST sausage pizza I've ever had in my life. Seriously, it was the bomb. After lunch, we went to the Roman Forum and walked around there for about 4 hours. It was so amazing and beautiful and there were all these ruins from something or other and gardens and beautiful trees! Oh, it was just perfect. Then we walked around the city and saw almost everything else there was to see in Rome. We walked by the Pantheon for about 5 minutes and some cool plazas and some buildings and...man. I'm really feeling bad that I have no idea what it was we saw! But I took a lot of pictures so maybe I'll find out. I can google it or something. Then for dinner, we went back to the same place and I had the same pizza and then we went to get gelato and it was good. I kept all my gleato spoons. Now, when I look at then, I feel sick.

Tuesday we met up with some other girls from our group in Oxford and went to the beach! We went to Sperlonga which is about two hours from Rome and it was so pretty! And we just hung out there for a while and I collected some shells on the beach! Then we had a little scare where we ALMOST missed our bus back to the train station but we didn't and we made it back to Rome safely. While we were waiting for the bus, I really had to pee! So I ran to this little shop and went inside to ask about a bathroom. Well, one of the guys on the trip had told me that 'bathroom' in Italian, was 'bagno' pronounced the same as in Spanish. I don't think that was true because I walked up to this guy and said that and he didn't know what I was saying. So I had to do a little bathroom dance and he kinda laughed and said 'bathroom!' and pointed to another shop across the street. So I ran over there and walked in and it was kind of crowded and this guy walked up to me and said something in Italian and, again, I said "bagno!" and no one in that shop seemed to know what I was saying! So I just said 'bathroom' and they still didn't know, so I did another little bathroom dance and they all kinda laughed and pointed at the back of the shop. So I found a bathroom! Then when I was walking out, they were all still laughing. So that was great.

Wednesday was the Vatican. We decided to get there super early so we didn't have to wait in the line because it was supposed to be raining. It was awesome! The church was huge! And gorgeous! And then we walked through the museum and saw all the famous paintings and the Sistine Chapel. It was gigantic! I mean, HUGE!! And perfect. It's just crazy to think that one person did all that. I don't know how long it took but it looked like one wall painted a solid color could have taken months. It was breathtaking. I think the only other thing we did that day was eat. Gross. I really don't remember. We went back to the Trevi fountain one day...maybe it was...no...I think that was Tuesday. Um...I really don't know.

Thursday we went and tried to see the Medici Villa and I think we did but we never did find a sign that specifically said it was. So who really knows? Then we walked around Rome some more and saw some more plazas that we hadn't seen before I think, and then the time came for us to go back and get our stuff and catch a train to the airport and then we got to Venice! That was really uneventful. Then, we found our hostel in Venice and it was more like a hotel and we slept the next day until we woke up. Which was like, noon.

So Friday we just walked around. We found all these little shops and walked over all these bridges and down to the docks by this plaza and we just sat there for a while next to the water, watching the docked boats rocking around on the waves and all the people walking by and it was beautiful outside. It was just perfect. Saturday was really the same, we just sat at a couple different cafes and talked and then the girls broke off to go shopping and the guys did...something. I have no idea. But we met up for dinner and then went to the airport and left. It was sad, but I was ready.

We landed at about 11:40 and our bus from the airport was supposed to leave at 12:45 so we rushed into the passport line and there was only ONE guy checking passports. It took forever!! Finally we got through and ran to the bus and got on and the bus driver was a jerk! One of our guys was literally shaking because he hadn't eaten in so long and he stopped and got food and the bus driver made him throw it away before he even had one bite. Then, it was like he had no idea what temperature it was on that bus! We were freezing! Then, for some reason he turned on the AIR CONDITIONER! It was miserable. Then, he turned it off and that was a little better but I was shivering so bad. When we got off the bus, it was 5 degrees outside and we were warmer than we'd been on the bus! It was so ridiculous. We walked home and I got into my room at 4:00 in the morning.

In our first hostel, towels weren't provided and I'd been drying off with the shirt I'd worn that day. The second hostel did provide towels but the shower was tiny. So when I got home, I took a shower! I started to unpack my bag and it was like I was punched in the face. My clothes smelt so bad!! Mainly because, one night, we were hanging out on the roof of our hostel and the chairs up there were wet so my pants got wet and then the heater in our room wouldn't come on so they didn't dry all the way before I had to pack them and by the time I was able to let them air out again, I wasn't willing to take them out of the bag because they smelled so bad! Gross. On Sunday, my iTouch died, on Tuesday, my phone died, and we didn't have free wifi anywhere we went so I had no idea how much money was in my bank so I didn't want to take any out! I'm pretty sure Erika is an angel because I told her about it and she said she could spot me until I figured things out. That really only meant the last two days and then the minute I woke up yesterday I went to the ATM and got money to pay her back. The second thing I did was laundry.

So there you have it! That was my trip to Italy. It was great at time and terrible at time. We were all so ready to get back to our own beds and back to people who just spoke English first and not broke bits of it. I'm ready to just be here for a while. I've got three papers due this week and one due next week the day before we leave for Ireland...so that should be fun to catch up on! That's actually what I should have been doing the whole time I was writing this up, but who says a little procrastination isn't the best way to get things done? That's probably a dangerous way to think of things...oh well!

I'm leavin' on a jet plane!

AH! I've got to leave for the train station like 5 minutes ago but Erika is brushing her teeth so I've got a little time. This is going to be the shortest post thus far, which isn't reallly saying anything because it doesn't really mean anything to write something shorter than a novel which is what I feel like I've been writing on here every time I post! Anyway!

Yesterday I went on a field trip to see the house where C.S. Lewis used to live. It was pretty cool. It's really old and still doesn't have a lot of new appliances and stuff even though people live there now. We walked down to the church yard to see his grave as well and that was really cool. He's got a cool grave. Then we got back to the house and I did laundry and I booked my plane tickets to BERLIN! So I'm going there on a weekend after we get back from Ireland and before I go on my second 5 day. I have no idea what I'm doing for that yet.

I just packed this morning. I'm surprised everything fit! But my backback is well within the size requirements and weight requirements for the flight and I'm ready to go! I won't be getting back till about 3 in the morning next Sunday. We fly in to London Saturday night at about 10. I really hope this is a good trip! Neither Erika nor myself are really excited about it yet, but I think it might be because we don't really know what to expect and planning it was so stressful that we'd be fine doing anything at this point.

Ok, I gotta go! Erika is doing that thing people do when people want you to leave but don't want to interrupt what you're doing! So, I'll be back in a week! Hopefully with good stories! I wish I knew how to say bye in Italian....but I don't. So there it is.

Stonehenge...rocks?

It's been a week since I posted. I'm really behind. Not a lot has happened, but when I wait this long it gets hard for me to remember what all I did. And I've got a poetry mid-term tomorrow that I need to study for and Emily is making snicker-doodles tonight and I have to make sure I'm through studying when they're ready or all the boys will come and eat them! So, after being in class from 1:30 to 4:15, I'm taking a blog break before I go volunteer and then, it's study time! Uh...but I've only got 45 minutes, so we're banking on a miracle here!

On Thursday, Emily made a chocolate souffle and I was put in charge of getting the ice cream. So I was walking to the store and I met up with some people who were walking back to the house from dinner and they offered to walk with me and then one of the ice cream stores was too expensive so we ended up walking to a different one and it took a long time but I was having fun so it was cool. Then I ended up sleeping on the couch in the common room in the other house because I fell asleep watching a movie in there! It was a comfy couch though, so that was good. Then I went and got moo moo's milkshakes for a bunch of people. I'm sure I looked like an idiot walking there and back because I had to take a box so I could carry them all. It was a bit ridiculous. I stood in line for about an hour. Eh. Then Friday night, I got invited to go to Stonehenge the next day.

So, Saturday, I woke up early and got my stuff together and we walked to the train station and went to bath again. There were people in our group who hadn't been to bath yet so they wanted to go see some of the things in the town and this time I had my camera! So I got a bunch of cool pictures of the places that I hadn't gotten last time, plus cool pictures of Stonehenge! I was walking around the gift shop with one of the guys and he found a shirt that said "Stonehenge Rocks" and he thought it was so funny! He talked about it all day. Another group went to bath just to see the sights and we kept running in to them everywhere we went! It was great! So we all accidentally met up at the train station and then we got back and got some dinner and watched a movie but it was late and I was tired so I went to bed.

Then on Sunday, we went to Church and then got lunch at this place called "Nando's" and it was SO GOOD! It's basically a restaurant that only serves chicken. Oh man. So good! Then we did an assigned walk for our walking class, and went and got ice cream and then went shopping for a while and then came back to the house and hung out for a bit until devo at 9:00 then everyone went to bed because we had to be up at an ungodly hour to get on a bus to go to London and go to the parliament building! So, Monday we did that, and I thought it was super boring, but we got to go to the tower of London afterwards and that was pretty fun. I was super tired when we got back, though. Then, one of the girls invited me to Berlin with them one weekend and so now I'm super excited about that!

We started baking for the boys, and now they're over here, in our kitchen, ALL THE TIME! Which is cool because we have a great time talking and just hanging out, but then if we forget (like tonight) to make something we said we would, the pressure is on and we have situations where a group of three guys walks in wondering where the cake is. Emily and I discovered google translate yesterday. We were talking about what we should give up for Lent because neither of us had ever done it before so we thought we'd try it out. So we decided on gossip. Now, I just want to make it clear, both of us realize that gossip is not something that we should resume after 40 days! But we talked about it and decided it was a lot easier to say that it's a 40 day thing at first. Anyway, we said we were giving up gossip and then decided that it would probably be easier to give up talking! So I went online and found google translate which will read anything you type into it. I'd say we spent a good 8 hours talking to each other that way, and talking to everyone else that way too. People tried to pretend like they were too cool for it, but everyone laughed!! And one guy joined in and actually one-upped our computer voices. It was so fantastic. Then, we started making videos for people using the voices...it takes us like 10 tries, every video we make just because it's too funny!

And now, I have to go to bed. I was going to stay up and study, but I feel like a solid four hours in the morning is better than falling asleep on my notes tonight. I'll try to post one more time before I leave for spring break on Saturday!

Hablo espanol?

Hello!! I told my mom I was going to post on here last night after I finished my homework but...then Emily and I spent at least an hour deciding what our new profile pictures on facebook should be and then when I looked at the clock it was 12:30 and I had taken some NyQuil so I thought it best to go to bed. So right now, I have an hour and a half before class and I'm going to try to finish this in that time. I'm all alone so there shouldn't be a lot of distractions which is good because this is a LONG story. Probably worthy of more than one post...I could leave like, a nice cliff hanger or something when I'm writing about my day ALONE in Spain but...we all already know that I made it back safe so it's not as suspenseful. Bummer. Anyway...on to my week in Spain!

During class on Tuesday, my teacher told me that she needed to talk to me after class and also that her husband needed to talk to me before we left. Well, what they have to say I'll never know because I forgot to talk to her and he was on the phone when I went to talk to him and I didn't see either of them again before I left. Oops! I finished packing my bag about 15 minutes before we left for the train station. Perfect timing, right? And, I didn't forget ANYTHING!! Everything I would need for my 7 day trip (that was supposed to be 5 days...) fit into my school backpack and I also had room for some homework! We left at 2:15 and walked down to the train station and got on the train and then when we got off in Paddington station, we decided it was too far to walk to Victoria station so we took the underground and made our other train with time to spare. We had dinner at the airport, which was nice, but our flight got delayed because there was a fire in the airport in Amsterdam and somehow that affected when our plane got there. We flew easy jet and apparently the rule for that airline is, first come first served; you fight for the seat you want! Well since I really don't care where I sit on planes it wasn't a big deal but people were getting crazy about cutting the line. Our flight was really short and when we got to the airport it was really deserted and we didn't know what to do! Finally, after standing outside for a while hoping to find a bus schedule or something, we went inside to the car rental place and asked the lady at the counter for help. She told us what bus to ride and where to get off and everything. So we did that, the bus ride was really long and I think we got off at the wrong stop because our hostel was NOT right down the street like that lady said. It was about 12:30 AM at this point and we were tired and only concerned about finding our hostel. So we walked around for a while, Audrey had a map and we were looking at that and trying to find our way and finally, we saw these two ladies and asked them for help. Kind of. I, being the Spanish speaker of the group, boldly walked up to this lady and said, "Hablo espanol?" Good one, Hannah. Her response was, "no". Hah! In the end, we got out our map and said our street name with the proper question inflection and she pointed and used tiny words we knew and we ended up at our hostel in no time! We got all checked in and went up to our room and there were people in our beds! Lame. There were enough beds though, so that was fine, but I guess people that were assigned to top bunks decided that they wanted bottom bunks instead and they just happened to be ours. Anyway, we slept in the next day because we were pretty tired and then when we woke up, we went to lunch at this restaurant down the street and they had great food! Oh, and if you ever go to Spain, remember that they charge you for bottles of water in EVERY restaurant. So that sucked. So, we ate and then decided we wanted to go see some of the sights so we walked to the Segrada familia which is a huge basilica in the city that they've been working on since 1882. It was designed by this man named Gaudi who also designed all these other crazy buildings in Barcelona that people thought were ugly but now they're considered beautiful landmarks. Go figure, another artist misunderstood during his own time. This Church was his baby though, and he put everything he had into it and it's predicted to be done in the year 2026. However, there are some specialists who doubt that it will ever be finished. It's taken them almost 100 years and they're not even half way done yet, but the foundations of the building weren't meant for something so big and right underneath it is the metro line and they're thinking about putting a train line down there too which means that the ground will be even less stable. I'll be really sad if it never gets finished. The outside, when you look at it from a distance, is really  kind of ugly. It looks like molten stone and just, jagged rocks are covering the whole thing. But up close, every bit of the rock is carved into some shape or design and it's gorgeous. There are two sides complete now, one side depicts Jesus' birth and the other, his death and the styles of statue are so different it's incredible but it also flows so well. The inside is bigger than anything I've ever seen. There are stained glass windows everywhere and when the light shines in it turns the stone different colors and it looks beautiful! Oh, I could go  on for hours probably about this building. It was so amazing. And unlike the Abby in Bath, I got pictures this time! I'll try to put them up someday.

After the Church, we decided to walk down to the beach. It was further than we though, but totally worth it in the end. There were these chairs made out of cement scattered over the sidewalk and there was all this free work out equipment and people were just working out and looking out at the Mediterranean sea like it was nothing! We sat there for a while and then decided to walk back to the hostel before it got too dark. We stopped for dinner in the restaurant run by a Chinese family and they didn't speak any English and hardly any Spanish. So that was interesting. Then we passed an ice cream shop on our way back and decided it was necessary to stop there. We walked to the train station just to be sure we wouldn't get lost on the way the next day when we were needing to use the train. Then we headed back to the hostel and turned in early because we were all going to be traveling the next day and we wanted to be rested. The plan was this: the rest of our group flew in to Girona on Wednesday evening/night and on Friday, Audrey and I were going to take a train to Girona and meet them before we all came back to Barcelona for the weekend. So, I woke up the next day, and there was a note next to my face from one of the other girls on the trip that had arrived the night before. I had no idea she was going to be there! So after Audrey and I got all ready, we found her and told her that we were going back to Girona and she wanted to go with us and so we waited for her and had to kind of rush to our train but when we got to the station to buy our tickets, the woman at the information desk told us that we were at the wrong station and to catch our train that left in 10 minutes, we would have to walk to anther station that was 10 minutes away. Great. And the next train wasn't for another hour or so and we were supposed to meet the other group at 12:30. So the new girl with us told us that she knew how to get to Girona from Barcelona by bus because that's what she'd done the night before and we followed her and went to the metro station and then the bus station and then another bus station and then we got turned around walking in Girona because the hostel was harder to find than we thought it was going to be! Finally, we made it and met up with everyone and had lunch and it was all great. We walked along this wall that surrounded the city and saw this incredible Cathedral. We couldn't do inside for some reason but the outside was just gorgeous and there were all these gardens around and beautiful views of the mountains and the city. It was just lovely. Then, we took our bus back and the other group took a train and they had to wait on us for about an hour in Barcelona before we showed up and they could get dinner. After dinner we searched and searched for a good dessert place but nothing was open! Then, we walked down this little side street and found something that was open and it had the best dessert ever! I got this thing that looked like a croissant log but on each end, it was dipped in chocolate and then it was filled with chocolate, which I did not know until I bit into it. It was seriously one of the best things I've ever had in my life. Mmm. After that, we went back to the hostel and there was this sort of concert thing going on in the kitchen/common room area and so I went down there with Andrew and we listened to the music. It was weird but cool. It sounded a bit like the Indian music with the vocal runs and not many words just kind of sounds but with great instrumental music. It was fantastic. These ladies in the front got up and started dancing and I noticed halfway through the song that one of them was about 8 months pregnant and she was just movin'! It was so funny!

The next day, we decided it would be fun to go on a fat tire bike tour around the city. We were right, it was fun. We rode all around the city and saw so many amazing things. The guides took us to this park that was out of this world gorgeous. There was a huge fountain with gold on it here and there and statues of people and water flowing over it and steps around it and trees all around. It was so beautiful. And we went back to the beach and had lunch and then after we finished, one of the guides was asking us where we were from, he was Australian so there was no language barrier, and we told him about our trip and he invited us out to kind of tell us more about what we should do in Barcelona and talk some more. It was super cool, he took us to this great little pub that was really more Australian than Spanish. Or, actually, I guess I should say Catalunyan. We were told on our tour that, sadly, we were NOT in Spain as we thought, but we were in Catalunya which is quite different. We still called it Spain, though. And surprisingly there were a TON of Australian people in Barcelona. I have no idea why. Anyway, we left there and went back to the hostel for a while just to get kind of rested and that night, we went with a group from the hostel on a sort of tour I guess of Tapas and Flamenco dancing. First, we went to a restaurant and got some Tapas which is like bread with different things on top. It was alright, nothing I'd want to eat on a regular basis. It might have been better if it was hot but I wouldn't know. Then, we went to this, I don't even know, It was like a little bar I guess. And we saw Flamenco dancing and it was amazing. Those ladies were crazy intense and they made it look easy but it is such an amazing style of dance. And then this little girl got up and started doing it and I was blown away! It was crazy.

The next day, we took the metro up the this beautiful park sort of on the outskirts of the city. It was so beautiful! Walking up there sucked though. It was like Bath all over again. This hill we had to walk up was like a straight up incline and it went on forever! We made it though, and it was worth it. There was all this beautiful scenery and the mountains were clear and it was a beautiful day and the buildings we saw were incredible! It was more Gaudi. Apparently, he was paid by some rich people to build these houses and when he did, they hated them and so the government bought them and no one ever lived in them but now they're a huge tourist attraction which is great for us because they were legit. They're called the gingerbread houses because they really do look like actual houses made to look like a gingerbread house. They're so fun! After we'd seen all of Gaudi that we could stand for the day, we took the metro back to the beach and had a late lunch and then walked along the beach. We found these carts on the sidewalk that sell waffles with toppings on them and we had to stop. We had to. I got one topped with dark chocolate and white chocolate. Holy cow! Seriously, I know I just said this about that pastry two paragraphs ago, but it was the best thing I've ever eaten! It was so deliciously unhealthy. Mmm!! I couldn't eat dinner that night though because it made me so full I couldn't even think of food without feeling like I was going to throw up. Worth it. That night the group flying out of Girona took the train back there and I stayed in Barcelona with a few of the other girls. Two of them flew out super early in the morning and the other was flying out of Girona later in the afternoon on Sunday.

So, Sunday morning, I met the other girl for breakfast (I realize it's awkward that I don't use names all the time but I feel like it's confusing enough not using names that I don't want to throw them out there. Plus I don't know how these people would feel knowing that I'm putting their name on the web.) and I took extra food, because breakfast was free, and stuffed it in my backpack. I'd run out of money the day before and one of the girls lent me some, but I was determined not to spend it if I didn't have to. So this food was going to last me until Monday sometime when I got to eat a real meal. At about 10, we decided to go back to the beautiful park with the fountain from the bike tour. So we took the metro back there and basically sat next to the lake for a few hours and just hung out and took pictures. So beautiful! Then, she had to leave to catch her bus to the airport and I was all alone. Well Emily and I were joking around the night before and she told me that she wanted me to keep a little hourly diary of what I was doing in Spain by myself and take pictures to go along with it. So I did! It's really legit. I titled it, "I'm in Barce-ALONE-a". Get it? I thought it was clever. I tried to make it interesting but basically I was just sitting around doing nothing all day/night and there was nothing really interesting to write about! My original plan was to kind of walk around the city until 8:00 then catch the train to the airport and then hang out there all night. Well, at around 4 it started raining a little bit. So I felt like I could either sit there and hope it stopped and then didn't start raining harder, or I could just make my way to the airport. So that's what I did. I wasn't really in any hurry so I walked to the train and then once at the airport I accidentally got on the wrong bus to the wrong terminal and had to take a different bus and then once I got to that terminal I was supposed to go to a different building and I tried to check in but I wasn't allowed because it was too early so I just sat in the terminal and then at like 1:00 AM a police officer told me that that specific building was closed so I had to walk back to a different building and I sat there for a long time. My building was supposed to open again at 5:30. So I waited. My phone, all week, was on London time which is an hour behind Barcelona time. So all week I was having to add an hour to my phone time. Well, at 4:30 (on my phone) I packed all my homework away and walked back to the other building. It was so cold outside and I stood out there for about 10 minutes and was starting to get frustrated when I noticed a clock on the wall in the building that said 4:30. So I guess at some point during that day, my phone had decided it was time to finally change to Barcelona time, but I don't know when that happened so I was living my life an hour ahead of when it actually was for I don't even know how long. Fantastic. So I just went back to the other building and hung out for an hour.

I finally got to check in and I was the first one. So that meant I was the first one to go through security also. Normally, I don't like going through security at airports because I feel like the security people are just so unhappy. Except at Gatwick! Oh, the security people at Gatwick airport are some of the friendliest people I've ever met! They stand there and give you the tubs that you need and they remind you of all the things you need to take off and to check your pockets. Lovely people. Barcelona airport security...not so much. If I thought it was uncomfortable to go through security when it was crowded, it's so much more uncomfortable to go through security ALONE! I walked up, and the rope thing was there to direct the line, but there was no line, and there were 8 security people just standing around talking and I was up there alone. So I didn't know if I was allowed to go through yet but I couldn't just turn around so I walked forward into the line and kind of...walked slowly, pretending I was reading signs on the wall, and when they security people didn't say anything to me I moved forward a little more and it went on like that for a long time. Then, this guy walked up and he went through the line so I figured it was alright. So I started to put my stuff in tubs and everything and then when I turned around to look at the guy, HE WAS ANOTHER SECURITY GUY! So, then I was still the only one up there. They had to turn the conveyor belt on for me to go through. It was super awkward. I probably made it more awkward. Emily said that's my super power because I can take the most normal things and make them super awkward. At least she said it's a funny awkward, so she feels like she can laugh without feeling like she's laughing at someone who's totally pathetic ans socially awkward. Good! Well, after I made it through security, I didn't know where my gate was so I walked around and I ended up walking around the entire building, only to walk back in front of the security people and in the opposite direction I had gone at first. I finally made it to the passport guy and he looked at it and then got out his stamp and was about to stamp it and then he stopped and I almost had a heart attack. Then it turned out that he only wanted to tell me that there wasn't a place to get food after I passed them. So I thought that was really sweet! I just told him to go ahead and stamp it though. I ran out of the food I took from the hostel at 3:30...so I was still kinda full from that.

My plane ride was boring. I fell asleep while the safety instructions were being explained and then woke up about 20 minutes before we landed. I found the train that would take me to the underground and then I took the underground to another train station and I was freaking out because I thought I was going to miss my second train but I ended up being 20 minutes early for my train and I just stood around in the station. My train came into Oxford at 12:20, I speed walked the 2 miles from the train station to my house, made it here in 20 minutes and had time to jump in the shower before class and I was one minute early for my 1:00 class. Skill! Then between that class and my poetry class I walked to the sandwich shop and got some lunch and then later that night I did laundry. I ended up being awake, minus my little plane nap, for over 37 hours and it was not great. I was loopy and hyper and...yeah. But Erika thought it was really funny. And I started to get a little cold on Saturday. I'm pretty sure it's just a stress cold because it's going away now that I'm back to what I know and in a normal routine but being in Spain a lone was a stressful thing and getting back in time for class was stressful. I had to treat myself to a milkshake yesterday made with a Ben's cookie. It was, as one of the guys here said, "life changing". Truly. And I had Ali's on Monday night but someone picked it up for me and I forgot to tell them what all I wanted on it so it wasn't like I remembered...which was sad. But it was still good. I'm not going to eat out again this week unless I have to though, because as much as I loved Spain it was not good for my wallet! Worth it.

So that was my trip to Spain! It's now 5:00...I had to break for class about halfway through this post. Sorry you just read a novel that had no real content. Maybe later if I finish all my homework again I'll do a bonus post that's just everything I wrote in my hourly journal/diary and I might even include pictures! WOO!! So stay tuned for that...

last minute estudiar...ing...

Ok, this week has probably been the busiest of my life. I don't even know why. It probably has something to do with the fact that I've got five books I'm supposed to be reading and it takes me an hour to get through 20 pages! Of one of them! Ugh...slowest reader ever. Anyway, I just got out of class for the day and I thought I'd take a little break from my studies just to update this since I'm leaving tomorrow and won't be back for a week. Don't worry, full details will follow.

So when last I wrote, I'd just made a complete mess of my travel plans to Spain. Well, the next day I called them to sort everything out and it was going to be another 270 Pounds to get my flight back changed to Sunday...so I didn't do that. Instead, the man on the phone, who was super helpful as far as airport phone operators go, found me a flight for 109 Pounds that leaves on Monday morning. I'll miss church on Sunday night but I'll be back for classes on Monday; providing once my flight lands I can find my way around London without getting too lost. We'll see how that goes. If everything goes off without a hitch, I should be walking back into my house at about 12:30 on Monday afternoon which gives me 30 minutes before my class starts. Good...maybe I'll be able to take a shower or something. I don't even want to think about what's gonna happen if I can't shower...let's map this out, shall we? Everyone I'm traveling with is leaving Sunday morning, so I'm gonna be in the city by myself all day Sunday and all night Sunday night. My flight on Monday leaves at 7:00 in the morning so that means that I would have to be there at around 4:00 in the morning anyway, so I'm thinking I'm just gonna go to the airport on Sunday night and stay there until my flight. I'm almost positive that the regular bathrooms in the airport DON'T have showers...so by the time I get back to the house, it'll be almost two days since I showered...sick. And our classes are cramped too. EW! Man,  I'm gonna have to load up on deodorant and body spray.

Thursday and Friday were uneventful. I went on a walk in the park on Friday and that was a lot of fun. Emily made brownies that, basically, had all my alloted calories for the week. It was so good. Then on Saturday I was doing my homework and my friend Robynne asked if I wanted to go to London with a group and shop around and then go see a play. So I did that! It was so great! We rode the train out to London and then caught the underground to the antique market. We almost missed it though, one of the guys that went ran ahead of the group and threw himself in the door as it was closing and we all made it in just barely. We walked around the market for a while and there was so much interesting stuff to see and there were a ton of booths set up with just random things and food carts were everywhere! I had a Brazilian churro filled with chocolate sauce. Oh my gosh...it was so great! And then we went to China town and got these bread balls with chicken in them and hot sauce and soy sauce on them, oh, SO GOOD! China town for the win. After that though, we walked around trying to find our theater. We bought tickets to see Chicago. Our show started at 8:00 and we were looking for our venue until about 7:40, hah. Good. The show ended up being really good though, not really my favorite thing ever and I wouldn't have chosen to see it by myself but you know, it was an experience! We missed the last direct train back to Oxford, so we had to get off the train and get onto a bus to take us back to Oxford and on the way, one of the girls decided they wanted ice cream. Then the rest of us decided we wanted ice cream too! So we hit up McDonalds when we got back and apparently, Mickey D's is the place to be at 1:00 in the morning! Who knew? After ice cream we walked back to the house and I went to bed.

Sunday, I woke up 15 minutes before everyone was leaving for Church and I got ready and made it out the door at the same time they were leaving! It was miraculous. And then I did laundry and homework, but I was in the computer room downstairs and apparently that was the place to be and everyone was joking around and having a good time NOT doing their homework and I just got caught up in it! So I ended up finishing my paper at like 4...in the morning...oops! I set my alarm for 9:00 this morning but I slept till 12 and then I was really frazzled because I need that 4 hours in the morning before class to finish up all my other homework! So today was just a crazy day. And I leave tomorrow afternoon for Espana! So I have to finish everything I can today, homework wise, and then pack and whatever and it's all crazy!

As of right now, I've probably spent an hour too long on my brief homework break...and Emily is making those brownies again...so I'm gonna end this here. I leave tomorrow at 2:00 for the bus station and I'll be back Monday at 12:30 (hopefully). I'm not planning on taking my computer and who knows if I'll have wifi? So, untill at least next Monday, hasta luego!

Oy! Scotland!

In case you didn't notice, it's definitely not Sunday anymore. Hah, I kinda dropped the ball on that one! I'm gonna write it all out now though...so hold on to your seat! It's actually quite a lengthy story.

So! Thursday was really slow. I felt like classes would never end! I was so excited to just get going! Then, we left the house at around 8:40 and walked down to the bus station and we were all stoked to just be going on a trip! Well that feeling faded after about the 4th hour on the bus, in the dark, in uncomfortable, cramped seats. If I can give anyone one piece of advice that they can take away from this blog, it's this: DO NOT TAKE AN OVERNIGHT BUS FROM OXFORD TO STIRLING! Oh man, it was the worst! We left Oxford at 10:00 on Thursday night and arrived in Stirling, Scotland at 8:00 in the morning. We checked into our hostel which was a block from the bus station and train station, and then we walked around trying to find a place to eat breakfast. We finally found a place and while we were eating, Emily went up to the counter and met this old man that offered to give us a tour around the city! It was raining outside, but it was a light rain so we just went out in it anyway. He took us over to the castle and we toured that and then walked back to the hostel, soaking wet but happy. Before our guide left us, we asked if he wanted to go to dinner with us and he said yes and he met up with us at dinner time and brought his wife and we had an amazing time at a pub! Then, we went back to their house and had tea and they told us about what they do and the man, Bill, told us that he takes pictures for fun and he showed us a few and they were AMAZING! He's been to Africa several times and has some of the most amazing artifacts and pictures from the villages there. They were such amazing people.

Then on Saturday, we got up early and went to the William Wallace monument (Yes...William Wallace of Braveheart) and we climbed the tower, all 256 steps, to the very top. The stairs went up in a spiral that curved so tight and I felt like I was never going to reach the top! My legs were BURNING! Then, we caught a bus back to town to the train station and then caught the train into Edinburgh (pronounced Ed-in-burrow) and it was the most gorgeous day ever! The sun was shining and all the buildings looked amazing. Oh! We were being all touristy and taking pictures and this guy walked up to us and said, "Hey, I'm a professional photographer, I'm on my break right now and I was wondering if I could take your picture for you. I've got a better camera than you do". So we were like "SURE!" and we got a great picture out of it. Then we walked up the royal mile and saw the Castle and had a ton of fun and then walked back down the royal mile and bought some souvenirs and whatnot. We caught a bus back to Stirling and while we were sitting there, these Scottish guys came up to us and talked to us and it was so fun! They were teaching us how to 'speak Scottish' and then all of a sudden this guy started singing, "sweet caroline" and before we knew it, the whole train was singing and it was hilarious! No one knew any of the words apart from the chorus and they sang that about 12 times. It was amazing.

Then Sunday came and we were at the bus stop at 9:00 waiting for our bus to come and from then on...we were seated all day. The good thing was that this time, it was light outside and we could see everything out the windows and let me tell you, the countryside was BEAUTIFUL!! I can't even...oh! It was so pretty! We ended up making it back to the houses about 10 minutes before our church started and then after that, it was bed-time! Monday was uneventful, as was today until about an hour ago. I'm trying to book a flight to Spain: actually, I booked the flight and then realized that I was set to return to Oxford in MARCH! Not February! So now I'm having mild panic attacks and I have to wait until tomorrow to call the airline people and...this is exactly the kind of thing I worry about when I think about planning trips and I can't stand it and I'm gonna cry on the phone with these airline people tomorrow!

Eh, my computer is about to die and I've gotta take a shower and go to bed because it's late. I'm sure there will be more news about this in the coming days. My travel mates were very surprised to find out that what I have in my bank account is ALL that I have. One boy offered to call the airlines and cry for me until they changed my ticket. Haha, bless him. I'm not the only one who did that though, and one of the other girls is helping me out and the other one doesn't know yet because she's sleeping and when she wakes up there's a chance there's going to be a battle royal....so fingers crossed for that. I need something to help me get out my frustration right now and some good girl drama seems to be about the perfect thing! I'm just kidding...but seriously if this girl gets outta line...Imma smack her! Hah, maybe.

Anxiety levels rising.

It's hard for me to remember I have a blog. That's my excuse for the time in between posts. You can take it or leave it, but it's really true. Plus, I've got a lot of reading to do and it takes me basically a whole day to catch up on just one book so I've been doing a lot (well, I guess not a lot if I'm behind) of that. Also, in my defense, nothing really exciting has happened to me and there's no point in blogging about boring things, now is there? Since I'm going to have a lot after this weekend though, I figured I should document the last week before I have to retell so much information that I might as well put it in a book. Here goes!

Last time I said that Saturday was going to be amazing...I don't guess it was because I have no idea what we did. Ha! Erika doesn't either...so I'm just gonna tell you what I think happened because I'm almost certain it's right. The morning  is really a blur, I think we slept in. In the afternoon, we walked to Summertown and went to the grocery store there. It was really expensive and we decided we're never going back to that one again. We got the stuff to make baked potatoes, which I LOVE, and chili, which I'm alright with. Except, Erika got up to get a bowl of chili for herself and me and when she stood up she said, "Oh, Mandy, you would use lamb". Ok, I've got nothing against lamb: but who freaking uses that in a chili without some kind of general consensus that it'd be ok?! I mean, there was absolutely no, "Hey guys, what would you think about lamb chili?" or, "Oh, how about we mix things up a bit?" no, she just made it with lamb! I still ate it, and it was good. it just took me by surprise and now I'm really hesitating before I eat anything she gives me. That's really saying something because she uses a lot of stuff I don't like and I still try to suffer through it most of the time. The mushroom chunks in the spaghetti sauce I could not get over. Blech!

Sunday we were supposed to go to Church in the evening but...that didn't happen. It's hard to motivate myself to go to Church here because every Sunday night we have our own Church service in one of the houses and it's mandatory. Plus with travel breaks it's hard to say where we're going to be on Sunday mornings. I'm working on it though, I like the Churches here and I go on Thursday nights! We used the time we weren't at Church plan our weekend trip to....SCOTLAND! We're staying in Stirling and taking a day trip to Edinburgh which should be fantastic fun. I'm really excited! I did realize though why I was having so many near panic attacks when I was getting ready to leave for England: planning stressed me out! I mean, there's so much to think about! How much time is it going to take to get here, once we're there, how much time are we spending there? How much money is that? How are we getting there? What are we going to see? I mean, I just can't handle it! I want someone else to tell me what's happening and I'll just go along with it! The only problem is, the group I've been traveling with so far is going separate ways for spring break because most of their families are coming. So as of right now, I have no solid plans for Spring Break, and I have no one to plan with! Excellent situation to be in if you ask me. And my roommates and I can't agree/decide on what we want to do during our long breaks or what's going on and it's making me wish I was friends with a travel agent or something that could just do this for me!

Monday and Tuesday were unexceptional days. I just had class and then I was supposed to do homework but I put that off and then I had Ali's for dinner. I know, again? It's so dang good. Then today was a lazy day. I woke up at 12:00 and then had some breakfast, I was on dish duty because I lost rock paper scissors to Erika. Then I read for a while, went to class and then I went and volunteered at one of the local Churches. We have to have 20 hours of community service by the end of the semester and I can get at least 2 a week working to make dinner and serve meals at something called 'Alpha Group' on Wednesday nights! It's really fun and the people are so nice and they're all very interested in 'what exactly I'm doing in England'.

So, that's basically it. We watched Hot Rod tonight. Some of the girls on my floor had never seen it before so we had a little party. It's now 12:30 and despite the late hour of my rising, I'm falling asleep on my Keyboard. Our bus leaves tomorrow night at 10:00 and it's about a 10: hour drive to Stirling...joy! I'll absolutely have more to report on Sunday night when I get back, so just...look forward to that!

9:30! Late night...

I'm pretty exhausted. Today we had BREAD again and I don't know what is possessing me to wake up before 8:00 on mornings when I don't even have class!! I guess I'd be up anyway just because my roommates go. Still...I feel like such a grandma when I get tired at like 9 on Friday nights. Not alright. However, all the boys in our house except for I think 2 are gone this weekend and it's so quiet and there would be no one making noise on the floor above me while I'm trying to sleep. Though, if I'm being honest, it's nothing compared to the stampede like sounds I usually hear when I'm at home; also these boys don't really make any noise. Every now and again I hear one loud thud and then it's quiet. So I don't really have anything to complain about. Right now it is 11:00 and I'm falling asleep more and more each second but I just had a meal at 9:40 so I feel like I need to wait a few hours before I go to bed. I took a shower and put fresh sheets on my bed and now I'm downstairs in the computer lab typing this because my roommate is smart and she DID go to bed at 9:30. Champion, that one. Erika's up with me though. Today, I had a lot of time to think and Erika was writing in her journal and she asked what we did on this certain day and I didn't remember but then I did remember what I did on Monday and Tuesday and it's worth talking about. So if it won't be too confusing (and even if it will be) I'm going to take a moment to talk about those days before I talk about today!

Monday was a wacky schedule because my C.S. Lewis class was held at Magdalen (pronounced mawd-lin) College which is where Lewis actually taught during his life. The campus was amazing! There were only a few buildings but they were all so old and fantastic and there was  a grassy area where the college raises deer...which they then kill and eat. That was a little out of the blue, I thought. We got to walk around the track/circle path where Lewis had his talk with Tolkien and another of his friends that led him to Christianity. The whole experience was really incredible!  Gosh...now for the life of me I cannot remember what I did after I got out of class at 6:00. Shoot. Maybe I'll get back to you.

Tuesday! I have no recollection of what I did during that day, but I know that for dinner I went downstairs to my professors' little apartment/basement and had tacos with his family and some other students and that was really fun. And then I don't remember what I did after that. Dang it! Maybe all this wasn't as worth it as I thought, but I already typed it and I'm too lazy to hold down the 'delete' button for as long as it would take to get rid of all this...eh.

Today, Friday, the promised land, if you will. I haven't gone to bed before one or woken up after 9 the past couple nights. Now, I know that sounds like a solid 8ish hours of sleep, but you just need to trust me that it's not enough. So I woke up for BREAD today and then I decided to go on the tour of Christ Church with the tourist class. Christ Church or, as I like to call it...HARRY POTTER LAND! I don't really call it that. Don't worry. It was a really beautiful college though, and the chapel was full of all of this beautiful stained glass. We did get to go into the dining hall and that's where the 'magic' happend! The truth of it is, the stairway leading up to the dining hall was used in the films (Think Sorcerer's Stone when they walk into Hogwarts for the first time...I STOOD WHERE THEY DID!!) but the actual dining hall was too small for the movie so the film makers took a picture of it and then made a bigger model. Potato...um, I don't know how to spell it those two different ways, but the point is, I was freaking inside the great hall!!!!! AMAZING!! And not to worry, my camera was fully charged this time and plenty of pictures were taken! After that, we walked around and ate in this lovely cafe and then went and got a Ben's Cookie and a milkshake from Moo Moo's. I got a peanut M&M one. Delicious. Then, Erika wanted to stop in this beauty shop kind of thing that we walked by. Oh my gosh. Ever heard of 'Eyebrow Weaving'? Well this woman (or man I guess...eh) takes a piece of string and twists it up but somehow manages to keep it open at the end and then she puts the open part on your eyebrow and closes it and twists it and it pulls out ALL YOUR HAIR! Well, Erika thought it looked cool and she did it and said it was fine so I was like "eh, what the heck" so I did it. It. Hurt. So. BAD! Oh my gosh. I will never do it again. At one point, it felt like she ripped my whole eyebrow off with one little twist and and yelled and Erika and Mandy started laughing and I was laughing but secretly I was about to push that woman away from me and walk outta there. Then she finally finished and I remembered...I have two eyebrows. And it cost 10 pounds! Shoot, that's never happening again. No. And my eyes were red for like 3 hours!

After that catastrophe, Erika decided she needed some new jeans so we went into the Gap. While I was waiting outside the changing rooms in my tie-dye hoodie, two different people walked up to me and asked me if I worked there. Erika spent all day telling me that we would never blend in because I refused to assimilate to the culture and here I was getting asked if I worked in a British establishment!! Then, later this guy asked if I was from New Zealand. I don't really get how he thought that...but he didn't guess American! Woo! After Jean shopping, we sat around in a coffee shop for a while and then we went to a kind of souvenir shop because Erika wanted to buy a sweatshirt and I wanted to look around. I ended up getting a grey hoodie with blue accents around the crest of Oxford and also some navy sweat pants with Oxford written down the side. Now, when I get home and I wear that out in public, I can have a little fun by pretending to be from England!! Love it. Erika made me get everything big though because she said it's supposed to look more comfortable than I was making it. Psh.

My professor brought his family with him this semester, he's got a wife and two little girls, 7 and 4 and tonight they invited us down to their apartment to watch Mary Poppins with them. It was a lot of fun. The little on is a riot and she's got a sweet tooth unmatched by any child I've ever seen. After the movie, I was in the kitchen washing some dishes and she walked in and said, "Hey, I wanted to tell you that we forgot to do shadow puppets. Also a dance party." So naturally we had to schedule a dance party right then and there and so we're all set to dance to the Lion King soundtrack tomorrow at some point. It'll be fantastic. After the movie I went and got Ali's...I know, second night in a row. That'll probably be it for a while. They don't open till 7 and it's super cold outside at night! Now I'm just killing time. I think there's an hour left on the 3 hour rule concerning food and bed. I'll find something to do. I don't know what's on tap for tomorrow but it'll be thrilling....I can just tell.

I think I'm a hamburger...

Well I haven't written on here for a few days because nothing really exciting was happening. I went to London yesterday though and that's definitely worth mentioning. Though I'll start by posing a question: have you ever thought you were going to be really cold so you put on all these clothes and then realized that you were actually rather warm but it was so hard to get everything on that you were just too lazy to take it off again? Well that's the situation I've been in for basically two days! It's awful. I know it's not blizzarding here though, or below zero at all so maybe I'm alone in this sentiment at the moment. Anyway, the fact remains, getting two jackets on and off is a lot more effort than I wanted to exert while getting dressed and now again when thinking about bed time. Ugh.

So, I don't remember what day I last posted on here...and I really only remember yesterday...so that's all I'm gonna talk about! We woke up yesterday and Mandy made a great breakfast and then I did the dishes. It sucked! Whatever though, the kitchen is clean! I finished that and then started to get ready for the bus to come and take us to London!!!!!!! I was already dressed and then Erika was getting dressed and she put on leggings under her pants so then I started thinking about that because we were told to dress warm since we were going to a soccer game in the dead of night and it was supposed to be about 20 degrees. So I ended up putting on leggings under my pants but then I was really hot for most of the times when we were inside. I also had on a long sleeved shirt and then a hoodie over that and it was, like I said earlier, so hard to get on that I didn't want to take it off! That's beside the point though, I'm just saying...it was warm.

Anyway, we took the bus to London and it drove us all around the city, we got to drive over two bridges and see the big clock that people call Big Ben. Actually though, Big Ben is the name of the bell inside the tower next to the clock...so I don't really know what to call the clock/clock tower now. I saw it though! And I saw the London eye and the parliament houses and all these famous buildings. We were dropped off at the British Library...I think that's what it was called but now that I type it out it doesn't look right. Eh...we went there and  there was an exhibit on the evolution of the English Language and that was so amazing! There were all these different speakers where you could hear famous speeches made throughout history and different songs from English speaking countries and dialects from different parts of the same country and the origins of words. Fascinating! Then there was what they called the treasure room. That had in it all sorts of original pieces of art and literature including but not limited to: Papyrus with the gospel of John on it, original drafts of Mozart and Beethoven's music, original drafts of the Beatles' songs on napkins and the backs of envelopes, and Jeffry Chaucer's Canterbury Tales. It blew my mind! I was in awe of some of the things I saw. It was by far one of the most amazing experiences I've ever had. I've gotta go back! Of course, I couldn't really find anyone to walk around with so I was just kinda bopping around on my own.

Then we went to Candle Mass at Westminster Abby. Shoot that was cool! We were standing outside in line, waiting to get in and this robed man walked out and was passing out programs to everyone and he got to the group in front of me and then dropped the stack and he goes, "S***!" and he yelled it! And I had to try really hard not to laugh because this guy was obviously not supposed to say that and the guys in front of me were laughing really hard. It was hilarious. The actual service was beautiful though. They had an all male choir and the soprano parts were sung by little boys and man, I don't know if I've ever heard anything like it. It was amazing and moving and gorgeous and I just wanted to buy a cd but I didn't think it would be appropriate to ask if there was one. And I was going to get up and take communion when everyone went but they dismissed our row and I didn't notice until everyone was gone but they guy next to me and I asked if he was going and he said no so then I felt weird getting up by myself in front of everyone and I decided not to go...but I wish I had. I watched a lot of other people take it though!

After that, it was straight to the football match. Fulham (which I've been spelling wrong) and Newcastle United! Man it was AMAZING! We were sitting with all the Newcastle fans and they were loud and had all these cheers that everyone knew and I just started yelling getting all into it and it was seriously so much fun. We lost. I think I'm definitely a Newcastle fan for life though. I'd write a cheer in here, but it's hard to capture the essence in type....also there were a lot of expletives. The game ended at around 10:30 and we walked back to the bus and ended up leaving the city around 11:00. I was so tired at that point. And today I woke up early to do homework but it was all reading and since I read at a steady 20 pages an hour...that didn't get finished before class. Some days, like today, I have class from 1:00 to 6:00 and it's really a bit boring. My last class was at St. Peter's college in city center so we walked there and then after, a few of us stayed for the evening chapel. That's not what they call it but that's basically all it is. Then we went to St. Aldate's for college group time and that was really amazing for the second week in a row! Hah, weird to think I've only been here for two weeks. The lesson was about judgement and the woman (that's right...) was talking about how when you believe then judgement day seems bearable and to those raised in the Church or who come to Church all the time it's easy to think you've got it going on but she said, "Just because you're born in McDonald's doesn't mean your a hamburger". I thought that was funny.

I hadn't eaten since noon though, and after the college group, I was ready for some food because it was 10:00! So on the way home, I stopped with some girls to get Ali's which is this amazing van on the side of the road that sells a bunch of different food and such. I got chips (french fries) with chicken, cheese, and ketchup. You eat it with a fork because apparently people over here are too good for finger food. Whatever! It's so good though. I might eat that for the rest of my life. I won't really...but it's so good!!!!!!!! Anyway, now it's after midnight and I'm going with the touristy class tomorrow so I have to be up early...lame. I won't let another four days go by without posting anything though, that was a bit ridiculous. Especially since I can't remember what I was even doing that kept me from it...weird.

Mental pictures

Ah! I've had a full couple of days so this post has been delayed until just the moment when I don't know if I have enough time to finish it before I have to go to bed. We'll see. I'll type fast. First of all, in my last post, I know everyone was worried about how my hair would turn out the next day. It turned out great! So then I tried it the next night and it looked great again but the next day I put it up and then tonight I went for the three-peat and it WORKED! So I've found a fool proof way to blow dry my hair providing I've left enough time between my shower and the time my roommates are going to bed. Anyway, onto bigger and better things!

I bought a Bible. I went into this book store called Brookwells and it has four levels above ground and then it has a basement that spans almost two blocks and there are different levels in the basement and there are probably, no joke, a million books there. It was insane! And my Bible is really cool. It's a charcoal color with bright blue thread around the edge and the same color as the bookmark. It's kind of the same Bible I had before except the pages are thicker and the words are a little bigger. I LOVE IT! I haven't opened it yet...eh. It's on my to do list. Oh! Before I bought the Bible, I went on a tour with this class that goes on tours. We went to one of the colleges in Oxford: New college. It's the newest college built in Oxford and it dates back to the 1800's. It was so amazing. It had a beautiful courtyard and a great hall and amazing dorms and a chapel with a huge organ and those sideways desks/pews and there were gargoyles on the top of the walls. Unfortunately for me, my camera died halfway through the tour and I didn't get pictures of most of the rooms we saw. Even more unfortunate for me: I didn't remember to charge my camera before I went to Bath.

On Saturday morning, a group of nine of us got up at 7:30 and made it to the train station and went to Bath for the day. It was freezing! And it was Beautiful! We went to the Roman baths, of course. Everything was below ground and there were all these beautiful stone remnants with faces of gods on them and old tools and the bathing rooms were preserved and there were all these models of how the baths used to look  next to the temples and with the surrounding  buildings. Oh, it was gorgeous! And after that, we went and got some food at a pub called the Saracen's head. I feel like a broken record, but it was so good! After that is when the day got really interesting though...get ready. On the trip were 8 girls, including me, and one guy. The girls, not including me, wanted to go to the fashion museum and then walk over to Jane Austen's house and see that. Well, the guy didn't want to do any of that either, so he and I split from the rest of the group and walked around the city. First, we went into the Abby which was so beautiful on the inside I can't even begin to convey it. The ceilings were high and vaulted with waves in the stone to make it look like different layers made it up to the top and every few feet there was a different coat of arms on a shield. The sides were covered in stained glass windows that had a different picture in each frame and at the front of the building, the window rose all the way to the top with saints in every frame. There was an organ that took up 2/3 of on of the sections of wall and below it were 5 sets of angels holding instruments and 'playing' songs. The floors were covered in blessings of people who had passed and in one room there was a book with a list of names to be prayed over from WWI. It was so incredible.

Then, we bought a map and walked over to where the circus is. I don't really know what to call it, I guess neighborhood would be the closest thing. There is a circle of houses cut down the middle and then on one of the sides. The buildings are all curved and they're all four stories tall with basements as well. In the center, there's a huge grassy area with 3 gigantic trees that are crazy old. They were dead, since it's winter, but pictures of them in the summer look amazing. After that, it's a straight shot down one of the roads to the royal crescent which is basically exactly what it sounds like. More curved buildings but this time just in a large crescent shape with a huge grassy hill in front. It's pretty long though, so it took us a while to walk around it. After that, we walked around the back of the buildings and we thought we saw a castle. So we started making our way toward that. We turned onto this street and all of a sudden I felt like I would need gravity boots. The road was, I really want to say, like a 75% incline and it went on FOREVER! I actually thought I was going to die. Well, we finally got to flat ground and realized we were at a dead end! So we walked back down and I tried to persuade my friend to find another less hilly route to a church nearby but he looked right at the map and found another way up to the castle. So we went that way. He was so excited, I just couldn't tell him that he might have to carry my corpse back down the hill. So we walked, same incline, and it went on even longer this time! Finally we reached the tower and realized...it was a church! Not a castle! And it was locked! So, I'm feeling pretty upset right now, I just walked all this way for no reason! So I said, "Man, it's locked." and my friend says, "I know! Now I can't see what year it was built...we can still walk around the outside though." He was so excited that I just couldn't crush his spirit. So we walked in circles around this closed church building. Then we walked back down a different road than the one we came up, had to ask for directions, found a crazy stairway through a park and took that, then walked down a road for a while and found our way back to the main square and saw the famous bridge. That was amazing. Of course, I was just happy to be standing still for a second while we looked at the arches and the man-made waterfall things. After that it was just a lot of walking around until we caught the train back and headed straight to bed! I did the math today; turns out, on my travels, I walked out of the city of Bath and that combined with everything else added up to 12 miles that I walked yesterday. My feet still hurt at little.

Today (Sunday) wasn't bad. I woke up too late for Church which was a bummer as I wanted to go. I decided to walk down to this French pastry shop and get some breakfast. I had a cinnamon danish. Oh my gosh, people. It was so good! We tried to go back at 4 and get some dessert for the dinner we were making, but they were closed! Everything closes so early on Sundays and even during the week, generally nothing but pubs are open past 7. Anyway, we made a big dinner and some of the guys that live upstairs in our house came. My roommate made some kind of pasta and one of the guys made bruschetta. I don't know if that's how you spell it but, I right clicked and it didn't give me any other options so...that's what I'm going with. Whew! That took about as long as I thought it would. And I was right, I should be sleeping right now because both of my roommates are and I feel like I'm being too loud! I think I've got an exciting week coming up. And I charged my camera! I mean, I probably still won't post pictures but at least you know I might be taking some!

Night seeing in Oxford.

Well I just had a lot written on here and then my mouse moved up to the close button and I lost it all! I guess it wasn't anything important; I just wrote something about my hair looking good and staying up late. Whatever.  I'm just having a good hair time (it's not day anymore and who knows what it's gonna look like after I sleep on it) and I wanted people to know. Is that awful? Didn't think so. Anyway, my roommates and I have been told we need to stop being so loud because people are trying to sleep, but Erika 'electrified' herself (electrocuted) and so Mandy and I were laughing at her. A natural reaction! Oh well. Ok, I just caught a glimpse of my hair in my reflection in the window and it looks SO GOOD! Ah, sidetracked...really moving on!

Today marked one week since I arrived in Oxford which really shocked me because I thought it was Wednesday today. I can't tell if it feels like more or less time that I've been here but that may have a lot to do with the sun. It gets dark over here at about 5:00 PM and then by 8:00 I feel like I'm staying up so late into the night! I've started getting up early-ish though so maybe I have the right to go to bed super early. I won't though. I'm trying to hang out with people, so I tend to sit in our kitchen and laugh really loudly until someone comes in to talk to me. It's not really working. But I'm always in there with someone else already so I'm not just by myself laughing, don't you worry.

I had two classes today and then I forced myself to have a good attitude about shopping with Erika and Mandy (both my roommates. Just a recap) before we were supposed to go to a college group at a local church. We went into this store, I don't remember what it was called. It started with an M though. Anyway, Mandy needed to buy some shoes and a backpack and this camping store was recommended to us. So we go in, and the guy that's helping people comes over to us and starts asking what we need and all that, and then he realizes, after about two seconds mind you, that we're Americans! So he starts talking to us about that and he told us all about how he lived in America for 4 years and he's been to all 50 states and all this crazy stuff and so we asked him if he had any travel tips for us for England or Europe. He pulled out this map and a permanent marker and, let me tell you, homeboy filled that map UP with good places. He circled all these cities and told us what was there and told us where not to go and wrote down all these excellent travel sites where we could find cheap travel prices and everything. It was great. We ended up staying in there talking to him for the better part of an hour and we were actually there until after the store closed. It was great. Maybe I'll make friends with my map so I can stop laughing in the kitchen!

We made it to the Church event though. It was 3 pounds for a great dinner and dessert and then worship with a bunch of college, or University as they call it, kids in a gorgeous building. Loads of fun. The main lesson was about Isiah which they pronounce, "I-zy-ah" and it was really good! I guess that makes up for sleeping during the sermon on Sunday. Then after, a bunch of us were going to go to a pub but then the group left 4 of us behind and by the time we finally found the place they'd told us they were going to, they were nowhere to be found. So we just walked back through the town. I think I finally found someone who hates crossing streets nearly as much as I do, though, he's not as dramatic about it. Though, he's not really dramatic about anything. It was really cold outside as we were walking back so we were all walking pretty fast to get back here to the warmth. Then I took a shower and blow dried my hair...which still looks great by the way...and now I'm the only one awake in my room! But I'm the only one that doesn't have class tomorrow so I guess that's alright.

I think tomorrow I'm going to try and find a good bookstore and get a Bible. I have a tiny one but...I just wanna see if they've got a cooler one here. Because, I'm not gonna lie, if my Bible looks boring, I'm less inclined to read it! We'll see. I was talking to some girls today and they were saying how they've already spent about 200 Pounds since they've been here so I got nervous and pulled my money out and realized that I've only spent about 40 pounds. So I feel like I need to get spending! Maybe I'll buy a hoodie tomorrow as well. We'll see. I don't remember where most of the shops are and it's supposed to be cold! My tie-dye hoodie does seem to be getting a lot of attention though: perhaps I'll wear that and just ask people for directions as they're staring at me! Ah, the silver-lining of tourism. Gotta love it!