Just Touched Down in Londontown

I should really be going to bed right now…

…since I have to get up in 4 hours for my TRIP!!!! Here’s a list for you guys. I don’t feel like typing sentences. And I like lists better.

1. Halloween was great. My flatparty was fun, and the flatparty on Saturday was fun except for…

2. The campus died on Saturday, THE 31st. wtf? This campus dies on the weekend most of the time anyway, with a lot of people going home, but STILL. unacceptable.

3. We now have solo cups and ping pong balls courtesy of clare’s boyfriend, aaron. he rocks.

4. So for the dead party everyone dressed up actually dead. With fake blood and stuff. So the dead celebrity thing kind of stood out. Whatever, just drink.

5. Had a cold for most of the week, and a lot of work to do since I’ll be doing NADA for the next 6 days. And probably the day I get back. Recovery day, duh.

6. Wrote my first essay in over 6 months. Definition of rusty.

7. Got really sick on Friday. Called mom at work crying. Yeah, it was that bad.

8. Stayed in all weekend to rest up. Found it actually rejuvenates the immune system, gets school work done, AND saves money. Huh.

9. Feeling good, ready for PRATHENS. (that’s Prague and Athens…put together..in case you’re slow)

10. I have to get up in 3 and a half hours. Leaving here at 4:15am for the airport, which means I could sign on facebook and EVERYONE from home would be on since it’d be like 11:15pm there. prime time.

11. Flight leaves at 7:30am. Layover in Prague, of all places. Arrive in Athens at 3pm, there until Thursday, then flying to Prague for three more days. Come home Sunday

12. Next week, I’ll be one month from being home. Ready for me, America?

Have a great week! Don’t be afraid to admit your total and utter jealousy of me this week. Though it’s supposed to be 70 in Athens… and then like 40 in Prague. Made packing for this trip very easy. not.

OH, and… Pitt’s ranked #8?!!? Great job on missing the first 8-1 record since Marino’s days, Jamie. Got to watch the whole game yesterday online! I’ll miss ND since I’ll still be on my trip. Cheer for me! Can’t wait to watch WVU and Cinci!! LET’S GO PITT!!

They played the Monster Mash at a pub last night. Yes.

It’s Halloween time!!! Though, I must admit, they don’t do it as crazy over here. It’s been a lot harder to get into the Halloween mood, you know with commercials, ABC Family’s 13 Nights of Halloween (hell yes I watch that), the whole marketing scheme of it all. Maybe they do have commercials for it, but seeing as I don’t have a TV… Anyway, the past week has been more in the spirit, though. And you can definitely tell who’s American on campus, cause we are all PUMPED. And we’re the ones having flat parties and demanding everyone to dress up and get crazy! haha. I saw pictures of some of my british friends out at some club earlier this week, and their costumes were just masks. nuh-uh, doesn’t work that way sir. So here’s my agenda fo’ the weekend:

Tonight: my flatmates wanted to have a party, so we’re having a party. Oh yeah, it’s facebook official. They even got a pumpkin! They’re so cute. Not sure if I’m gonna be here the whole night, but my friends are coming ovah and we’ll have fun no matter what we do/where we end up. My costume is going to be simple tonight, not sure what I’m going to be. I’ve got 6 hours to decide haha. I did buy a costume, or at least am creating one because…

Tomorrow (THE halloween night): My friend’s Clare and Avery and their flatmates are having a flatparty. We’ve gotten to know their flatmates and some of their flatmates’ friends really well, so it’s been great having more british people to interact with. They especially love to play beer pong now, and they love how competitive we get haha. The party is a dead-themed party, so we’re supposed to dress up as famous dead people/celebrities/etc. At first, I had NO clue who to go as. I was in this vintage store going, “WHO IS DEAD?!” I found this green sweater, and already have the gray shoes, so I was totally going to pay homage to my pittsburgh boy Mr. Rogers, but then I wasn’t sure if all the brits would know who he was… then Clare and I found this safari-looking jacket, and we were like Steve Irwin! no. too soon.. too soon. haha so yesterday I went out again with Avery on a costume quest to Brick Lane, and found this simple Black dress ala Audrey Hepburn! I don’t know why I didn’t think of her before! So I got the dress, and we also found the big circular black sunglasses she wore, so all I need now is a pearl necklace and gloves, and I’ll be stylin’, you know it. I have tomorrow to finish up the costume, so I’m especially excited for the party tomorrow night :)

In other news.. not much happened this week. I stayed in and did work, and am finally starting to make strides with some of the essays I was freaking out about. Also, my mom told me to calm down and chill out, I’ll be fine. And she’s right, of course. OH! ANNNND she finally got skype!! about time! So I had a nice long skype session with her on monday, since she’s mentally challenged and couldn’t get it to work on sunday. I got to see my brother Liam, which was great. He wanted to skype with me again on wed so he could play me the sax since he just started band bc he’s in 4th grade (can’t believe he’s getting so old!). It was…loud, but very cute. And he showed me his costume, star wars trooper- yes he’s a star wars nerd. I’m so jealous he gets to go trick-or-treating, though! I want candy, boo. And last night before he went trick-or-treating they skyped me because my grandparents were over at my house, so I got to see the g’rents which was cool. Pops told me to continue with my academic pursuits… heh heh. I really enjoyed seeing some of the fam, it was much needed. My cousin comes in less than a month, can’t wait for that as well!

Oh, and I registered for my classes at Pitt. No classes on Friday what what! I didn’t even try for that, it just happened. But hey, I’ve gotten used to not having classes on Fri, so I’ll take it. If you’re at Pitt, how’d your registration go?

What are YOU dressing up as?? Where are you going?? Hope everyone has a great Halloween!!!! I’ll miss celebrating in Pittsburgh, but I gotta teach these brits how to do it properly! :)

fuhreak out.

Hey all, hope your week went well! (esp pitt students.. midterm time i hear. yuck!)

I’ve just been chilling and doing as much work as possible. Okay correction, FREAKING OUT about all the work I have to do is more like it. In two weeks, we leave for reading week. Simple enough, right? That’s a week, and then we get back, and I have a week until my cousin Brittany and her boyfriend visit. All good so far. Then a couple days after that, they’re going to Paris and I’m meeting up with them on Wed the 25th (day before Thanksgiving) for a long weekend. I get back Monday. Only, the next day it’s December. And that means I have two weeks before “finals” week, in which I have four essays due. FOUR. Those are just final assessments, I have a couple other things dues throughout November. But my final week here, I have over 9000 words in essays due. Uh, holy shit?

I know I’m here on pass/fail basis, but still, they don’t give many assignments here, if at all, so everything comes down to one or two essays. In my geographical perspectives class, I have a 3000 word essay due (and all because I’m an “associate” aka study abroad student) that is 100% of my grade. Now I’ve had essays worth maybe 1/3 or a 1/4 of my grade before, but ALL of it?! I can’t even wrap my head around that. We have to hand in a 1000 word outline for it (though we do get feedback, which is nice) on Nov 26th. Which is Thanksgiving. Which means I won’t be here. Awesome. But it’s fine because I told her I had relatives visiting and we were celebrating the holidays, so I’m giving it to her early. I just didn’t tell her it was my 20 year old cousin and her boyfriend, and we were going to Paris and Amsterdam. ;)

So yeah, a lot going on. And while I’m soooo excited for reading week, I’m just overwhelmed with all the stuff I have to do. It’s really making the time fly, and I know I’ll finish everything, and it’ll be fine, it’s just daunting. I have an essay in my Lit class that is due the day after Reading week ends, and I haven’t gotten the prompt yet, so I’m stressed about that. I just don’t want to be rushed on it.

Anyway, sorry for that mini-freak out. Lately I’ve been like, jeeez Jamie why didn’t you just go with Pitt’s program? I’ve heard through the grapevine (ie. Iva) that the classes are a joke. But alas, I wanted the real deal, even though most of my assessments are different because I’m a study abroad student, but oh well. I chose to come here, and I don’t regret it (as of now… haha). It’s all part of the experience, right?

So that’s what I’ve been up to this week. We went to Borough Markets yesterday, which is like a huge food market. I bought a couple of sweet potatoes. Random, yes, I know. But since I’ve mastered regular potatoes and I have brown sugar… I thought, WOAH. I can make mashed sweet potatoes! I think I may try it tonight. It might remind me of home, and I might get a little upset. I really miss my mommy. And my dorky little brother. It sucks because I’m so used to calling my mom whenever I want; she’s one of my best friends. But since I’m on pay-as-you-go, I have to watch how much I can call, and for how long. I know it’s just a sad mood, and it’ll pass, but I’ve been thinking about home a lot recently. It’s probably because I’ve been panicking and worried about stuff, and I always call my mom when that happens. I’ve even just pictured things around town. Who thought I’d be nostalgic for New Cumberland, Pa?

I have been making my schedule for next semester, though, and I forgot how annoying it is to do that. Esp now because when I get back, I only have THREE more semesters until I graduate. That’s ridiculous. Where’d the past two years go? So while it’s obnoxious planning all of that, it is exciting thinking about being back at Pitt.

Well, I have some (aka a ton) of work to do. I’ll check up in a couple of days. Also, don’t think I’m mopey or anything. Just missing home, that’s all. And my mom won’t listen to my pleas for her to get skype. Tell her she should do it. :)

PS. I just changed my theme, because while I liked the other one, the posts were so narrow, and I know I wrote a lot in my earlier ones, but I wanted to try to find one that made the paragraphs wider. Let me know if this one works better or not!

Let’s Get The Flock Out of Here: Adventure Weekend

Woah, it hasn’t been a week since I posted…maybe I can keep up with this every couple of days deal, huh? Well, as I told you last post, this past weekend was my program’s Adventure Weekend. SO MUCH FUN. holy shmokes.

Okay so Friday morning those of us who were going, which was around 3/4 of the Butler kids at Queen Mary, got up bright and early and took the tube to where the IFSA-Butler offices are. It would’ve been an alright tube ride if I wasn’t, how should I say, still somewhat drunk? Apologies, relatives of mine who are reading this. Thursday night we had the brilliant idea to have a gin bucket. We bought this halloween skeleton themed bowl which was completely worth 6 pounds. And yeah…gin bucket. If you don’t know what it is, well it’s basically just one huge gin and tonic. Though be careful, gin bucket creeps up on you and takes you victim, and I do not advise partaking in one the night before you have to ride on a bus for 8 hours. Just saying.

Anyway, so we waited around with all of the other Butler students from various schools around London. We got on the buses and headed out around 9:30 or so. We made one stop along the way for lunch (of which I INHALED an english breakfast. their breakfast here is made for hangovers, and I love it) and rolled into the Lake District around 5. The group (there was only two buses at this point… there was a later bus for people who had classes friday morning) got split up, and half went to the NICER hotel, and I got to go to the hostel. sweetness. But it wasn’t bad, it was right snug in the mountains, and was so beautiful. We rested for a bit, then had dinner, which seriously the best freaking desert I’ve ever had. Apple-berry crumble with custard. (mom: think that desert we split in Dover. ‘nuff said.) Damn, okay I’ll stop talking about food. After dinner, we got shuttled over to the hotel, and had a pub quiz night. It was just like trivia and stuff, but it was fun. After that, we had to get shuttled back to our hostel (this whole having to shuttle to the main hotel got old really fast), and I promptly passed out.

Saturday. Woke, ate breakfast, decked myself out in work-out shorts, leggings, 3 layers of shirts…oh yeah, I was looking fine. We shuttled to the hotel (sigh) and got split into our groups for our activities. The activities I ended up getting were gorge crossing and abseiling (repelling). I did gorge crossing in the morning. There were about 20 of us in the group for that, and the instructors were soo funny. Great british humor. We took a bus to our drop-off spot, and had to hike up this hill. Okay, so I pretty much felt every pint I’ve had while hauling ass up that hill. But it’s okay, because everyone else was huffing and puffing, too. We got to the top, and everyone began stripping layers off. We had to wear harnesses and helmets, obviously, so like I said, I just looked all sorts of hotness that day. That’s when I saw the zipline. Over a huge gorge. OOOH HELL. The heartbeat sped up a bit, as in you could see it thumping through my sweatshirt. We learned about what we were doing, and then one by one we took our turns. I ended up going about 6th. I was just at the point where I had to just do it. I can’t even describe the rush I felt. I didn’t look down, which you may say is a cop-out, but from what I hear from those who did… it was ridiculously far down and freaked them out a lot. It went pretty quickly, too, so I just took everything in. I definitely plan on doing it again some day. After that part, we had an actual wire over a waterfall to cross. We had a wire above our heads to balance, and the waterfall wasn’t too far down, so it wasn’t scary. More of a challenge to keep your arms and legs steady.

After that, we were waiting for other people of the group to finish their turns (because it took a while to get each person across and reset) so a couple of us (including my friend Katina who goes to QM with me) walked around, and found this rock formation that we climbed up on, and the views were out of this world. The weather was perfect, not a cloud in the sky, and we all just sat there and stared at everything. I got to meet some Butler kids who go to other schools, so that was cool as well.

We got picked up then and went back to the hotel where we had a lunch break, and then got into our new groups for the new activities we would do in the afternoon. I actually had some of the people from my first group in my second, so that was nice already knowing some people. This is when I had repelling, and we took a bus to our location with the climbing activity group as well.

OKAY. so repelling. yeah. Well I learned that I’m not very good at repelling, and I’m not the biggest fan of it either. So our instructor taught us the basics, and really, the hardest part is the initial backing over the cliff, which I already knew would freak me the hell out, but yeah, I was still game and ready to try. We couldn’t really watch everyone take their turn, because we had to stand so far back from the overhang, but everyone did it…there were a couple slip-ups and malfunctions, but it went well. Then it was my turn. I got strapped in, got my feet planted, and started giving with my left hand and backing down. I started out really well, and I was feeling surprisingly good about everything. And then, I don’t know what happened, but I think my foot slipped for a second, and of course my first instinct was to stand and right myself. Only, I’m hanging from a cliff. So trying to stand up, I come hurtling into the rock. And of course I’m on a safety, so it’s not like I was going to fall to my death or anything, but still. My instructor was like woah now…you stood up. blah blah blah-SHUT UP MAN. I just busted my hand and knee when I swung into a CLIFF, and you’re acting all calm and chiding me for an IMPULSE that was clearly SUBCONSCIOUS. damn.

Shaken and horribly flustered/petrified, especially because I still had to go down the whole freaking wall, I got my feet back on the rock, with the white rope (the one we use to give) in between my legs. It’s not supposed to be there. but the F if I was taking my leg off that rock again to swing it out to my side. And my instructor def knew that so he piped down. I managed to make it down, thought it felt like forever. I was just giving rope and hauling ass as much as I could for dangling over a tall ass cliff. There was a part where the rock went in, and most of the people in my group said they hung for a little until they lowered themselves down. Nuh-uh, not me. I saw the ground about 15 feet away and I started cranking. I hit the ground and just stood there. My hand was bleeding in a couple places, and I saw deep bruises forming. Since I was holding the rope, when I went crashing into the rock, I smashed my knuckles and that side. My hands were shaking as I tried to unhook my harness so the instructor could pull it back up. I walked back up through this trail to meet the group, and yeah, I was just the idiot who was bleeding. Haha but noone made fun of me. A lot of them hadn’t liked it either, and had similar wipe-outs, just not as intense as mine. Though later, after some of us went to watch the climbers while other did it a second time (I just stared at the instructor when he asked who wanted to go again.) one of the staff members who was in our group, this young guy just out of school, apparently lost his footing and ended up upside down and had to get himself all untangled. I straight up would’ve vomitted. People in London would’ve heard my cries.

So yeah, I don’t like repelling. And I don’t think it likes me, either.

The rest of the weekend was lowkey. We had dinner and rest-time on Saturday. I tried to do some reading, since I have a novella I have to have finished on Tuesday and was just told about this past Tuesday. Thanks for that, teach. After dinner everyone got ready because wooo dance night! bahaha, don’t you love when programs try to get everyone together to stand around and dance? At least we could all drink. That helped a bit. I had a couple of strongbows, but come on, I was not getting drunk in front of my program’s staff. I did have a heated discussion with one of the younger staff guys about Pittsburgh and Philly. He was from the latter. See even in London the rivalry lives on. I pulled out the SuperBowl card, whatever. Oh, AND the G20 card. Hell yeah. All he had was something about the “birthplace of the nation”. pssh.

Yesterday in the morning there were three choices of activies. I went into a nearby town of Kessick, and just walked around with everyone for a couple of hours. Then we got on the buses around 12 and after the tube ride, got back to QM around 8. I’ve just been recovering, and getting settled because the next three weeks are do-as-much-work-as-possible weeks, because in four weeks…READING WEEK! holla. Anyway, I’ll post later this week. If you have any questions about where I am or my classes or anything at all, just ask and I’ll answer them here! Hope it’s not too cold there…heard it’s been snowing like all over America! It’s starting to get pretty chilly here. I just made grilled cheese and toast for lunch. Reminded me of home. :) I really did love the Lake District, though, and I’m so glad we got to have this weekend.

“heavy stuff, guys…heavy stuff.”

 hey hey, how’s it going? Today I’m going to tell you ALL about Dublin! I went this past weekend and had a blast.

So. Where to start. Oh, how about when I went to bed at 11…and woke up at 1:50am to start getting ready to leave. And Pooley (my dorm) decided to have drunken hooligans all over it that night, so really, sleep came for maybe 3 minutes. Our flight was at 6 am from Stansted Airport. It’s a bit farther out of London, it’s a smaller airport, but usually you can find airlines there with better deals and whatnot. So the whole group (I’ll say all of their names once… Avery, Clare, Carolyn, Alexandra, and Kathryn) met up outside at 2:45am, and off we went. First we had to find the bus that would take us into London near King’s Cross Station (am so going back there so I can see Platform 9 3/4! harry potter dork alert.) and get on an express bus to Stansted. So far, so good. We got to the airport a bit earlier than we planned, so we all just sat at tables and stared at the ground, half-awake, until we found out our terminal and could go line up.

The flight was fairly quick. They said it would be about 1hr 15 min, but it def felt shorter than that. As you probably know, I’m pretty damn tall, sooo I was pretty much stuck in one position the whole flight. And my torso is too long, because my head was sort of above the cushiony thing that Clare so easily molded into (still bitter). I sat with Clare and Avery, and we def were feeling the lack of sleep, giddyness hit at certain times, and would occur like this for the rest of the trip. After our flight, we took a bus from the airport into the center of Dublin. Immediately we found a place to eat and all sat our tired asses down to…IRISH BREAKFAST. so delicious. I ate everything, except for these weird black pudding things that straight up tasted like black pepper. Hmm.  After downing cups of tea and coffee, we set off for our first destination. Mind you, it’s only like 10 in the morning. And we’ve already been up for 8 hours. Oh jeez..

The first place we went was Trinity College. It’s the only college in Dublin, and I forget why so don’t ask me. They have a mini-museum/exhibit type thing in the library, so we did that. They have the Book of Kells, which is this really old book of writing that has been saved, so that was cool. The library, or I’m assuming the old library because I’m pretty sure noone actually uses it, was really neat. It had that old, musty feel to it. It was raining pretty heavily, so that kind of sucked..but overall it was fun. Carolyn, my flatmate, actually goes to Trinity College in Texas, so I know she thought it was funny being there. I’m not sure how down I’d be with my campus being a tourist trap, though..it was weird seeing all these people going to class. I almost felt a bit intrusive, but I suppose they know to expect that if they’re going to attend the school.

The rest of the day we hit up some museums, walked around, and went to Dublin Castle. Only one part of the castle is still standing, and the building up now is more of a palace our tourguide told us. We were able to view the part of the castle still left from it’s original form. I’m really interested in castles and buildings from hundreds of years ago, and Europe is truly one of the best places to be to see them, so I’m glad we took the tour. We had checked into our hostel before going to the castle and a couple of other places, so it was nice not to be lugging around my backpack. Around dinner we found this place that had buffets for all different types of food, and of course I quickly ran to the chinese buffet. Usually I overestimate my stomach at buffets, but I went through two FULL plates no problem. Whatever, I walked all day.

Friday night, we went out to a pub first around 7pm and just hung for a bit. I had a Bulmer’s, which is like Strongbow here…which is like cider for us. but just, alcoholic cider. haha. I’ve probably talked about it before, but it’s amazing and I better be able to find it back in the states. They had live music, and I heard the first of what was to be over 6 covers of Brown-Eyed Girl. I get it, you love Van Morrison, and he’s from Northern Ireland. But you’re going to ruin the song for me if you play it ONE MORE TIME. We had some difficulties finding a place for the rest of the night. The scene is different in Dublin. It was hard to find where the younger people were, though we were pretty sure they were in Temple Bar, which is this touristy area in the center. All the american students crowd the streets there apparently, so we tried for other places. We were also going on about 18 hours of sleep at this point, so yeah.. majorly tired. We got back to the hostel and were in bed by about midnight, I think.

The next day, we got up and ate the hostel’s little breakfast of cereal and toast and instant coffee, and got on our way. Since I was living out of a backpack, didn’t really have anything to shower with, as did anyone else, so we all were looking real fine if you know what I mean. Haha nah we weren’t too bad. We walked to this really famous jail in Dublin. It was a bit of a walk, but it was hands down my favorite part of the trip. It’s called Kilmainham Gaol, and it’s really important in regards to Ireland’s history. It’s this old jail, still intact, that was used up until the mid 1900’s, I believe. Maybe even up to like the 70’s or 80’s. We went on an hour-long tour of the place, and it had such a spooky, but rich-in-history feel to it. We learned stories of famous inmates, and those executed for the Easter Uprisings. Usually I listen to what a tourguide is saying, but I end up forgetting what they say, or just half-listen to them, but I can still remember things our tourguide was telling us. He did a really great job at elaborating when necessary, and taking a break when it was clear everyone just wanted to look around. It was funny though, because obviously since it’s a jail, most of the stories are pretty morbid and depressing, and he kept saying, “heavy stuff” after all of the stories haha, but it was cute. Anyway, I know I also say, “if you’re ever in…you should do…” but if you are ever in Dublin, I absolutely recommend the jail. You won’t regret it. One last thought on the jail: I wonder if Ghosthunters (that show on scifi) has ever gone there? There IS a Ghosthunters: International show..hmm… sorry, I kept thinking about that as we walked through. I love me some Ghosthunters.

After the jail, we went to the Guinness Factory!! SO big. It was amazing the way they have the walk-through, tour area. It was like 5 floors, and very open, you just kept going up and up. I’m not the biggest Guinness drinker, just because I don’t ever really have the opportunity to drink it, but it was still fun learning about the process. So much goes into it that you don’t even realize! I also didn’t know that the factory is the largest brewery in the world! That’s nuts. At the last stop, on the top floor, they have this gravity bar that you have to walk up a flight of steps to get to. It has a whole panorama of the city, absolutely breath-taking. There you get your complimentary pint that comes with your admission, and we found a couple seats (well, like ran over some kids leaving their seats so we could get some) near the window and just sat back and relaxed. The guinness was good..well, okay… haha. It was just really thick and not something to try and conquer quickly. It was nice to just sit with everyone and take in the remainder of our trip. Of course I HAD to hit up the store downstairs and get some souvenirs for my mama and grandpa. My grandpa is straight up a beer connoisseur (okay yes, i had to google the spelling) and I would’ve broken his old heart if I hadn’t gotten him anything. And I mean, come on, it’s my mommy. She would’ve died, too. I’m very excited to give them their presents. :)

After the factory, we made our way back into the center of the city, got a late lunch, and some really cute deserts from this bakery, and just wasted a couple of hours walking around. Dublin is a complete 360 from London, it’s definitely smaller, and you can do it in two days, but the people were so nice, and the atmosphere was just great. I love London, don’t get me wrong, but it was nice to get away for a couple of days. We got to the airport for our flight at 9:00pm, and got back to campus around 11pm. It was literally a 48 hour jaunt to Dublin. But I love that you can do fast trips like that here, I mean hellooo I went to another COUNTRY and came back in 48 hours. success, if you ask me.

So that was Dublin. Lots of fun, lots of tired, random statements, and lots of laughter. Our program has the advernture weekend coming up, so I leave for that bright and early tomorrow at 8:30am. It’s apparently a 7 hour bus ride, oh yeahhh gonna be crazy. haha, but i’m excited for it. The lake district is supposed to be beautiful, and I’ve never been that far up (the farthest I’ve been is Liverpool), so I’m excited to check out the countryside. And of course the activities! I hope I get gorge crossing…how nuts would that be?! Anyway, I get back sunday, so sometime next week I’ll let you know how it was! Hope everyone is doing well…heard it might snow in Pittsburgh? Have fun going to Halloween parties in that! Haha. Miss you all!!

                                  Jamie

ps. Can you believe I’ve been here for a MONTH? I’m home in two! Seems like a short time here, but I know I’ll be ready to be home. Can’t wait to see you all!

Of classes, illnesses, drinking, trip-planning, and christmas world.

First off, apologies for being a bad little blogger and not updating for over a week. In my defense, last week and this week have been nuts. period. Anyway, where did i leave off? Oh yeah, i was dying. of swine flu/freshers flu/regular flu (if that even exists anymore, jeez). I went to the health center on either tuesday or wednesday…it’s a blur, but so yeah, they didn’t help me. Well, they looked at me and told me it was viral and therefore i could just suffer through it until it was done. ONLY i had been suffering from it for over 2 weeks! I’m sure the combo of going out and being really active everyday, mixed with getting settled in and new climate/food/differences, really hasn’t helped. I feel better than i did last week, i still cough up disgusting stuff, and i snot frequently (i really hope you’re eating something while reading this), but it’s manageable. I’ve kind of assumed i’ll be like this for the rest of the semester, so i’ll deal.

Other than that, I had my first week of classes last week. I’m taking Genre Film, Intro to Lit: Texts and Contexts, Earth: Portrait of a Planet (i know, sick title), and Geographical Perspectives. I didn’t stay in one department because those are all counting as gen ed’s for Pitt, so i took what worked. But hey, i’m finishing up my sciences over here, woot woot. And the genre class counts for my film minor, so that’s very cool as well. The classes were good… holla at syllabus week! haha no, we did some stuff..kinda. Anyway, it’ll be very independent study based. They teach the students here, but a lot of emphasis is put on the students doing their part (especially since they pay basically NO money to come to uni…government pays for most of it. They complain when they have to pay $3000! babies.) and finding extra journals and papers to do further reading for the week’s topic. I don’t have classes very often. 3 hours monday (all together bc it’s the film class + the screening for that week) 3 hours tuesday, and 2 on wed and thur. Each day is sort of designated for one of the classes, that’s just how my sched worked out, but it’s nice. OH. so, being here makes me reeeeally appreciate pitt’s library, and also the fact that we get free printing there. nope, got to pay for that HERE. bah! it’s like 4p (cents) a sheet, but still. it’s an outrage! …and i’m also just really, really cheap.

Speaking of cheap…guess who managed to live off 10 pounds since sunday? uh, me, that’s who. And i used half of it for laundry today, so really like 5 pounds. Yes, yes, you may applaud. I COOKED this week. straight up. I have not bought a meal (with the exception of a diet coke and candybar a couple of times…) since sunday. Maybe i can do this whole saving money/preparing my own meals thing. Granted, they are very simple meals…but I haven’t burnt anything. yet.

I haven’t done as much sightseeing, obviously because school’s in full swing now, but let’s see, last thursday, some of my friends and i went to Oxford St. looove it. It’s pretty much like NYC’s 5th avenue. We didn’t even walk that far because Topshop and H&M were right next to each other. Yes, i know i should be on a budget and be wise about the muhlah, but oh how i needed some retail therapy. I only bought a couple things… my total for everything was under 30 pounds, so suck it, that’s really good here. Um, i got a sweater dress, a BANGIN’ bright orange skirt (on sale 7 pounds at H&M, seriously how could i resist?!), and another clutch at topshop so i don’t tear apart my other one. very good run if i may say so myself. Afterwards we had a nice dinner, and came back to campus. Avery and I went into central london that night to meet a friend of hers who had come in from Dublin for the weekend. We went to a club, and pretty much left right after. It was eh. The bus ride home was ridiculous. I don’t even want to talk about it. All I’m saying is, I won’t even be complaining about the 59U in the burgh anymore. Oh yeah, it was that bad. (edit: just realized, this happened on friday night. but it still was awful.)

On Friday, since we all had off (i could get used to this. i’ve never had a week day off from classes!) Nicole, Clare, Avery and I went to the British Museum. I can sometimes get restless at museums, usually when it’s something that doesn’t really interest me, but if it’s got history, then i’ll love it. The museum was great, I enjoyed it a lot! There was a special exhibit on the Aztecs, and we all wanted to go, but it was 12 pounds, and without parents to pay those fees..sorry folks it just ain’t happening. Another funny thing was the North American room, which was about the size of a broom closet. It was one of those deals where I walked into the American room, and then was suddenly exiting on the other side. hellloooo OBAMA’s in office now, you can like us again!! jeeez (though i guess our history is a bit…shorter…than others, huh?) Anyway, after that we went to Harrod’s, and I was a bit skeptical because my last trip wasn’t too thrilling. BUT this time was amazing! Probably because we explored more of the floors, so we found…(wait for the trumpets to sound)…CHRISTMAS WORLD!!! if you know me well enough, you know that i die every december when christmas decorations go up, and there’s music on the radios, and cheer everywhere. It warms my cold soul. I turn into a ball of goo, honestly. It should be embarassing, but I just love it so. When i saw a sign for it pointing into another part of the store, i was like you girls can come or not but i’m going to that PLACE right NOW. I think beelining would be a good way to describe it. Speedwalking, if you will. Esp since it’s Harrod’s, so i kind of have to be on my best behavior..or something like that.

This place was everything I’d ever want. Rooms and rooms of decorations, cards, ornaments, candies, trees, lights, ahhh i couldn’t get enough!! And yes, i’m well aware that i probably shouldn’t be gushing in my blog about a freaking christmas-themed place, and yes, i’m 20 years old..blah blah blah, but please, humor me. Christmas really, truly is my favorite time of year. Anyway, this place was so amazing. If i ever get really homesick or just down, i should seriously go visit it, because i know it’d cheer me up. So yeah, but for your sake i’ll move on. We went to one of the cafes in Harrod’s and had our first real afternoon british tea! It was 10 pounds, but come on, it’s a treasured tradition here! It was incredible. They gave us two big scones, with a dish of clotted cream and a jar of jam, and then a pot of tea. For each of us. Holy shmokes. But i was starving, so it was perfect. It was really just a nice way to end the day, I would also recommend doing that if you ever get to visit. The rest of the weekend was lowkey, we went out at night (as usual..) I think i got to 6 nights in a row by sunday? yeah, i’m tired. not all nights are insane, though. we got to know some of the guys in our program, and they have ping pong balls and the closest thing we’ve all found to solo cups so far, so last week we had a couple american drinking game nights, which are fun…just drinking some beer, surrounded by friends. always a good time. Sunday we went to Brick Lane, it’s a huuuuge market about two tube stops away. It was neat just walking around, definitely a nice way to end the weekend.

So this week i’ve really just been getting stuff done for classes, trying to make sure i’ve got everything covered. Soon things are gonna start getting crazy, and I suspect the time will actually start to fly. Tomorrow a bunch of us are going to DUBLIN!! we’re leaving early tomorrow morning (like leaving for the airport at 3 am. i probably shouldn’t even go to bed.) and then spending the night and coming back late saturday night. i’m so excited, it’ll be nice to get off campus for a couple days. DEF gonna check out the Guinness Factory. I know i can get like half of my family done with souvenirs there haha. Next weekend our program has this thing called Adventure Weekend, and basically we’re going up with students from other schools in London (bc the program sends students to a lot of schools in London, I just chose Queen Mary) to the Lake District, it’s like way northern England. We go up there for the weekend and do outdoorsy activies and it’s just kind of like a nice retreat. I don’t know what i signed up for…I think abseiling and some other stuff? I’ll let you know after I go. But that’ll be cool to meet other IFSA kids, just ones who go to different schools.

And then i have a couple weeks with nothing really planned.. i tried real hard to fit a weekend trip to Spain in, but as of now, it’s looking grim. I really only have the two weekends at the end of october because november is gonna be insane…the 9th starts our reading week (week off to “catch up”. yeah, right.) so Clare, Avery, Nicole and i are going to……ATHENS and PRAGUE!!! woooo! we’re leaving monday the 9th for Athens, and then on thursday we go to Prague, and then we come back sunday. I. CAN’T. WAIT. I never thought i’d get to go to Greece! We booked it a couple days ago, and I’ve been so happy ever since. A week after we get back from that, my cousin Brittany and her boyfriend are visiting, so i’m very amped for that, too. It’ll be great to see some family. When they come in, we’ll do stuff in London i’m sure, but then they’re going to Paris, and on wed the 25th, i’m taking the train to meet them! And that saturday, the 28th, we’re going to Amsterdam! And then back on Monday. See what i mean about November being nuts? I saved all summer so I could go on trips, and finally they’re all sorted out. It feels awesome. I’m hoping to maybe get a day trip in early december to germany, just because i’d love to go to the christmas markets they’re famous for (shit, another christmas reference) AND because i did take four years german. though now i’d probably sound like i had taken 3 weeks. and i’ve been to Paris once before, but it’ll be really nice to be with family, especially since we’ll be there over Thanksgiving, and this whole missing Thanksgiving thing kind of stinks.

Anyway, wow i wrote a lot, sorry! I’ll make a very, very solid effort to write every 3-4 days so that way the posts stay smaller. The problem is i’ll go a couple days without doing much worth telling, and then everything will happen all at once. But isn’t that the way life usually goes?

I’ll let you know how Dublin is!

                                 Jamie

THINGS I’M GETTING USED TO:

1. how easy it is to spend 5 pounds. now i can stop that.

2. having to prepare/figure out my own meals.

3. accepting that their Thousand Island Dressing is different from ours. just let it go, Jamie.

4. riding da tube.

5. getting around campus after they start locking random gates (though haven’t mastered this yet after a night out…)

6. british guys + clubs = not what you think or want, for the most part.

7. everyone dressing up all the time (i will wear my pitt sweatshirt. i don’t care.)

8. cars WILL hit you if you try to cross the crazy ass crosswalks here when you’re not supposed to. seriously.

9. my flatmates will be slowly be less scared of me in time.

10. walking EVERYWHERE.

11. also on that note, cctv is EVERYWHERE.

12. realizing i’m here for 12 more weeks.

THINGS THAT ARE TAKING SOME TIME:

1. having to stop into the grocery store a couple times a week.

2. even regular food you’d think would be the same isn’t.

      side note: i was sick this past week, and all i wanted was some campbell’s chicken noodle soup, saltines, and ginger ale. NONE of which i found. well, they had ginger beer. not sure what that was, but i was too angry/defeated to try.

3. exchange rate. i have become so cheap. i didn’t have a towel for the first week, and until i came across a reasonable one, i used a large steelers shirt to dry off with. don’t judge, it was clever and efficient.

4. not having TV. lazy, tv-loving american here and i’m afraid to watch too many things online for fear my unstable computer will die.

5. feeling out of the loop with american news.

6. going out a lot, if even just for something to do. i’m tired, but there’s also nothing to do in my room. damnit!

7. feeling overwhelmed and unsure of the academic stuff. but then again, we did just start classes and i haven’t even had all of mine, so this might change.

8. realizing i’m here for 12 more weeks.

As you can see, the last one on each list is the same. It really goes both ways. Anyway, that’s all I felt like doing today. Later this week I’ll write about starting classes, battling mystery viral/swine/freshers flu symptoms and being angry at queen mary and this whole country in general for a little because of it. Will check in soon!

                   Jamie

exhausted

freshers week here is serious…ly insane. the club on campus has a party every night until the end of next week. and then i guess it’s just regular stuff afterward. but the parties start at 9. so if we pregame, we have to start before that…so to get ready, i have to really start before that. i’ve been getting ready to go out at like 6pm every night! and then they’re still out till late, so it’s literally a looong night of drinking and dancing. my friends and i have gone to drapers (the club) a couple of times, but definitely not every night. on monday, queen mary and another college rented out ministry of sound (a hugely popular/known club in central london) and took us on coaches there. it was crazy. we had met some american guys at orientation earlier in the day, so we hung with them and their flatmates. for the parts i remember, it was fun… haha i kid, i kid. it was a great time with everyone, not sure when i’ll be getting back that way, so i’m definitely glad i went.

other than that, earlier in the week we were doing orientation stuff here at qm, and i had just about had it with hearing the same thing over and over again. luckily, it only lasted two days..we got our classes sorted out, so i’m pretty sure the schedule i have now is my final schedule. if so…then i’m done for the week after my one class on wednesday. this sounds awesome, but i’m definitely going to have to make sure i use my two days off to do work as well. it is nice, though, because it’ll make planning trips a lot easier. just last night a couple of us booked roundtrip flights to dublin for only 20 pounds! it’s in a couple weeks…can’t wait! we had an activities fair on wednesday, so i signed up for a couple things..we’ll see what i do. apparently the sports clubs here are so-so, it’s more for the social (ie partying) aspect haha and supposedly some of the clubs love when americans join because we’re really competitive or more athletic, something like that. after the activities fair we went to canary wharf. so i thought it was supposed to be more scenic, you know..like a wharf…but no. it’s like wall street. it’s like all financial buildings and a semi-mall underneath them, but it was just confusing. my friends and i walked in circles for a couple hours and then went home. the next two nights were relatively easy, we all kind of needed to rest. on wednesday i got to see iva for the first time, which was awesome! i really needed to see a familiar face, and i think she felt the same way. being here, you definitely realize how much you take for granted having friends and loved ones close to you at all times. it was really just refreshing seeing her, and i know i’ll see her again soon :) around two nights ago a couple of us joined the american guys and their flatmates and saw District 9. pretty interesting movie. took a little time to get used to the camerawork and style of it, but i liked it. after that we went to a pub for a little bit, but yet again..we were all tired. that day we had gone to greenwich and saw the royal observatory and prime meridian. it was so beautiful!! and it’s up on this huge hill, so the views of london are amazing. i took a bunch of pictures of it, so i’ll be sure to post them soon. yesterday some of the girls went to windsor castle, but i’ve already seen it and i needed to do some stuff around here, so i stayed back. i did laundry (thank god because my jeans were all so worn they were hanging off of me. guys here don’t even dress like that, it’s…new. but good. haha) and got some class stuff figured out. last night we went out to drapers. it was nice because it wasn’t as crowded as it was the first couple of days. i’m, uh…pretty hungover right now, so yeah, crazy night.

i never thought i’d say this, but i’m pretty excited for classes. i’m sure in a few weeks time i’ll be cursing myself for saying something so stupid, but i’m ready to get on a schedule. it’s been cool having all of this time to explore and ease into being here. but to fully ease into being here, i need to be completely set. does that make sense? these past two weeks have felt like forever, it’s weird to think i’ve only been here 13 days. i’ll be planning trips soon, though, so that’ll definitely speed up things. anyway, i just wanted to check in. i know i haven’t been able to update as much as i wanted, but once classes start and i’m not running all over london all the time, it should be easier. hey, how’s pittsburgh doing? heard shit hit the fan real fast. that’s nuts. i’ve been trying to follow as much as i can with the internet, but i’m sure the reports might not tell everything. hope everyone made it through all right! as always, miss you all.

Jamie

i’m a freshman again?!

alright so i know i wrote a massive post yesterday, but it was fairly boring, wasn’t it? also, the next couple of days will be filled with MORE orientation stuff, so i’ll probably be pretty busy. Let’s see, oh…i’m grouped with all the freshers? yeah. but luckily their freshmen would be like our sophomores, so it’s not too bad. btw that’s what they call them here, freshers. I have this bright orange wristband that i absolutely 100% can’t take off until next week that says freshers pass, and is just like a big neon sign over my head. but it gets me into all the parties that they hold ALL week long. they’re crazy over here, i swear. That gets me to my first point of the day..

Drinking. We were told at our orientation last week that most nights of the week, students like to go out. they don’t do homework in the evening, nuh uh, no way. they almost treat school as a 9-5 job, and just study their asses off and do all their work during the day so they can go out at night. i don’t know about you, but i don’t mind spending a monday or tuesday or well, just any other day of the week, staying in and doing work mixed with relaxing, watching tv. but that’s like their time to socialize, they don’t socialize in class, apparently. which i’m glad i found that out now, because i would’ve def been that obnoxious american girl chatting everyone up while they waited for class to start. these strange, alcoholic brits.

Clubbing. hahaha oh, clubbing. Last night was at the student’s bar (which the student union takes care of. meaning it’s on campus, and the school runs it. would that EVER happen in america? it’s a really sweet bar/club, though. i’ll be sure to take pictures when freshers aren’t storming everywhere). It was the first event of the year, so it was packed, but not bad. Now, the laughter comes from my…interesting…experiences on two separate nights at two separate bars. after those nights, the only thing brits had going for them to me was their accent. it was like two different kind of guys, and that was it. there were the shy, dance with my buddies group, and then the creepy, let me run my hands all up and down your body group. neither of which are particularly fun to dance/hang out with. and, well i shouldn’t laugh, but the guys here don’t really dance. i mean, they do… but…the way i described it to a friend was gentle, awkward swaying. and that’s being nice. haha it’s different, i’ll get used to it. but those two nights we went to this place called moonlighting, and some other place i can’t remember, but i was literally felt up and it was just ridiculous and yuck. one brazilian and one scot. well they can go shove it up their… anyway.

Brits. they are very, very shy and gentle and timid. Until you get drunk with them, of course. but even then. and apparently we americans scare them because we’re loud and come at everyone with our outgoingness, confidence, etc. oh, and if you embarass them by being too loud or too drunk when noone else is, then you’re like blacklisted. not sure if the orientation people were just trying to make sure we weren’t obnoxious, but i’m not going to try and find out. i hadn’t really gotten to interact more personally with any since we were with our group doing program stuff last week, but since i’ve moved in, it’s going to be easier. Actually, last night at the event, I got in ahead of my friends because we were in different lines, so i was holding a table and sitting there awkwardly by myself. these two guys who were sitting at a table near me got up and came over and said hello, so that was nice. their names are tom and mike, and they’re both freshers here. very british (ie. gentlemanly..they walked us home! so cute), but very nice. i was afraid once my friends (who pre-gamed pretty hard beforehand, if you know what i mean) came in they’d scare the shit out of them and just swarm, so i made sure to warn them of that. haha but it was cool, the girls met some other people, too. I hung out with a couple of the girls, one of their flatmates, and the guys for the rest of the night. I kind of have a cold, so i didn’t go too crazy. THOUGH, they have this drink called snakebite? do we have it back at home? anyway, it was black currant, lager (?!), and strongbow (adult apple juice)…amazing. so so good, you can’t even taste the lager! so yeah, last night was definitely a better night than some of the others, and i’m supposed to be doing it for the rest of this week. oh dear.

so, yeah, that’s just some stuff i’ve noticed. there’s loads more, obviously, but i’ll get to it in time. especially since we dont’ start classes until next monday! that’s nuts. it’s been nice having time to adapt, but i’m ready for classes, because that will really help with adjusting. i do love it here, i promise, but it’s also hard. it’s the weirdest feeling to describe. everything’s exciting and new, but it can be lonely at times. i’m glad i’m on campus and can start making a group of friends, and the girls i’ve hung out with throughout orientation are cool, but it’s sort of like starting from scratch, you know? i know if i had gone with pitt’s program i wouldn’t be experiencing as much of this, because i’d be with familiar faces, but that’s one of the challenges i took on with studying abroad this specific way. this past week has gone by very slowly, and this next week is just the same with free days and all of that. i’ll probably go around the city some more, but i also have to start budgeting and figuring out what areas of this semester will require more money, what i need to save, etc. that’s why i’m really excited for classes, i just want to get in a groove and while i don’t want to “watch” the time fly by, this limbo state is kind of old. i hope it doesn’t seem like i’m moping. i’m sure some of you guys have been scratching your heads when i don’t sound as enthused as you expect me to be. it’s all a lot to take in, and i’m getting there.

so there it is, i’m well and just living each day as if i’m london. (oh wait, i am!) i miss everyone a lot, and since i have internet and a fully working computer now, a skype session would be lovely. it’d be nice to see some familiar faces :) let me know if you’d want to! dana and julie: you two have skype. i know it. you know it. you know i know it. skype soon or else. yeah, i just called your asses out on my blog. what.

                                   Jamie

here.

okay, before i begin what is to be a long and crazy post, let me collect myself and gather my thoughts.

…

okay. phew. so… i’m in london?! i’m sure most of you know this by now since i have gotten on facebook a couple times, but yeah… still can’t believe i’m finally here. well that’s a lie, of course i do, but it’s been a crazy week. day by day recap:

MON… after a fairly uneventful flight (though i watched the hangover for the first time, and while it’s hilarious and all, bad decision when everyone’s quietly watching movies and/or sleeping. got a couple looks as i tried to stifle laughs and ended up snorting) the group flight students and i waited at customs. and waited. and waited. we got stuck behind a group of like 100 middle eastern people. now i’m not trying to be mean, but i don’t think any of them spoke much english, so they had to use this translator, and it took effing forever. 2 1/2 hours, to be exact. so yeah, once we got to the hotel we were able to rest until we had dinner. i got a phone, and the next time i top up (put more money into it) i should get 200 free international minutes! so soon i’ll be able to call more people, promise. i did stop into a pub with my hotel orientation roommate, and got a pint of stella. they are huge!! i was so tired and disoriented that one was all i needed, and i promptly returned to my bed and passed out by 9.

TUE… orientation shizz all morning. got to hear differences about the cultures, academic stuff, etc etc. it was pretty informative, though, so i didn’t mind. that stuff lasted most of the day, but that night we went on a two hour walking tour of our area. in the pouring rain. like, diagonal rain, so umbrellas were pretty much rendered useless. but it was fun. london is so amazing. there are so many things that are modern and high-fashion-esque, yet there’s still cobblestone roads, and these gorgeous old buildings. I really like the combination, i think it’s a huge part of london’s architectural and visual appeal. i don’t mind the rain so much. obviously i’d rather be dry, but the gray and gloomy skies here don’t bother me..they actually remind me of pittsburgh, and while i’m glad to be here, i do so miss the burgh. it’s nice to feel like i have a little piece of it with me. :) after the walk we ate in picadilly circus (the equivalent of ny times square)we saw this play called “39 Steps”, it’s based off a movie by alfred hitchcock, but they presented it as a comedy. i loved it! it only had a cast of 4, and they played various characters, but they didn’t take themselves too seriously. they knew we knew what was going on, and they were in on the joke as well. anyway, if it ever comes to the states, i’d recommend it.

WED… orientation stuff in the morning and then free for the rest of the day. went out with carolyn, my roommate and bunch of other girls (katrina, alexandra, kathryn, claire) and we took the tube up to Kensington and walked around there… saw the palace and gardens, absolutely beautiful. the park was a nice escape from the hustle and bustle of the city. i’d tell you about the other stuff we did, but it’s on my facebook album and i’m lazy, so just check those out. oh, we did go out to our first club. um… yeah, i’ll just explain that in my next post when i’m not just recapping.

THUR…first full free day (try saying that 5 times fast). i slept in and ran some errands because i had already seen buckingham palace, which is what the girls did in the morning. i met them a little after lunch near the london eye. navigated the tube and got there all by myself, what what. walked along the thames, saw shakespeare’s globe theatre, didn’t get to go in because a play was on, but definitely want to go back and tour it. we passed the tate, where the group split up. carolyn, clare, katrina and myself were exhausted, and by now my feet/knees/leg/BODY were on the brink of shutdown, so we headed back. we walked over the millenium bridge, passed st. paul’s, and then just navigated our way back. i’m definitely not going to have a problem with walking off the pints and other alcoholic drinks i consume. so.much.walking. went to another club that night… yet another story…

FRI…MOVED IN TO OUR DORMS!! finally got out of that hotel, yes! there’s about 25 or so people in my program at queen mary, and we’re all in this place called Pooley House. it’s one of the newer ones on campus, so it’s nice and big. there’s about one or two of us in the suites that range from 5 person to 9 person here. there’s 40 something suites. i’m in 43 with who else but Carolyn. so that’s nice because I’ve gotten to know her already. there are three different entrances to the building, we’re in the last because it’s numbers 31 and up. The set up is kind of interesting. each floor has two suites. so suite 44 is right across from 43. we have cards to swipe into the building, and keys to open the door to the suite. once inside, right away to your left is the kitchen, which has everything. there’s a big table to eat at, and an island with tons of cabinet/drawer space. If you continue down the hallway, the doors start at A and go to G. they’re on both sides. I’m E and Carolyn’s F, so she’s right across the hallway from me. we moved in before everyone else, so it was quiet..but nice to get our stuff together without many distractions. today people are starting to move in, so hopefully i’ll get to meet my suitemates

so, my room… i LOVE it. I have my own bathroom/shower/sink area! the desk pretty much spans the entire wall of one side. They don’t have dressers here so i was a bit worried with just the wardrobe and not having many hangers..but I actually have a lot of shelves, so I just have everything out on them. Feels kind of exposed, but i think i’ll live. There’s a huge bulletin board, so i have some pictures of friends and family posted :) the bed is decent, long enough that at least my feet don’t hang over! haha oh, and my window is at least 10 feet long.. it’s ridiculous! but it’s kind of cool, almost like a panoramic view. granted, it’s of railroad tracks and apartment buildings, but i like it. i have pictures of it on my facebook, so i’m gonna stop there with the descriptions. Basically, i’m really pleased and i think it’ll work just fine for the semester.

okay, so that was way too long and i apologize. i’m going to write another one a little later today with more of my thoughts and observations, etc. this was more just explaining what i did, so i can refer to it if i have to, and just so you guys could see what i’ve been up to. I’m so glad i have internet full-time now, though. it’s just nice to be able to get on whenever i want, and it makes communicating with you guys a hell of a lot easier. How’s everything back at home? i saw i missed kanye acting a fool and patrick swayze died?! sad sad. anyway, i’m gonna get back to a few people, lay down for a little (because i think i’m coming down with the cold. boo.) and then perhaps write a more interesting blog so that you guys don’t completely abandon me. also, if you’re on skype, let me know!! i haven’t gotten to yet with anyone, and i’m getting impatient here! talk to you guys soon.

                  Jamie