Umbrellas Are Weird

That’s right, weird. I bought an umbrella just before I left the states and I have used it more times this week than I had in all the months of being in England prior to this week. Ok, that may or may not be true, but it sounded good and it sure is close to the truth. Anyway, I bought it (or rather my awesomeness of a mother did) from Wal*mart (which I miss more than I miss Dion’s Pizza… and that’s saying something!) and its been holding up, today especially, in some nasty wind. That thing is flimsy. The other night Anna and I switched umbrellas just for the fun of it, and I realized just a how cheap my umbrella truly was. BUT, the good news is that it is still going strong, and the rain drizzles day after day.

Anyway, here’s another week gone by. School started, and the rain came, and the sun doesn’t bother to shine, and my bed’s just as uncomfortable as I left it, and my room still gets every bit as stuffy if I don’t leave the window open; all things I miss. Sorta. Hehe, anyway, no I am very glad to be back. It felt a lot more normal flying out here this time. I settled right back in, and was really happy to see my roommates, and we still all get along just fine. In fact we spent a few of the first nights, before classes and homework, hanging out in the kitchen playing poker and stuff. It was quite fun. I lost both times. Oh well. Hehe. Its funny, because I think we were just happy to see each other so we made an effort to hang out. All of us girls went and saw a movie (first time since I’ve been here that we’ve been to the pictures, as they call it, or the cinema rather). We saw PS I Love You which was a cute tear-jerker, and by the end of the film I was the only one in our little group, and the entire theatre probably, who wasn’t bawling. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed the movie and even thought it was sad, I guess I just don’t cry in movies. They all thought I was heartless!

Anyway, other than that and school not a whole lot else has been going on. We’ve watched a handful of movies, and poker, and went into town a couple times, even made it over to the Waffle House. But, school is going to be interesting this semester. First, we are in school for 8 (or is it 9?) weeks and then we get a month off for Easter Break. Then we go back to school for 3 (or 4?) weeks before we have our month long assessment period (finals month). So we’re here for a total of 5 1/2 months, but we only have 12 weeks of classes!

So I went to my first class last week and it wasn’t there. Yeah, so Carey and I (another girl from UNM, she’s in my class) spent the next half hour trying to find the class which we later learned (a week later… today) was cancelled, which is why we couldn’t find the darn thing. So we made breakfast instead and then went into town to look for an accordion because Carey wanted an accordion. Hehe, we even found a kid’s one! So the day wasn’t a waste. So Tuesday rolls around and I go to my Theatre and Social Change class. After going to class and reading the first article for it, I decided that I wasn’t going to make it an entire semester in that class, so I decided I’d drop it. The problem is that as an exchange student I have to be taking only 3 classes, so to drop that class I needed to find another one, but the pickings for classes out here are even slimmer than the ones back at UNM! Well Wednesday rolls around and I went to my Drama Projects meeting. Apparently that class just consists of each of the 25 of us writing, producing, directing, everything-ing our own individual 15 minute show! We don’t have weekly classes, we just have to check up with our teachers to make sure that we’re actually working, and go to them if we get stuck or need technical help or something. So that class sounds like a whole ton of fun and a whole ton of work too! So Thursday and Friday I bummed around and didn’t do much, but on Friday I had to go try to change my class and had a bit of a time doing it, because the poetry class I wanted to get into was full, and then the Jane Austen/Bronte class I wanted filled up over the weekend. Anyway, long boring story short, I got into a different creative writing class that’s on Tuesday nights. So we’ll see how that goes.

Saturday was a lazy day. Sunday, Lucy and I went to Calvary Chapel again, which is where I think we’ll be going to church from now on. Everyone is very sweet there; its just such a tiny church that being new is to be VERY conspicuous. And to top it all of there aren’t many (or any?) students, so we’re the only people not under 10 and over 35. But the guy who was preaching that week was from California so we talked to him and his wife after.

OH, I forgot the best part about this week! Thursday night I attempted (with a lot of help from my girls) to make Stuffed Sopapillas and Spanish Rice. Unfortunately I was having issues measuring American measurements with British measuring devices (or no measuring devices at all!) and somehow I screwed the dough up and the Sopapillas didn’t puff when we put them in the oil. To top it all off, the rice wouldn’t cook fully, and the potatoes we’d put in with the beef and beans hadn’t cooked fully either. So after a whole lot of improvisation and frustration, we had flat Sopapillas with stuff all ON TOP of them instead of inside them, we got the potatoes to cook eventually, and the rice ended up being about half cooked. Hehe, but everything still *tasted* right, even if it didn’t look quite right. Almost everyone in the flat partook of the meal and we all had fun sitting down to eat improvised Mexican food a la Joanna (courtesy of Mamma Michnovicz). Having never had Sopapillas before, they all were quite taken with them. I think they felt about them the same way I feel about their amazing British pancakes!

To top all the cooking endeavors off, we had a fun time using this muffin mix that my mother had sent me. We used these weird little tins we had saved from Emma’s Yorkshire Puddings to bake the muffins in the microwave, hehe. And Lucy and Emma were quite amused to see that on the back of the packet with the directions there were additional directions for “high altitude”. They got a big kick out of it.

So anyway, that’s the run down of the week. Its been good, and its been dreary. BUT, I can’t let it get me down, right? Right! Well shoot me an email or leave a comment and let me know how you all are doing. Hope all is well, and I miss you all!

Norwich-ing It Once Again

What up, dudes!? Or something less dumb… hehe…. Hi! So, I made it back to Norwich, after 24 hours of traveling, which, hopefully, I will not do again until I go back to NM for good! For those of you who don’t know, I spent the last week (ish) in New Mexico, seeing friends and family, mountains again, driving again, spending American dollars, and going to Laura & Chris’ Wedding… it was all quite fun! Needless to say, however, I’m glad I’m back in the UK, but I must admit that coming back was a lot harder than I expected it to be. I think I may have stayed home for a bit too long. After the wedding excitement was over, and I’d seen all my friends at least once, the novelty of it started to wear off and I sank back into my old routines, and it started to feel like home again, rather than just a vacation.

Anyway, the trip back was good. I woke up at about 5:30 that morning so that I could take a shower and make it to the airport on time. I had finally gotten over my jet lag, and now here I was, waking up *before* the crack of dawn so that I could do it all over again. I was flying standby, so there was a bit of apprehension as to whether or not I would actually get a flight, but I got onto the flight from ABQ to Atlanta just fine, and then I had a 4.5 hour layover in Atlanta. I busied myself by watching Friends (of which I now own all ten seasons, thanks to Christmas), and getting on the internet. It was great, although, whoever the genius is that decided we had to pay for wi-fi in public places is no friend of mine.

So the time to board the other flight was drawing near, and I still hadn’t heard from the check in people whether or not I had gotten on the flight. So getting slightly nervous, I went and asked even though they had told me just to wait for my name, which was what they told me (again) when I asked. But, just after they started boarding they called my name, and I got my ticket. When I looked at it though, it said that I was in seat 1G. “Did I just get first class?” I thought. And lo and behold, I did! So I walked up, in amazement, to first class, and while I’m trying to stuff my two bags in the overhead compartments, the flight attendant comes up to me and asks if I would like her to hang my jacket up!? So of course I said, sure. So now I’m in even more amazement.

I tell you what, they really do treat you like you’re gold in first class. I thought it was great, cause I’d never flown first class before. But the seats are enormous, they offer you champagne as you’re sitting down, you get to choose what kind of meal you want, and its freshly cooked, right there… or at least it tastes like it has been. I also had my own personal little movie screen, which I could choose what movie I wanted to watch, and then when the flight attendant saw me watching a movie, she came over and gave me nice big ol’ noise-cancelling head phones! Anyway, I spent the entire 7 hour flight in shock and awe, thinking that I gotta do that again. Anyway, thanks Mr. Wesselman!

Well, we made it into London by about 6:15 the next morning (due to the 7 hour time difference), and I went through passport control, and all that and had to go find the National Express ticket counter so I could get a bus back to Norwich… I had decided going into London to get the train just wasn’t worth it. So I bought my over priced ticket and waited about an hour (thankfully not 3 or 4!) for the coach. By this time I’m already nearing sheer exhaustion, but the coach came and I got on it, knowing that I had another full 5 hours to go. By the way, there is absolutely nothing redeeming about coaches. They are uncomfortable, almost impossible to sleep in, and this one was freezing! I made it back to Norwich by about 2pm that day, so I’d been up and going for almost 27 hours at this point.

Well, I couldn’t go to sleep, otherwise I’d be screwed for that night, so I chatted with Heather for a little while as she’d just gotten back the day before from Italy and Spain. I took a shower and then we made dinner after running onto campus to check our mail and stuff. Oh, and I have a new flatmate… the one who moved into Leigh’s room. Her name is Kara and she’s from Hawaii and so far we’re getting along just fine. She’s pretty nice. Anyway, I made it til about 9:30pm, barely, after watching Friends and making cookies with Heather to try to keep me awake, but after that I was completely and totally gone. I slept for a good 12 hours that night, too, and boy could I feel it this morning! Shoot, I got up and made breakfast though (mmmm, breakfast!) and then we (Heather, Kara, and I) hit town to go shopping.

So now I’m all stocked up on food, and ready to start the semester, even though I don’t know what time my classes are. Bleh. Haha, I guess I’ll find out on Monday, and hope I don’t have one then!

Well my roommates are slowly trickling in. So far the flat’s about halfway full, but I think the rest are getting in tomorrow evening… and once again, we’ll start school, and all will be back to normal… sorta. Anyway, Leigh, if you’re reading this, we miss you already and its weird without you! And everyone back in NM, I miss you already too, but I’ll be seeing you in six months!

Back in The 5-0-5!!!

Well kids, as most of you have probably already heard, I came back to New Mexico for a little while! I’m still here, as I’m writing this, but I’m going back to Norwich on January 10^th. I came back because all the pieces fell in place, and it was supposed to be a surprise, especially for Laura, as I came back for her wedding and she didn’t know (!), and it was absolutely amazing! Anyway, I should probably explain what the deal is.

Ok, so I was in Germany a few months ago hanging out with Jimmy. Well, Jimmy was the best man in Chris & Laura’s wedding, and so he had already been planning on flying home (back to NM) for Christmas and then for the wedding, on January 4^th, but I, on the other hand, had already made the choice to stay in England over Christmas, New Years, and the wedding. But, while I was in Germany, I was talking to Chris online, and he was saying that I needed to come back for the wedding, and he’d do whatever he could to get me to NM so that we could surprise Laura for the wedding, and have that be her wedding present. So I thought about it, and I really wanted to come home, not just for the wedding, but to be able to see my family and friends also. So after talking to my dad, and my dad talking to Mr. Wesselman (who’s an airline pilot for Delta Airlines), we were able to get me a relatively inexpensive stand by flight out of London on New Years Eve.

So after spending Christmas with Lucy’s family (which was a ton of fun, btw), Lucy took me to the airport stupidly early on New Year’s Eve and I started my rather long journey. But thank God up in Heaven, I caught the two flights that I needed to catch and I was able to make it back into NM by about 8pm that night. I even got good seats on the airplane, so I was pretty happy about that. Well when I got in, my parents and brother picked me up at the airport and we got some much needed (and much craved) Mexican food. But seeing as it was New Year’s, I called Chris to see where he and Laura were so that I could surprise her with the fact that I was in town. So I went up to this house that they were at, and I walked in with Chris, but Laura was facing the other way playing Guitar Hero. So instead of saying anything, I just stood there and hoped she’d notice me. It was kinda dark though, and she was rather engrossed in her game, so it took a minute, but she turned around briefly to say something to Chris (who I was standing next to) and her gaze just briefly passed over me, and then a split second later it registered in her mind and she whirled around speechless, eventually nearly bowling me over with a massive hug! Then Shannon and Brie noticed, and it was hugs all around!

Anyway, I ended up staying there til just past midnight, but I had been awake for just over 26 hours so I went to my parent’s house and crashed for the night. But, thanks to this wonderful thing called jet lag, I was awake promptly at 8am the next morning (bother!) and the next 3 mornings after that.

But amidst all of this, I should explain a couple things. First, I was in the wedding… and Chris knew, but Laura didn’t. See, Laura had asked me to be in the wedding (a couple times, actually) before I left, but I had told her I couldn’t, so when Chris told me I had to come for the wedding, he told me to order a bridesmaid’s dress and that he’d find anther groomsman and not tell Laura about any of this. Well I accidentally ordered a dress that was too small, but I had it rush-delivered to my parent’s house, and I wasn’t able to try it on. So my mother (who is smaller than me) tried it on, and it was tight on her! So by the grace of God, and after a few tailors saying “no way”, a family friend of ours was able to (and I still don’t know how she did it…. I’m going to just say it was a miracle) make the dress too big for me, so she ended up having to take it in! On top of all this, I got sick the day before I left, so here I am trying to get better as I’m flying 16 hours home, and going to the bachelorette party and the rehearsal dinner and ultimately the wedding. Needless to say, its been a hectic week.

Well the wedding was on Friday, and it was beautiful and perfect and fun and all those things a wedding should be. Laura looked awesome, Chris couldn’t have possibly been any happier, and everything seemed to go off without a hitch. And now they’re off on their honeymoon in Florida, and I’m sure they’re having an awesome time.

On a different note, coming home (apart from the wedding, and all that) has been awesome. I don’t think I really realized how much I missed New Mexico. Even just seeing the mountains, and having dry weather, and seeing the sun shine 5 out of 6 days, were all things that I truly missed, from the bottom of my heart. I knew I missed my friends and my family, and seeing them all is something I wouldn’t trade for the world, but missing New Mexico itself to such an extent almost caught me off guard. I had imagined that moving to England would just solidify in my mind how lame New Mexico was and how awesome Europe was. Instead I think I learned that England’s just another part of the civilized world, and not really all that much more different or better. Don’t get me wrong, I love it and I’m excited to go back to Norwich (especially to see my friends, and hang out with everybody, and live in my flat and all), but I know I’ll be there for six months and then I’m coming back to New Mexico. And quite frankly, I’m 100% fine with that.

Anyway, that’s pretty much it. I’ve been able to go shopping, drive on the right hand side of the road again, eat green chile and Mexican food in surplus amounts, hang out with all my friends, and see a bazillion movies: hehe, all the things I wanted to do. But, I’m excited to go back and finish out my year abroad. I miss England! But NM, I’m coming back!