Easter Just West of London

I’m rubbish at blogging. I know I say that every time, and every time I vow that I’m going to do better, but to no avail. Ah, such is life, right? Well, I think its safe to say that not a lot has happened. We are currently enjoying Easter Break which is awesome, especially as we get FOUR full weeks of school off, so I’m again at Lucy’s house trespassing on her parent’s (and her) abundant hospitality. (Sorry, I’ve been reading too much Charlotte Bronte, and my syntax and diction is taking a beating…). Anyway, the last week of school proved rather uneventful, yet again. I didn’t do much work, as I was in anticipation of Easter Break, but I got my essay finished, attended all my classes (aren’t you proud of me?), and had fun hanging out. We had a fun night at the flat near the end of the week with most all of us, Fred made an *amazing* curry, and I think its safe to say that I’ve been officially converted to curry now. I know that’s terrible, and its taken me nearly 7 months, but hey, I like it now, don’t I? I want to learn how to make a Korma too, but I don’t know that I’m that talented yet.

Well, school wrapped up and within a matter of days the flat was almost completely deserted. It’s really strange to be living in a flat where that’s almost empty, in a country that you’re still not 100% familiar with. I spent most of my time in my room on my computer, watching movies, and reading. It was actually sorta nice, but solitude is only so great after the first day or two. I did, however, make excellent progress on reading Villette by Charlotte Bronte, and I’m sure Erin is proud of me for that one…. I promised her that I’d read it about a year ago, and now I *finally* have fulfilled that promise. Good book too…. Sad though.

Anyway, I hopped on the train on Thursday night to head over to Lucy’s house. 4 hours later I had arrived with little trouble, thank God. I’m getting used to the tube system in London now, a little more at least. Hopefully I’ll be able to navigate me and my parents through London when they come. Anyway, Friday morning we went to a Good Friday service at Lucy’s church which was nice. On Saturday, Lucy bravely cut my hair, and now my shaggy mane doesn’t look quite so bad any more. Her cousins thought I was brave to let her do it, although I wasn’t too worried. She’s cut my hair before. My mom wanted to see a picture, but its really not that exciting. Haha, I’m sure you’ll see pictures in my next post because we’ll take an incredible amount of pictures in Spain and Italy I’m sure. But that’s a different topic.

Ok, so Easter was really fun. I woke up and there was a light dusting of snow on the ground. Talk about weird. Church was nice though, and after church we went to this really nice restaurant called Biggles with Lucy’s dad’s side of the family. It was super good too, and her family is a lot of fun to hang out with. They all came back that night to Lucy’s house and we hung out there chatting and drinking tea. (It really is incredible just how much tea I drink when I’m at Lucy’s house. Its great!) That night though, we went to the Anglican church for their Gospel Choir service. That was fun… especially seeing as it was a bunch of English people singing like a Gospel Choir! They actually sounded pretty good too. Anyway, so far it has been a really nice weekend. I really like hanging out with Lucy’s family, and it really is a blessing that they are so amazingly welcoming to me.

But alas, the time will be cut short. Lucy and I are headed off to Barcelona, Spain tomorrow! I literally can’t wait. We booked our hostels last night, so we’re all set for where we’re staying, and we’ve got to be at the airport at about 7am tomorrow morning, so I think we’re leaving here at 5 am! There really is no better way to start out a trip than waking up and leaving before the sun rises, right? Anyway, we’re spending 3 nights in Barcelona, and then flying to Rome on Saturday where we’ll stay for 4 more nights. We watched the movie Gladiator the other night and it was really strange to think that I’m actually going to be able to SEE the Colosseum, even if it isn’t in great shape anymore.

Still, I can’t believe that I’ll be spending my 21^st birthday in Barcelona. I don’t think its really hit me yet. Unfortunately, reality is going to hit as soon as we get back. I’ve still got that drama project to get finished before we go back to school. Woohoo. Then its all work work work for the next month until school’s out. I almost can’t believe that my time here really is winding up. Only 3 months til I head home, and only 2 ½ months until my parents and brother come out here! I can’t wait to see them!

Oh, and on a completely unrelated and uninteresting note, I almost hit the roof with excitement yesterday. Perhaps I should start at the beginning. Ok, one of my favorite bands is The Counting Crows (who aren’t exactly that popular out here), but I listen to their music a lot while I’m cooking in the kitchen so the whole flat has now heard their music in abundance. Well, I’ve only seen them in concert once and ever since then I’ve always wanted to see them again, so when I heard that they were doing a European tour, I was thrilled, right? Well it turns out they’re playing in London about 3 days AFTER I fly home. How awful is that? So I complained to Lucy, naturally. Well I found out that they are touring this summer in the States, after I get back, and they’re actually playing in ABQ with Maroon5 and Augustana. And I know most of you don’t care, but I was absolutely thrilled. I came running down the stairs to tell Lucy, and she didn’t seem to excited, but her dad laughed at me. Haha, I would have laughed at me. Oh, and they’re new CD got released today so I’m listening to that now. Awesome.

Alright, well that’s pretty much it that’s been going on. I’ll be blogging as soon as I get back to tell you all about the trip, but I won’t have a computer out there, so don’t expect anything for at least another week.

Miss you all!

So Much Time, So Little To Do!

Well, so much for consistently blogging this term. Sorry about that. I wish I could say that it’s been a busy week and yadda yadda yadda, but I suppose to a big extent, that wouldn’t be true! Don’t get me wrong, its been a bit eventful, but nothing too out of the ordinary. I have a decent amount of homework this week though, and I have successfully put it off all day. Unfortunately, that means I have to work twice as hard tomorrow. I told Emma that the plan was to wake up early tomorrow and go spend the day in the library, but she didn’t believe I could do it. I think she might be right. Anyway, I’ve got to keep working on this Drama Project, and right now I’m at a bit of a standstill. I think I may have had too much faith in my writing ability, so now I’m strained. Call it writer’s block, if you like. On top of that, I’ve got an essay to write for a play I don’t really remember, so I should probably reread that play, which will take up a good 2-3 hours of tomorrow, then research, and then writing the actual thing. Eh, should be a good day.

But enough about that, I suppose I should give you my cooking update. I’ve tried two new dishes. First, I asked my mom for her Red Chile Chicken Thighs recipe, and I was able to bake them in the microwave, and I think that may be the best meal I’ve made since I’ve been out here. My roommate agreed. We partook of the wonderful food together, and that made it more exciting. Also, feeling high on life with the success of the chicken thighs, I called my brother to get his Brazillian Stroganoff recipe as well. That one didn’t turn out quite so well, possibly because Jotham’s recipe had directions like, “add some ketchup” (and how, may I ask, am I to interpret “some”?). But all things considered, it was still tasty, and skeptical Emma even said that she’d gladly eat it again! So there ya go, I’m 2 for 2.

Along the same lines though, we went to this pub on Sunday for a proper English carvery (think thanksgiving dinner), and my was it tasty. There was loads and loads of food and you just got to pile it on your plates. And the place was called the Dun Cow… honestly, how un-appetizing is that? Haha, but still, it was very very good and I’d gladly do that again. Nikki said she’d cook me another roast dinner before I left. That made me feel special!

Anyway, there’s more to life than cooking (not much, though, as I’m learning). Easter break is coming up soon, so I have to do all this work before that comes. I’m going to be spending Easter with Lucy’s family. Her mom is so sweet, every time I go over there she invites me to come again whenever I like. I really like Lucy’s family, they’re all very sweet and have been extremely welcoming, and it truly is impossible to express just how thankful I really am to them for that. It has made this experience all that much more enjoyable. I was actually over at her house last weekend, and it was just nice to be hanging out somewhere besides the flat for a weekend. I couldn’t even imagine what it would be like to come home to NM for the weekend, only to go back to uni again.

But, besides going to Lucy’s house, since Easter Holidays are a full month long, Lucy and I are actually going to go to Spain and Italy for a week! I’m so excited; I’m going to be in Barcelona, Spain for my 21^st birthday!! How cool is that? I really couldn’t be more excited. Although, I must say that budget airlines, while cheap as all get out, are still able to give you the biggest hassle! Trying to book these flights and figure out this trip has been a royal nightmare. They charge you for EVERYTHING. Literally. There’s a charge for “taxes & fees”, a charge to use your credit card, a charge to check a bag, a charge to check-in at the airport, and I’m sure there’s more! So what was going to be a cheap flight, is still a cheap flight, but now it’s just doubled in price. Amazing. Still, its cheaper than it would be with a different airline… just more of a hassle. But I shan’t complain! Or at least I’ll try not to. I’m just excited that I’m going to actually see Spain and go to Rome after that and see all these places that I heard about in history class. It truly is a dream come true (as cheesy as that sounds).

Oh, but the highlight of these past few weeks is something else entirely. First, let me just preface this story by saying that we put far too much faith in technology. Well, I do at least. So, I’m sitting in my room, minding my own business (for once), and I’m sitting at my computer like I always am, and all of the sudden, Emma comes bursting into my room telling me that there’s snow or hail outside. So naturally, she opens my curtains and I join her. Well I had forgotten that I had a pint of water sitting on the windowsill, and as I tore back the curtains, the pint of water spilled, quite accurately I might add, ON TO MY LAPTOP! I freaked out. I started yelling, so loud that Lucy heard it down the hall and came running in.

So the screen goes blank on the computer, so I’m unplugging every cord imaginable, Lucy’s run to get towels from the kitchen, Emma’s in my showerpod looking for my towel, I’m trying to pull the battery out of the computer, Emma hands me the towel, and I start yelling at her to turn my hairdryer on and to start blowdrying my laptop! So all this is happening in a matter of seconds, and I’m in a complete panic/anger attack. I couldn’t believe that that had just happened. But there was literally nothing more that I could do than try to dry everything off and hope and PRAY that my computer turned back on. So we finish drying everything off, and I grab my computer from Emma, and I hold my breath, send up a quick prayer and hit the power button. Thank God up in heaven, my computer turned back on! And every single key on the keyboard still works as well. It honestly is a miracle. A complete miracle. Emma told me I have to keep that hairdryer forever now. I think she might be right.

Well, that’s not the only thing that’s broken. I successfully snapped the handle off my frying pan today, as well. That was upsetting. I had almost the same reaction to that as I did to my computer! Except, this time it was while I was washing dishes, and all of Lucy’s friends were hanging out in the kitchen! Oh well, I guess I have to buy a new one now. I was really hoping all this stuff would last me for the full 10 months that I was out here, but that may have been expecting too much from that cheap frying pan. Oh well! Everything else is holding up pretty good… knock on wood, at least.

Well that’s pretty much it. Although, I suppose I should mention one more thing. I’m addicted to the TV show Survivor. Its terrible. A new season started, and now Lucy and Kara and I (I got them all hooked too….) watch it on my computer on the internet every Saturday. It’s really slightly amusing. Its pervading my poor life. Glad that writer’s strike is over though, now REAL tv shows will be back on the air (yay!).

Ok, well its 1 am and I think I should probably sign off and go to bed or do some homework. It’s a shame I’m not more tired. Oh well. Oh, one other thing. I went running. Well, more like I went jog-walking-out-of-shape-“running”. It hurt.