best april fool's prank

home sweet home

After two months of world traveling, I am finally back home in good old Quakertown, Pennsylvania USA.
On Friday morning, my friend Mary Beth and I left Nottingham at 6:30, caught a 7:30 train to St. Pancras station, and arrived at our hotel around 10 with three huge suitcases, two duffel bags, one laptop bag and two purses in tow. Considering our luggage, it wasn't too difficult getting everything on and off the trains and up and down stairs. But it was no piece of cake either.
After checking into the hotel, we then explored London. First, we went to Buckingham Palace to see the changing of the guard and a parade of calvary. Then we went to London Tower and London Tower Bridge.
We also visited Fleet Street in an effort to find where Sweeney Todd made his gruesome living. No such luck. Off to Kensington Palace, which acts sort of like a Central Park in NYC. We sat for a little while by the huge lake in the middle of the park.
Our penultimate stop was at Notting Hill Gate, the site of a sprawling street market, as well as the set for the movie Notting Hill. We got to see the bookshop and house that was used in the movie. Finally, we headed to Madame Tousard's wax museum. The lifelike figures were amazing! They were set up randomly in rooms, so in the crowd I sometimes bumped into what looked like real life celebrities. It was kind of freaky.
The next morning, we headed out at about 9:30 a.m. even though my friend's flight was at 2. Because of our ginormous load of luggage, we wanted to make sure we left enough time to navigate onto the tube and find our concourses. Needless to say, we arrived at 11 and I spent way too many hours sitting in Heathrow Airport.
I boarded my 8-hour flight at 4:30 p.m. I thought I would be able to sleep, but no, it alluded me. So I watched a couple of movies, one of which was Slumdog Millionaire. It is so good; go see it if you haven't!
I arrived in Philly around 9:30. Because of traffic, Dad picked me up at about 11 and I got home an hour later. Everyone was waiting up for me and greeted me with hugs and kisses. I handed out souvenirs and then stayed up talking until 3 a.m. with my mom and sisters. I missed them so much!
The next morning I woke up at 7 because of my jetlag. It's still like that- going to bed late and waking up early. I took Lauren back to the airport with Dad at 12 and then worked at Kohl's the rest of the day. Gotta earn back all that money I spent!

Of beer and buds

Today I visited the local Nottingham Brewery called...no way, Nottingham Brewery. It is on the outskirts of the university, which is actually a few miles from city centre. The brewery is a part of The Plough Inn, a quaint pub with original wood tables and bars; I really liked the atmosphere.
This trip was prompted by my dad, the brewing enthusiast, who e-mailed the proprieter beforehand. I tried both to e-mail and call the same guy, but he never responded. So, I just headed over there myself. The outside of the brewery/pub smelled like the kitchen at home does when Dad is putting together his beer, except at least 10 times more so. I guess that would be the hops.
Once inside, I settled on a pint of the British Championship Beer winner, Nottingham Rock Mild. It was heavy and bitter; I liked it at first but after a while I got sick of it. I'm not much of a beer drinker. But my friend got Nottingham Legend, which was much lighter and almost sweet. I liked that one. Both beers were brewed right behind the inn. Outside were stacked barrels upon barrels, I suppose full of beer.
~
If the university had a campus flower, it would be the daffodil. For the past week or two, buds have been sprouting everywhere! This week they are in full bloom, with yellow beds as far as the eye can see. Even in the fields, there are random patches of gorgeous, golden petals. Purple tulips also seem to be popping up, although not quite in as much profusion as the daffodils. The flowers, along with the upper-50s weather, makes me happy!
Tomorrow is my full day: lectures and seminars from 9-12, a presentation from 1-2, and then a screening from 4-6. But it's the last time I will have to do it. :/

Manchester

In a week, I will be home. No more England, no more Nottingham or traveling.
Yesterday was my last day trip in England. I had wanted to go to Bath and Stonehenge, but getting there would have been way too complicated. I would have had to take a train to one station, get on another train and then take a bus. It's confusing and expensive. Besides, I've seen original Roman baths in Rome and I'm not that crazy about seeing a bunch of rocks in a circle...wow.
So I went to Manchester, once the cotton capital of England because of all the cotton shipped there from Liverpool. It was processed in the factories there during the Industrial Revolution. By coach, Manchester is about 2 hours northwest of Nottingham and Liverpool is about another hour from Manchester in the same direction.
I think my favorite cathedral out of all the ones I've seen on my travels is Manchester Cathedral. It's simple, clean-cut and has beautiful stained glass windows.
Town Hall is pretty impressive, too. For about a week before and after the Saturday I went, there is an Irish festival right in front of Town Hall in honor of St. Patrick's Day. There was Irish food, music and merchandise.
Another one of Manchester's claims to fame is that two famous scientists were born and went to school there. One was James Prescott Joule, who discovered that heat is a form of energy and created a measurement for it called the Joule. I remember learning about that in chemistry class way back when.
The other scientist was Ernest Rutherford, who split the atom. Sweet!
I went to Manchester with my two friends Mary Beth and Lim. We spent most of the day inside a huge, hands-on museum called the Museum of Science and Industry. It had a huge building housing all kinds of early aircraft. Another warehouse was full of trains. Then there were quite a few exhibits on the city itself. It was a lot of fun!
We were all pretty pooped by the late afternoon since we had been up at 6 in order to catch our coach. In fact, every time we sat down to take a rest, Lim would pass out. We kept having to shake her awake! Manchester was pretty cool, though.
I woke up this morning to a sunny sky; it was great. My foot has been feeling pretty good, even after the miles I walked yesterday. So I went for a run at the nearby park. I am happy to say my foot is completely healed since I didn't experience any pain while running or afterwards. yay!
I am upset, though, that there is no hot water. I don't know what's going on, but when I went to take a shower this morning, the water wouldn't get hot. The water was so cold it actually gave me a headache when I was washing out my shampoo. And the hot water in my sink won't work either. I really hope this gets fixed soon!

See Paris!

Follow the link for pictures of the City of Love:

http://picasaweb.google.com/jsugi20/Paris#

Paris Finale: Part Trois

I woke up refreshed and ready to take Paris by force on Friday. Sandrine fed us a breakfast of toast and unsweetened yogurt (not the tastiest). Since Sandrine wouldn't be coming back to her apartment at all that day and we were sleeping at the airport, we said farewell in the morning and carried our duffle bags with us all day. It was a little bit of a pain, but not as bad as I thought it was going to be.
Since we had done a lot on Thursday, we decided to take it easy on Friday. Thank goodness we did, because I soon learned that I had sprained my left foot. The side and part of the bottom hurt like crazy! But I survived.
We went to one of the highest points in the city called the Sacra Coeur (Sacred Heart) Cathedral. Lots and lots of steps, but it was worth it for the view. And the church itself was beauitful.
We then metroed down to the monument built for the World's Fair and the Hotel d'Invalides. This hospital was built during one of the Louis' reigns to house wounded soliders. It still does this, while also housing a couple of war museums.
We went back to the Eiffel Tower to walk around the mall in front of it and then crossed the bridge to another mounment that boasted incredible fountains. After that, we did some souvenir shopping near Notre Dame. After chowing down on some fresh, yummy bread, we headed to the Louvre.
By six, we were about dead. We had been going for two days straight and my foot hurt so bad! But this was the Louvre, the most famous museum ever! So, I sucked it up, ignored the pain, and cruised through three floors of paintings and atifacts. I saw the Mona Lisa, of course. It's small and unexciting...overrated, if you ask me. I did get to see works by Fra Angelico, though, and Peter Paul Rubens. And the ancient Mesopotamian and Egyptian artifacts were sweet!
We finished at nine and took a breather before regrouping and heading to the airport. We had to use three metro lines to get there. On the last line, we missed the stop where we had to get off and switch train lines. It gave us quite a scare because we thought that it meant that that line just wasn't running. But we eventually got back to Charles de Gaul Aeroport at 11 after about an hour-and -a-half of metro traveling.
We found some seats and tried to sleep- our flight wasn't until ten the next morning. But I was miserable; cold, tired, uncomfortable and in pain. But it was all good. I got some hot chocolate at about 6, went to the gate without a hitch, and flew back to jolly ole' England. I even got to sit in the very first row of the plane and stretch out my legs!
I arrived back at the dorm around 12 pm, ate lunch, took a shower, and then slept. I am so tired and my foot still hurts. I don't know how I sprained it, but I am hoping that if I rest it this weekend, it will heal up.
Altogether, it was a great trip and I loved my time in Paris.

Paris: Part Deux

In the morning, we took showers and planned out our day. As a couchsurfer, you're not allowed to be in your host's apartment when they are not there. Sandrine gave us three times to meet her: either at 7 pm at her place, 11 pm at a bar where she would be, or between midnight and 1 am at her place. We had until five to decide and then we would have to let her know what our plans were.
We bought tickets for the metro, which ended up being a major lifesaver because it took us everywhere so quickly. Everything in Paris is quite spread out.
We started out by heading to the Grand Opera, a huge structure with beautiful sculptures decorating it. The Grand Satircase inside is the site of one of my favorite Dsiney scenes from the movie Anastasia.
We then visited Notre Dame. It's actually on an island in the middle of the Seine. It was beautiful. Ever since I read The Hunchback of Notre Dame by Victor Hugo, I've wanted to see this cathedral.
We then visited La Place de Bastille, where the famous prison used to stand. Not until I got there did I know that it was torn down. But there is a monument where it used to be. I kept remembering the story of Les Miserables and The Scarlet Pimpernel, and everything I had learned about the French Revolution.
Next was the Champs Elysee and the Arc de Triomphe, which is huge. Here we saw the gaint Cartier store and went into Louis Vuitton. Wow!
At this point, we called Sandrine and told her we would meet her at the restaurant around 11 because we were planning to see the Louvre at night.
But before that museum, we headed to the Eiffel Tower. It was between 5 and 6 when we rode the elevator to the top. It is high up! But it was definitely worth the trip. The views, as you can imagine, are specacular, especially since we went right at sunset. On the way up to the very top, two ladies from Boston attached themselves to Mary Beth and I because they were scared to death. It was funny.
Although we were pretty tired, we took the metro to the Louvre. Unfortunately, it closed right before we got there. But we learned that the next night was free admission for all those under 26.
So we went to the Musee D'Orsay instead, right across the river. This museum houses many impressionist works by Monet, Manet, Degas and Van Gogh, to name a few. I really enjoyed this because impressionism is my favorite style of painting. I can't say enough about how wonderful this museum was.
We finished around nine and headed towards the restaurant where we were supposed to meet Sandrine. We ate some yummy Japanese food and then met up with her at about quarter after 11. We stayed at the restaurant and then Sandrine's friend took us home.
It was such a full day and I was completely exhausted. I sacked out on the couch and slept like a log.

Paris: Part Un

I have been planning to go to Paris since the first week of school and on Wednesday, March 4 at 1 in the afternoon, I left the University of Nottingham for a holiday in the City of Love. I went with my friend Mary Beth; it's better to travel in pairs.
We flew from East Midlands Airport to Charles de Gaul Aeroport in the north of Paris, arriving at 7:30 at night.
A lady named Sandrine Frovnal picked us up. She is a part of a network called Couchsurfers who host people traveling in their home cities. Sandrine lives in the south part of Paris called La Kremlin-Bicetre. It was great that she picked us up with her car so that we didn't have to figure out the metro at night.
It was also wonderful because she gave us a tour of Paris by night!
I saw Moulin Rouge all lit up, as well as the area where Amelie was filmed. We drove by the Grand Opera, up the Champs Elysee and around the Arc de Triomphe, through the Louvre and across the Pont Neuf.
Sandrine said she had a surprise for us and after counting down from ten, we turned into a side alley and there was...the Eiffel Tower! It was all lit up and in five minutes started twinkling everywhere. It was a gorgeous sight.
Sandrine gave us couches to sleep on in her apartment. Despite the overwhelming smell of smoke (everyone in Paris smokes cigarettes)and the thin blanket that did nothing against the cold, I was grateful for a comfortable, free place to sleep.

Oxford pictures

Here is the link for the pictures from Oxford:

http://picasaweb.google.com/jsugi20/Oxford#

Oxford

Happy March!
Yesterday I took another trip gratis the school to Oxford, home of one of England's oldest and finest universities. It is about two-and-a-half hours south of Nottingham by coach. I am learning that no matter what part of England you go to, there is so much history waiting to be discovered. The town got its name because it was a perfect place to herd animals across the otherwise deep Thames River. Thus, "ox" + "ford"....Oxford.
There are 37 colleges that make up Oxford University. This just means that there are 37 different residences/study halls. The most famous and largest of the colleges is Christ Church. The Great Hall here also doubles as the dining hall in all the Harry Potter movies. Christ Church is also the supposed site of where St. Friedswine, patron saint of Oxford, established her priory.
Oxford is also the place where many early Reformers were martyred. St. Mary's Church, in fact, has a list of names of men who were sentenced to death in that church for holding to the doctrines of the Reformation. Also, there is a spot at the end of High Street marking where many of these same men were burned at the stake.
There were so many buildings to see, some of them designed by famed architect Christopher Wren. These include the Sheldonian Theater, the Radcliffe Camera and the Boudelain Library. I would definitely go back to Oxford if given the chance; however, I'd probably go when it is warmer. It was awful walking around in the bitter English cold!
I can't believe it is already the beginning of March and I will be returning to the states in three weeks. Actually, there is some question about this right now. My advisor from Piedmont contacted me and, through a serious of mistakes she made, has discovered that I need to stay until the end of May.
However, I don't have the financial means to stay. Also, I have already made committments for the month of April. Moreover, she cannot confirm one return date with me months ago and then expect me to simply drop everything and return on another date. To me, this is completely unethical and unfair.
I am in the process of solving this problem and have every intention of returning to the states in late March as originally planned. If you could keep this issue in your prayers, I would be so appreciative!

York pictures

Here's the link to get to them:

http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/jsugi20/York#

Also, I just found out today that I've been chosen as the Editor-in-Chief of Piedmont's school newspaper, The Navigator, for 2009-2010.
This oppurtunity has been a long time coming, and as you can imagine, I'm pretty excited.

York

It's the place where Yorkshire pudding was created and home to one family of the War of the Roses. It boasts the Jorvik Viking Center, the National Railway Museum, and the largest Medieval Gothic cathedral north of the Alps. And I got to see it all when I visited the "city" of York on Saturday!
I left from school on a coach at about 9 in the morning; we drove for about two hours before arriving. But don't ask me which direction we went; I have no clue.
They call York a city, but it is more of a town. It's significantly smaller than Nottingham and would probably only take 15 minutes to walk from end to end. It is jam-packed with history, though. Awesome!
Most of the original city walls are still standing. I even walked for a mile on one part. York Minster is the cathedral I mentioned above. It is beautiful and awe-inspiring. There are a plethora of cathedrals in the same architectural style all over York, just smaller.
I also witnessed Vikings and Anglo-Saxons in battle! Didn't catch the full details of why they were skirmishing...something to do with preparing to fight the Normans, I think. There were decked-out Vikings wandering all over town, though. It was great.
For lunch, I hit the International Market at city centre. There were booths offering dishes and foods from all over. German sausauges, French crepes, Indian rice and kabobs, a huge help-yourself candy tent, cheese, bread, Italian pizzas and paninis...you name it, it was there. I bought a delicious Indian dish that consisted of spicy chiken with peppers and onions and lettuce in a wrap. And I got some dark choclate from a famous Brit choc-maker, Thorton's. So yummy!
Next, I climbed the staircase to Clifford's Tower, built by William the Conquerer and named after a guy who was hanged from its walls by Edward II. It looks pretty small for a fortress-type building and stands on a very steep hill.
On the opposite end of the city is the National Rail Museum that houses real-life models of trains from the very firsts to the most modern. I sat in the Japanese bullet train! By that time, my friends and I were pretty tired. It hadn't been too cold, just unbearably windy. We pretty much passed out on a bench at the museum and then headed back to the coach at 5:30 for a 6 o'clock departure. It was a full day!
This week I am concentrating on writing a 3,000-word essay for my history class and a 1,500-word one for my film class. It's very hard to get motivated, though, when all I want to do is see the world. Less than a month until I'm home.

London pictures

You can access this link to view my pictures from London:
http://picasaweb.google.com/jsugi20/London#

country vs. city

You've probably never been to Cranfield in Bedfordshire England...I have!
I can officially say I have experienced the English countryside and its inhabitants.
My friend Gemma invited me to her house there for the weekend. The town is about an hour north of London and two hours south of Nottingham. It was also one of the only places lace was handmade for a long time in England by, guess who, the Hugenot refugees fleeing France.
Gemma's dad was a hoot! Every other word out of his mouth was "blimey!" and he had so many questions about my life and American culture and politics. Her family was so polite and accomodating. On Sunday, we went to her aunt and uncle's house just a few minutes away for afternoon tea and to chat. The doorways and roofs to this traditional house were all very low; it reminded me of the basement at home.
I also got to experience traditionl English fair. Gemma's auntie made little meat pies for tea time and on Sunday afternoon, her parents cooked a full-fledged, typical Sunay afternoon dinner of Yorkshire pudding. But don't get the wrong idea; This meal is comparable to roast beef and gravy in America, except in England they add a pastry-like "pancake" that tastes doughy when mixed with the gravy.
Saturday Gemma and I and her friend Lara went to London. Gemma and I took the train from Bedfordshire into St. Pancras station where we met Lara. Then we all took the tube to the London Eye because we had tickets for it. The lines, or queus as they're called, were massive. But the Eye was quite an experience...so cool! After that we went to Big Ben, Houses of Parliament, Westminster Abbey, Buckingham Palace, Picadilly Circus, Trifalgar Square and Nelson's Column. I even crossed London Bridge. We were going to go to Madame Toussard's, a famous wax museum, but again the queus were too long. I definitely need to go back to see the rest of the sights, though!

Rome pictures

You can click on this link to see all my Rome pictures: http://picasaweb.google.com/jsugi20/Rome#

Roman holiday: Part III

The last day in Rome was spent hitting up all the small places we didn't get to see yet.
That included the Spanish Steps, the Trevi Fountain, the Mouth of Truth and the Circus Maximus. We walked a lot again, but the rain had ceased. On Friday, we had walked on a path by the river. By Sunday, you couldn'e even see where the path had been, the river was so high.
My favorite part of this trip to Rome by far happened on Sunday afternoon. We walked to an area of the city a good bit south of the Vatican called Trastavere. There, at a little church at the top of a hill, was the most panoramic and beautiful view of the city. The sun was beginning to set and it glinted off the top of all the domes and sculptures and red-tiled roofs.
I couldn't have asked for a better ending to a fantastic trip!
It was Mary Beth's birthday, so we stopped at a bar for a very strong margheriti. yum!
Then we did a little bit of souvenir shopping and headed home, bidding farewell to St. Peter's.
Our flight on Monday was at 10 a.m. We decided to leave the hostel no later than 6 to catch the metro and then a bus to the airport. Unfortunately, we slept through the alarm and ended up leaving right at 6. A little bit stressed, we rushed to the metro. However, everything was fine. The metro and bus was easy to find and quite fast. We waited for an hour before our ticket line even opened.
I got back to school around 3 and am now doing wash since I am officially out of clean clothes. By the way, I am now taking any and all donations to the keep-Joy-in-England fund. haha
Ciao!

Roman holiday: Part II

Saturday was spent seeing all the sights. Like Friday, it rained all day, which sounds miserable, but really wasn't. It made all the statues and ruins seem so severe.
Surprisingly, I took over the role of navigator and was successful, a fact I am proud of. We must have walked at least 15 miles, from a good bit north of the Vatican where the hostel was to across the Tiber River and up and down the city. Not once did we take the metro; walking everywhere was the best way to experience Italian culture. Often on the way to one monument, we'd run into another one. Awesomeness is everywhere in Rome!
At night, we ended up going to the Vatican again. We sat in St. Peter's Piazza and then inside the basilica just people watching. We headed back ot the hostel when it started to get dark. Another loaf of bread and a can of soup made up dinner along with some tea.
That night, a group of Polish travelers stayed in my hostel bedroom. They talked loudly in Polish for who knows how long, so I didn't get a whole bunch of sleep that night.

Roman holiday: Part I

Rome was amazing.
My friend Mary Beth and I have been planning this trip since getting to school two weeks ago. We left Nottingham on Thursday night and slept at the small East Midland's Airport since our flight was at 6:30 the next morning. We weren't sure if we were going to fly out because it was snowing pretty hard on Friday morning. But we walked out onto the runway in the blizzard and boarded our four-hour flight to Campiano Airport.
Our bus driver in England had advised us not to take any buses because of pick-pockets. So, we took a taxi, which he had said were cheap, all the way to our hostel near the Vatican. It ended up costing 80 Euro. I was pissed off and still am a little angry at being jipped.
Our hostel is pretty nice. We got showers, a kitchen, beds and blankets, and Internet for three nights for 50 Euro.
After checking into our hostel at noon on Friday, we walked about a mile to the Vatican and saw the museum and the Sistine Chapel. Then we went to St. Peter's Square and Basilica. It was just as awe-inspiring and beautiful as I remembered.
We then bought 1.40s worth of a loaf of delicious bread which was about the size of my head. We ate that with butter for dinner, breakfast, and lunch the next day. I had no money left after the taxi guy ripped me off.
The first day in Rome was altogether wonderful, though, and I couldn't wait to soak up more Italian culture the following day.

friends

I officially adore Asians.
I've always romanticized about European culture and people. Not so. They're nice, but not half as wonderful as my Asian friends. That's right, Asians are dying to be my friend. The Europeans could care less. For example, my Singaporean friend Jillian's boyfriend and I had a longer, and entertaining, conversation than I have had with any other student in the past two weeks. Whereas I do my best to remember the names of all my new aquaintances, only my friends from Singapore, Korea and China do the same for me. They even threw my friend a surprise birthday party last night.
Tonight we're leaving for the airport to fly out to Rome in the morning. We have to spend the night in the airport because the buses there don't run that early in the morning. It snowed this morning quite heavily, but has since stopped. But more is also predicted for Nottingham again, which means there's a good chance our flight could be canceled. That would be a bummer and we're hoping it won't happen.

snow and such

Starting Sunday morning and all Monday, Nottingham experienced heavy snowfall for the first time in 20 years. It was beautiful! I must have brought the cold weather with me. I hope it doesn't last for long, though, because walking in it makes my feet wet and cold.

My first lecture was today at 9. It's called Film and Television Culture and promises to be interesting. There's a two-hour movie screening on Tuesday afternoons that goes along with this class, as well as a seminar (discussion) for an hour on Wednesday mornings at 9.

The two other modules I'm taking are on Tuesdays. British history is at 9 in the morning and City Scapes, a view of different cities in art, is from 10-12. As far as finals go, we just have to write an essay for each class that's due at the beginning of March. Then we have to revise and elongate the same essay for our final. Not too hard.

pictures from nottingham

This cathedral-turned-pub/club is called the Pitcher and Piano. It's beautiful inside.During the Black Plague, people were quarantined inside the castle walls.

Robin Hood, the hero of Nottingham. Ooo-da-lolly!

Present-day Nottingham Castle is not original. The first one was burned during the English Civil War. After that, a duke built this monstrosity over where the main part of the ramparts would have been located. The little bridge in front is the original part of the castle that would have crossed the mote.

Oldest inn in England. Supposedly, every king since Richard the Lionhearted has eaten and drunk here.

Nottingham City Hall in City Centre.

I've been here for a week and met people from Florida, Illinois, New York, Louisiana, Ohio, South Carolina, England, Australia, Singapore, Korea, India, China, South Africa, Brazil, France and Chile.

I've also only seen the sun for about 5 to 10 minutes every day, no joke. It's quite gray here.

Today is the first time the sky has stayed blue for longer than that. :)

about the u.k.

queue: "stand in the queue to sign up for courses"
lift: "instead of the stairs, let's use the lift"
seminar and lecture: "I have lecture on Monday and seminar on Tuesday"
quid: "3 quid will get you into town"
cinema: "want to go see something at the cinema tonight?"
pint: "I'll take a pint of Strongbow"
potato sauce: " I need some potato sauce for my fries"
fire brigade instead of fire company or fire trucks
Being on the 24-hour system
Taking the hopper bus all around campus
Walking into the little town of Beeston, which dropped right out of a Charles Dicken's novel
People driving on the wrong side of the car and road
Ordering airline tickets to Europe for 80 quid or less ($100)
Everyone has a pea coat and a pair of warm, fashionable boots
Everyone goes to the pub to hang out
Cutting up food very carefully and politely
Fresh Prawn flavored Pringles...one English cuisine I won't try
The obsession with at least two potato dishes at every meal...I've never seen the vegetable cooked in so many different ways
The metric system
Keeping windows open even though it's freezing outside
Huge electrical outlets

first impressions

Despite the school part, this experience has already been amazing.
Registration is awful. There are certain times we have to go to certain departments and wait in the longest queues to get specific classes which end up being full. It's very stressful. Hopefully tomorrow I can get that last class I need.
Mary Beth and I are booking tickets for Paris tomorrow for next weekend, her birthday, and are trying to convince everyone we meet to come with.
In fact, Louise from Brazil is probably going to come with. She was so disapointed to learn I couldn't speak Portuguese after hearing my heritage.
We're also trying to round up a guy to come with us for protection, but to no avail yet.
Today we walked to Beeston, right outside the campus (which is the size of Clarkesville), and found a few great boutiques and grocery stores, etc.
There was also an international students' get together at school and then we all went to a local pub, The Rose and Crown. I asked a Belgian aquaintance what beerI should get, knowing that I'd have to tell all to my dad. He suggested one called Strongbow...he said girls usually liked it. Well, I'm not much of a beer person, so I wasn't too enthusiastic. But I loved it! It tasted like a white wine.
I also tried my friend's ale...yuck! He said it was b/c it was warm, but I don't know...But this kid is so funny, just cracked me up the whole night. He's from Finland, but incredibly bright.
We stayed at the bar til 10, about an hour ago. I have a feeling I'll be at pubs quite a lot b/c they're common social meeting points. I love the atmosphere, though.
It's weird having a bar in my dorm and seeing young kids walking around with alcohol at school...not me, of course.
I love the variety of cultures here. I'm eating it up! One of my good friends is from Singapore and she has got such a personality. She makes faces like I do. haha Hopefully she's coming to Paris, too.
I miss my family and I miss everyone at Piedmont so much. :(
But as far as distractions go, this is the best! I already don't want to leave.

jan 25

Today was mucho interesting. And full. And surreal.
The plane ride was quick and enjoyable. I like planes!
Got to watch a movie, stretch out onto the seat next to me, and the turbulence was fun.
We even arrived early.
I almost hyperventhilated when the customs agent was looking at my nearly-expired passport.
But there weren't any issues.
I got my bags and then looked around the waiting area. Nobody from the school wearing bright t-shirts. I freaked out....inside.
Then I realized I needed to get to terminal 3. I accosted an airport info. person and he told me to get on the train. I couldn't find that for a while. Then I did and a lady said the train I was getting onto went to London. But another guy said it went to the terminals.
I must have asked 10 people if I was on the right train. I was.
By this time, I'm sweating from lugging two 50-pound bags through miles of airport.
And it got worse. The signs to terminal 3 would not end! It was like I was in a labrynth.
However, I did finally get to the arrival spot. No one from the school. So I spent half an hour
pacing the area. I finally sat down and was about to cry when I saw them across the room.
It was like a movie: so epic.
And that pretty much ends the drama.
Eventually, I got to my dorm, the cutest building that looks out over the quaintest campus.
And I finally feel calm and positive...myself again.