Necesito escribir una nota pequena para mis padres. Te amo los dos mucho.

My mom skyped me last night and I was telling her about the courses that I wanted to take in the Fall because I sign up for classes today. She wasn't responding to my comments at all, so naturally I was like, "Mah?" Then, she chuckled to herself and was like "I'm really trying to surprise you right now," and I was like, "uhh, what?" A few minutes later up comes my mom and dad on their newly purchased webcam. You see, they have been able to see me on skype because I have a Webcam built into Rosa, my gorgeous Apple. I literally started crying right then and there. And I couldn't stop crying for a little while because it was the sweetest thing ever. My mom's like "are you crying? Now you know how we feel!" Don't worry though, they were just happy tears... Then, like 20 minutes later the doorbell rings and it was Joe-Bug and Dahveed. They came home to grab Joe's phone before going back to UNC Charlotte, so I got to talk to and see my broseph as well. Estoy muy contento y me gusta mas. Anyway, just wanted to let you both know how happy you made me... it really was the most perfect surprise. :)

Moving right along, I signed up for classes today and got everything I wanted. I'm pretty certain that this is the first time that has ever happened to me. Oh, the perks of being a senior. I'm going to have a tough fall semester, but spring should be a piece of cake, which is how I want my life pre-graduation to be. I've got my 3rd freaking Micro course, 2nd Macro, Economics of Population, African American Literature, and then I'm trying to take an online Political Science course on analyzing the Adversary System. It sounded cool and it satisfies my philosophical and moral reasoning and U.S. Diversity gen-ed requirement, so there. In the event that plan falls through, however, I snagged a seat in the Public Speaking class since that will satisfy my communication intensive requirement, and it will be a joke... I'll probably need one of those with my heavy load. I slaved over my schedule because now that I'm here I refuse to be in class as often as I used to be. So, I basically will have class on Tuesday and Thursday with one class on Monday and Wednesday from 4-515. Easy as pie, mate. There's no need to make my life more stressful than it already has to be and since I've adopted the British education system of never having class, I refused to be in class M-F. I'm happy.

Also, task master Mindy, I took care of all of the tasks that you wanted me to complete today after submitting my Shakespeare essay. My mom told me that if I didn't complete my tasks by the end of today she wouldn't speak to me. Oh by the way, I'm an idiot and thought that it was a 3000 word essay when it was really a 2000 word essay. Yay. Now I get 5 points knocked off since I'm over the limit. Super. I think it is still a pretty good essay, though, so hopefully it won't be too shabby of a grade. As long as it's over a 50 I'm golden since it's a pass/fail basis. C'est la vie.

Headphone Disco

Oh, I like games...

Before I launch into my schpeal (sp? i think so.) about the Headphone Disco, I decided to include another picture from Scarborough.

I didn't include this the first time, but I realize now that was a mistake. I was in awe of all of the "yellow flowers," aka daffodils, that were growing in and out of every nook and cranny of the castles and churches, despite the heinous weather. I just wanted you to know, so you could be apart of it.

So, Headphone Disco... so far, my favorite "rave" yet. I mean it, too. It was super neat. Just imagine a huge gymnasium-sized bar with loads of people, but zero noise whatsoever. Everyone was given a pair of headphones and you could tune them to 2 competing channels. Some folks would be rocking out to Zeppelin while others were listening to Spice Girls. And you literally just go crazy and dance by yourself. It's hilarious... right up my alley. It was celebratory, so I decided to partake in some early morning delight, aka double Malibu and Diet Coke. Umm, it ended up being 4.20 GBP, so I stuck with just the one. I really try to drink cheaply, but I suppose it slipped my mind last night. Oh well. Here's some pics of the evening. It was totally worth the 5 GBP ticket... I'm telling you. Best dance party ever!

Crazy Aussies (Taylar, Bearyn) & Lindsay... sorry that the picture is on its side, but it won't let me rotate.

Lindsay & Mon-Mon shake your Bon-Bon.

Hey Australia meet New Zealand.

Happy Place.

Today, I woke up five hours after I went to bed... thank you, LB. Then proceeded to head to my crazy awesome church again. I'm telling you, I love this place. It's just my spot. Anglicans and Baptists unite under one roof. Stellar principles. The sermon was about Christ's extravagant friendship, love, and boldness for us, and how we should strive to imitate that extravagance in our own relationships. The sermon was based off of the John 12: 1-11 where Mary poured perfume all over Jesus' feet and wiped his feet with her hair. This was considered risque, but Mary recognized that she had only had opportunity to show Jesus the extent of her love for Him, so she took the only opportunity she had. It didn't matter what everyone thought of Mary for doing what she did; she just wanted Jesus to know how much she loved Him... the point of the sermon was basically knowing how to show people how much you love them. We even launched into a discussion of a personal favorite of mine... LOVE LANGUAGES. Yeah, words of affirmation, babay. Anyway, it was radical.

After church, I went back to my room to pack up to head to Lindsay and Genna's for a day spent working on my Shakespeare essay. I'm almost done now- just have to write the conclusion tomorrow morning. Lindsay decided that she was going to prepare a picnic of fruit and bread and olive oil and cake. It was delicious and wonderful. Happy days. It was the first sunny day we've had in awhile, albeit still a bit nippy. Now, here I am back in my room, really late at night. I keep forgetting that it's 4 am, so I'm going to go to bed now.

How precious is that, Genna Bear?

Scarborough & Whitbaby

I'm rekindling an old flame. I've spent too much time in Sheffield these past few weeks, so I had to give it a go again. This time, Monique, Chelsea, and I hit up Scarborough & Whitby. The coast of England if you will. We missed the ocean and were determined to see it again... little did we know. Are you excited yet?

So, the day started off pleasant enough. As usual I was running a tad behind schedule, but I think that's because my name is Forest Gump and I prefer to run places rather than walk, so I just literally sprinted to campus and made it in like 5-7 minutes to catch the Sheffield Uni tour bus. I think it helps keep my adrenaline running, so I purposely dilly-dally for an extra few minutes just so I can see if I can manage to beat the clock. Really no different than any other day, but this habit of mine has got to stop. Anyway, so I get there and Monique had just called me to make sure I was awake because of the last time I was trying to catch the bus to London only to have her tell me that the bus broke down and we were going to have to wait for another bus. I'm okay with that. Really, patience is a virtue and my patience was intact. So, the bus came about half an hour later. At this time, the weather was mostly cloudy, part sunny, part drizzly... typical England weather. So, we get on the bus and all three of us immediately fall asleep. I wake up to rain pounding the windshields and I'm thinking yayy, I'm sure this bodes well for the shore. We finally arrive at Whitby at approximately 11 am. The weather is partly cloudy, partly sunny, and hurricane winds. Here's a picture of what it was like when we got there...

Monique had looked in one of her England travel books that her parents gave her and found a good restaurant for us to try, but that didn't open until 12 pm, so we explored for a little while. By this time the rain was coming down a little bit more, but still not too bad. The wind had become slightly unbearable at this point, and it got worse once I persuaded Mon & Chels to walk up the 199 steps to see the Whitby Abbey, graveyard, and another church. Once you get up there it's the coolest view of the sea and you see cliffs everywhere. The waves were insane.


At lunch time, we headed back to the restaurant where Mon & Chels ordered roast chicken, mushrooms, and Potatoes, and I had fish, chips, and mushy peas... when in Rome. Best fish & mushy peas I've had since I've been here, hands down. They were making fun of me because I removed all of the batter from my fish, but I really don't like too much fried crap, so I just shed it and go for the fish. I'm weird, I know. After we finished our meal and were officially in our comfort zone away from the wind and rain, we realized it was pouring outside. YAY. We proceeded to dart across the cobblestone and get "The Best Hot Chocolate in Whitby." Monique thinks it's the best she's had, I have to disagree... Union stop is still my fav for 1.50 babay. Monique had two and we were discussing whether it would be a good idea for her to buy another incase her marginal utility of purchasing/enjoying another would go down. We decided if it wasn't as enjoyable as the first, it'd be pretty darn close, so she might as well get another one. By this time, the weather was not funny at all and we were getting pissed. If one of the elements were present, it would have been bearable. But not all of them together making it hurricane like. We darted from shop to shop to retain heat in our bodies and then finally gave up and went to hang out at the grocery store next to where the bus was supposed to pick us up for half an hour.

From there, I fell asleep in seconds on our way to Scarborough. This was not a long trip at all and I had to sit next to some random Asian man who was perturbed at me for sitting there, but it wasn't my first choice and there were no other open spots. I fell asleep and then got off the bus in the pouring rain once again. Whitby was better than Scarborough for sure, but maybe that's just because the weather was beating the crap out of us. I realized then why the Norwegians came up with their Norwegian Formula because I felt like my face might come off. In Scarborough, we rapidly made it up this hill and saw the Scarborough Castle from afar and Anne Bronte's grave. By the way, she's buried right next to one John Holden (he's immediately to her right), which you know I thought was pretty significant.



Then, we ran back down and proceeded to dart in and out of places until again, we just gave up, went back to the bus and waited to leave in the somewhat heat. The bus driver never found it in him to crank the heat up to high. If you know me at all, you know how hard it is for me to get warm once I'm frozen solid, so fortunately I had two seats to myself and literally positioned my body so that I was knealing on my legs in the fetal position for the way home. I was bloody cold. I slept for a good hour like that too. Incredible. I kept wishing that somebody was sitting next to me so I could withdraw heat from them and use it to restore warmth within myself.

We got back home, we grabbed some kebabs and headed home in the cold. I'm still cold, so I'm going to go let myself defrost in the hottest shower of my life. After that, I'll be attending a silent dance party where everyone is given head phones and gets to jam to their own playlist. THUMBS UP. How ridiculous is that? Let you know how that goes.

Finally, I leave you with a quote from Grey's Anatomy that really touched me:

"Trauma always leaves a scar. It follows us home, it changes our lives. Trauma messes everybody up, but maybe that's the point- all the pain and the fear and the crap. Maybe going through all of that is what keeps us moving forward, it's what pushes us. Maybe we have to get a little mesed up before we can step up."
-Alex Carev

Mothering Sunday in the UK

Happy Mum's Day, Mum!! It's Mothering Sunday in the U.K... enjoy it. Joe FB-chatted me and told me that he's at home waiting for you to bring him something to eat, so try to speed up the process would you? I know you're towing my car and everything, but I'm sure Joseph would be delighted to eat again since it sounds like he's been starving since he got home from school for the weekend. Lol, sorry your kids suck and have inconvenienced you with many a car trouble of late. You're quite the team of warriors for putting up with us. At least I can still plague you from across the ocean. Love you both, xx.

Last night, Linds and I went to see Duplicity with Julia Roberts and Clive Owen. Not so great of a movie, I'm not going to lie. I thought it would be one of those films where everything comes together in the end, but no. We were both super confused. We walked back to her and Genna's Lodge and I spent the night because we decided to watch some Private Practice. Yeah, I'm lame. Get over it.

This morning I went to St. Thomas Church at Crooke's again. Chills. This church is a hybrid like I've never seen. It's contemporary, but it has got some serious Catholic undertones. Pops, you'd love it. It's really cool how they fuse all the contemporary stuff that I love so much with some traditional Catholic prayers... something I've never seen before. Anyway, I was sitting in church for a little over an hour today with chills just running up and down the length of my body. This church is like my ideal creation... don't get me wrong, fellow Charlotteans- I'm an elevation girl all the way- but this church is hilarious.

First of all, we naturally open with worship. But there are kids running up and down the aisles and kid's church leaders jumping up and down with the kids during worship. Every transition from songs to announcements, announcements to sermon, sermon to songs takes a freaking long time, which makes it hysterical. You have no idea what to expect next. There are kids yelling randomly and the pastor is cracking jokes about Scottish people-- it's totally amazing. It's disorganized and dysfunctional, but all the more wonderful and real because of it. I really wish my dad could see it because he would love it. He could literally grab his guitar and play and sing while walking down the aisles with toddlers traipsing after him and it would be totally normal for this church. It's like your ideal church, pops. Perfect fusion of contemporary and traditional. Love it. Plus, it was like bring your baby day, so even better, right? None of the babies cried. I was astounded. It's like they were all on some kind of tear & scream-subduing medication. The best part is it's a hop, skip, and a jump away from good ol' Tapton Hall, so it literally takes me 2 minutes to get to church. Who woulda thunk it?

The sermon today was radical... at least for me. The sermon was about John 11 when Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead and the pastor tied that all together with questioning God. It fit because Lazarus was a huge part of the community and the people couldn't understand how and why he died. They believed that Jesus could have saved him, which moved Jesus to the point of resurrecting him 4 days after his death. It's corny, but exactly what I needed to hear because for the first time I'm finding myself questioning God and what He's really doing. What the pastor said was so bone-chilling that I had to write it down. He said: "Questions are good because they allow you to admit that you don't understand it, that you don't understand everything. Children learn by asking questions because they're curious and don't know everything. Good parents allow their children to ask questions, so that they can grow and learn. Bad parents tell their kids to stop asking so many questions, be quiet and to go watch some t.v. because they're inconvenienced by them. But, if good parents let their children ask questions, wouldn't our Father in Heaven allow us to ask questions all the more?" Simple and amazing. Asking questions will allow us to enjoy the experience more. The problem is that we can't and don't always have the answers. He gave several examples like a time where he was supposed to pray over a fourteen-year old girl lying in her casket when he really just wanted to ask God how he was supposed to believe in Him at a time like that. Or, when he sees injustice and wants to know why this person is going through something terrible while that selfish person is having the time of his life. He said that the real answer was, "the God story is our story. We're all a part of it; we're not some little blip on the planet. There is a plan. There is a future... for all of us. If you see the Bible as a 'Now' book, it will become powerful and meaningful to you, but if you see it as a history book, it becomes meaningless since it has no relevance to you. The answers only come after asking the questions. We can face the fear, despair, death, slavery, and abuse that we witness only because we know that there is hope, freedom, and life beyond death through Christ." He said that every one of these truths came just from asking, "Where are you, God?"

He went on to say that we didn't have to understand everything to enjoy our lives right now. Also, something I need to hear. He said "you don't have to understand the laws of gravity to enjoy the helter-skeltering." Haha. But it's so true. I've become this fireball demanding answers left and right, and they're not getting me anywhere right now. It reminded me of a convo that Katherine Moore and I had awhile ago when she told me that she thinks I've become bitter about injustice. I've never felt really angry until this year. It just really got to me that people who deserved to be treated with respect and dignity were the ones being spat on at the end of the day and called cruel names... you could apply this theory to so many circumstances, but I just won't go there. It bothers me that the few people brave enough to carry the weight of the world go unnoticed or are blamed by just about everyone. Nobody pays attention to the fact that what that person is doing is keeping everyone else alive and safe. They turn it around and say that there is something wrong with him or her, but really they just don't see all that's going on. If I'm honest with myself that really did get to me. When you don't know, you don't care, and you don't hurt. It's when you do know that you wrestle and despair. Ignorance is bliss.

The point is, I needed the reassurance that questions are okay and that asking them didn't make me any less of a Christian, daughter, sister, friend, student, etc. I may not know all of the answers, but I do know the most important answer, and that in itself, brings hope, change, light, and life. Someday, we'll know, but in the mean time, we have to just roll with it and allow ourselves to be in the moment and be happy. And, in case you're wondering, blogging does make me happy because I like to talk about myself and analyze my feelings, therefore, I am in the moment.

PS- Melissa, don't think I forgot about you. I demand photos of all your nifty-gifties from baby Karys' shower <3.

I feel like I'm receiving some subliminal messages...

All American Chili Cook-Off & My Girls

Genna's momma sent spices to make chili, cornbread mix, and ghirardelli chocolate brownie mix, so Genna and I decided to prepare a feast for the ladies tonight at Genna and Lindsay's house. Lindsay baked the cornbread and the brownies, Genna cut the red peppers, and I made the chili... natually-- I'm the product of my father, the worldclass chef. The chili turned out really well, but I wasn't hungry anymore once I finished cooking, so I only had a few spoonfuls. I really hate cooking for just myself, but I love it when I'm cooking for other people. I also bake a lot when I feel depressed; it's just a habit I've picked up since entering uni. Anyway, I figured I'd post a tribute to Sweet Home AMERICA with a few pictures of our chili cookoff.

Me at the start of the process... before people came over and pestered me to speed up the slow-cooking process.

Lindsay, Alex, Genna, Mon-Mon, and Chels (my buds) eating.

Mon-Mon was really hungry and wouldn't let me simmer the chili for as long as I had hoped. I fed her scoops of beef to hold her over.

Linds and Chels cutting the cornbread-- Lindsay being the author of the sweet bread that provided us the southern comfort we've been missing. Chelsea was also super hungry and hovering over us to get at the food.

Sweet Baby Genna faithfully chopping red peppers for me.

Other than that, I haven't done too much today. I went for a long run when I woke up further up the Crookes Hill where I live and ran into this park featuring cliffs overlooking the Sheffield hilly skyline. It was pretty sweet. I wish it was convenient to carry my camera with me on runs, but it's just not, so every detail is carefully memorized and stored in my brain for later. Once I got back, I jammed to Anna Nalick and a few other randos that turned up on my iPod shuffle mix and proceeded to do some push-ups and sit-ups. Good times. I'm getting tired of my cold. I can't run without snot shooting out of my nose. It really pisses me off. After that, I cleaned my room some more, even though I just received a congratulatory note from the dorm inspectors telling me that my dorm room exceeded the university's cleanliness expectations... I guess you could say I'm turning into my sister, but a lesser form. Now, I'm just obsessed with disinfectant wipes. Thanks Melissa. Then, I showered and met up with Linds and Genna for a grilled chicken, tomato, and pesto sandwich and research/study time a la biblioteca. That's when we got back here to Genna and Lindsay's house and started cooking. Now, Genna is taking a break from us pretending to do work up in her room when really she is facebook stalking. The other girls are sitting around watching the kitchen table eating tubs of icing and other baked goods and watching episodes of Friends. I'm in my happy place chilling on the couch and blogging. We were gonna go out tonight, but I slighly convinced people that we should just stay in and catch up on our tv shows and stuff. I can't get motivated to pay 5 pounds to enter a club anymore... I just can't. That's like $7 U.S. and I'd rather save it for a rainy day when I want to buy clothes. Yep... or save for Spring break.

Which brings me to another talking point. For Easter Break, Genna, Alex, Lindsay, and I are going on a 10 day Eurotrip thru Amsterdam, Munich, Rhineland, the Rhine Valley, Lucerne, Florence, Venice, and ending in Paris. We're also driving thru Tuscany, which I'm freaking pumped about. And we get to see real glass blowers in Venice. We're going on a couple boat trips too, but that's all paid for in the package we bought... don't worry. It was a one time purchase, which broke me, but at least it's all taken care of. Then, we head back to London on April 13 and all hang out for the night together. Then, on the 14th we split up and head opposite directions. Alex and I are flying from London-Gatwick to Shannon to meet up with her family and tour my sweet Ireland for the following week. It promises to be freaking amazing. I really would like to go to Casablanca, Morrocco at some point, but I'm not sure if that's in the cards for me. I might just go by myself on some random weekend. Lindsay and Genna are going to Prague after our trip, which I would also love to do at some point. I'm thinking I'll head there and meet up with Lisa during my month of exams or something. That'd be schweet. I really don't have the money for any of these trips, let alone survival for the next 3 months, but I'd rather give up food and other things in order to afford those cheap 10 pound ryanair flights. I'm thinking of stealing a cardboard box out of the nearby recycling bins to create a portable shelter to take with me. These are just dreams-- I probably won't get to these places, but now I have the travelling bug and want to see and do everything. So, God-willing, I have a lifetime of trips to plan ahead of me.

That's really all. I have to start doing some work now to prepare for Easter break... I need to write a 10 pager for Shakespeare and a 4-5 pager for Irish. Econ is due sometime in May, so I should probably start my research, but I'm putting that one off for now. I'm going to go catch up on 24 and Lost illegally, but I'll catch y'all lata. Shabbat Shalom.

Chatsworth House... yeah, that's right. Home of Mr. Darcy from Pride & Prejudice-- every girl's fancy. Bethany, if you're reading this, I took this picture especially for you and I. I will be sending you a post card as well... no worries. Also, Viva la Vida is playing on my iTunes right now, which is quite right, don't you think? I bet this makes you wish you lived here. Unfortunately, I was unable to extend my political ties to the Duke and Duchess of Devonshire because they were not on the premises today. Their loss. I was touring this place and revelling at the fact that Keira Knightley was privileged enough to film two movies at the Chatsworth House. P&P and The Duchess... lucky wanka. Umm, but a little history for ya... this house is situated on somewhere around 100,000 acres of land, and over the years the Dukes of Devonshire have accumulated over 800,000 total acres of land in the surrounding area. An area that is rich and iron and other serious minerals of the like... basically whichever Duke was lucky enough to live there during Britain's Industrial Revolution was one lucky dude. The woman who convinced her man to build this house came from meager means, but through her insane success with gold digging, pre-nups, and 4 marriages later, she became the richest woman in England, second only to Elizabeth I. That tells you something- Julia could have it made one day. She married her first man at 17 when he was in his 60s, so he didn't last but 2 years, if you know what I mean. At any rate, her kids had it made.


Inside Chatsworth you will find a freaking original copy of a Rembrandt. I can't say that I've ever seen a Rembrandt in my life, let alone an original. Let's just think about how much this one piece of art, out of the thousands within the Chatsworth walls, costs. Enough to feed a small country in Africa, but let's not go there.

I thought these steps in the Chatsworth Gardens were sweet. The architecture at this house was ridiculous... 5 centuries later.

Another view of the Gardens... unfortunately, I couldn't get everything on film because it would've taken all day to walk around the land. But, it was gorgeous.

Yet another view... this time the Hedges. The shades were drawn throughout most of the house, so I turned into a sleuth and SNEAKILY put my camera underneath the shade to take this picture. Yeah, baby.

This is my heaven. No joke. But, it's also the room where Elizabeth Bennett (Keira) was forced to play the piano in front of Lady Catherine, who just wanted an excuse to mock her for not being accomplished enough for her time. Darcy still loved her for it. Every single book in this library is polished twice a year.

This is a mural of my Sweet Jesus painted above the podium in the Chapel conveniently located inside the house just in case they don't feel like driving to church this Sunday.

Just in case the Rembrandt wasn't enough, let's import Egyptian heiroglyphs.

This is the mirror in one of the guest bedrooms back in the day... nice. We weren't allowed to see the current bedrooms.

Lindsay's parents decided that they wanted to be my parents for the day and thus, took me along to Chatsworth House. It was just phenomenal. We had great food and I consumed two hot chocolates all by myself. They are truly a selfless family-- and not to mention that they brought me 2 jars of my favorite Jif Natural Creamy Peanut Butter. It was nice to feel taken care of for the day. The Saladinos rented a car because Lindsay's mom is a pro and can drive on the left side of the road. Lady Catherine would say she's accomplished. Thank you Saladino family for a wonderful day. I both needed and GREATLY appreciated it. Love ya, Linds and fam. :)

This all took place yesterday, aka St. Patty's Day, so when we got back home the girls got ready for a night out on the town. We all got tickets to a club called Embrace, which advertised "REAL LEPRECHAUNS," and planned to go to Bar One, a bar at the Student Union, first. When I got to Bar One and went up to order my drinks with Genna and Alex, I realized that my Embrace ticket was not on my person. I searched in and out of every pocket, but to no avail. Alex's roommate was trying to get rid of her ticket because she was going somewhere else, but she never showed up to Bar One and I wasn't about to pay another 4 pounds to go to the club when I already have no money. So, I swallowed my pride and headed home when the other girls headed out for hours of dancing... they tried to make me feel better today in telling me that it wasn't actually that fun, but I'm not sure if I really believe them. I allowed myself to shed exactly 2 tears (one from each eye) on my way home last night. I was at a low point, but I wasn't about to be completely disgruntled. I just couldn't fathom how I could be Irish and be unlucky to leave my Embrace ticket at home on St. Patty's Day of all days. It turned out alright, though. I ended up hitting the sack pretty early, so that was nice. Everyone told me that week 6 is when you start to feel homesick, but I refused to believe it. And to be honest, I wouldn't say I'm homesick. I don't want to go home at all, but at the same time, it would have been comforting to return to my own familiar bed and sheets of Egyptian cotton after my night of misfortune. I was just super excited to celebrate St. Patty's Day here and when I couldn't, I was sad... oh well. I'll be in Ireland soon enough.:)

Today was a pretty decent day, though. I finished reading Jew of Malta this morning in between my 2 classes. I liked this play, but it wasn't my favorite due to the hate and racism between the Jewish and Christian characters in the play; it was quite unsettling. Plus, Marlowe kept punning on how Catholic priests and nuns were really just sleeping together throughout the play; it was purposefully placed since England was swinging Protestant at the time, but still pretty unnecessary if you ask me. No love for the hatas. We discussed nuns and feminine sexuality during the Renaissance time period in my Shakespeare class, and this was my favorite quote of the day-- I'm really hopeful that I'll be lucky enough to receive a compliment of this caliber from my future husband:

"On thy good lady, then! Who therein reap'd
The just reward of her high huswifry;
To have her linen, plate, and all things nigh,
When she was far; and not a room, but drest,
As if she had expected such a guest!
These, Penshurst, are thy praise, and yet not all.
Thy lady's noble, fruitful, chaste withal."
-Ben Jonson, "To Penshurst"

A woman can dream, can't she? I was getting a kick out of this. Mindy would love it. Here's a shout out to Mindy and Tim-- love and miss you, chickadees. My parents (really, my buddies) are awesome, but I'm kind of mad at them right now. I've decided that publicly venting is the only way to go since my private cries for love and affection are clearly not getting me anywhere. Allow me to paint the two of you a picture... just bare with me for a second. Imagine a girl a couple thousand miles away with no real tie to where she's at save for the good friends that she's made on her own. Studying abroad was her decision, and something she lives for everyday. Now imagine this girl walking to her mailbox everyday, only to find it empty. Furthermore, imagine how this girl envies her friends for being able to see their parents on skype everyday. This girl is making every attempt to maintain communication with her family: from purchasing extensive calling cards and averaging about 10 pounds/week on her pay-as-you-go phone just to make the international calls to get ahold of her parents from time to time. She also takes care to email, send birthday cards, and post cards on top of everything else. Every once in awhile it'd be nice if the communication attempts came from the U.S. Perhaps a short note of affirmation and encouragement to surprise this not-a-girl, not-yet-a-woman, would be nice here and there. Something to think about... just saying. Maybe a care package here and there, though I don't really expect it. All I'm saying is that kids die a little inside whenever that mailbox is empty. Jennifer Marshall, you are my hero by the way. Jennifer Marshall is the only person who has ever sent me anything, she goes to Chapel Hill, and I have never even met her. Remind me to apply for her job when I get back to school because it's truly amazing how good an article from the DTH or a peice of home can make you feel. That's all... I know that you are busy in Maryland and that you are having tons of fun. You'll probably be mad at me for writing this, but that's okay because I still love you more than anyone loves you... and you both know that. I can see pops putting together the crib and taking his time installing crown molding in the baby room. I can see my mom having the time of her life picking out a basinette. It's just an image I have, but I'm pretty sure that it accurately portrays the events of the next few days. I'm just very detail oriented to the point where I know exactly what to expect, that's all.

Creating March Madness in Sheffield and a Lesson in Economics

As promised, some pictures from my visit to London-Town...

shakespeare's globe theater in london.

alex and i enfrente de Tower Bridge

Big Ben was my fav.

Another must-see.

this one was for you, pops. <3

As usual, there were just as many activities this week as in weeks prior in Sheffield, UK; the only difference is that now I'm living below the poverty line because I'm realizing that somehow I'll have to stretch my dwindling bank account across the next 3 months. I should have gotten a work visa. Pooty.

This week I didn't really do many exciting things because everything costs money-- money that I am unwilling to part with. Kind of sucks when you have a huge traveling bug like I do, but I'm sure there's a life lesson somewhere in there to tell your kids about. So, I have developed a new tactic where I prolong booking train tickets or hostels in hopes that I will find someone to sponsor my trip. For instance, Friday night we went to Space, which is just one of the many dance clubs offered at the Student Union. While waiting for my friends to leave outside, I decided to strike up conversation with 5 huge guys (3 black, 2 white) who happened to be wearing tournament guides on a lanyard. I knew they weren't from Sheffield, so I smiled at them and said to which they later made fun of me, "Where are you guys from?" They replied, "London." It's kind of shallow, but I love basketball and I knew they had to be basketball players from their height, so we made friends fast. The rest of my buddies slowly made their way out of Space and started talking to my new-found London basketball players. I don't know what lead me to do it, but I gave one of them, Deng, my number so that he could tell me how to get to the tournament to see their game on Saturday. Naturally, I showed up since I have been unable to see any basketball games yet this year and it is freaking killing me. The best part is that they know Tyler Hansbrough, so naturally we fell in love. Anyway, they all play for a uni in London, so it was pretty cool seeing them play, but I felt bad because they didn't have any fans come to see them play. That's one thing the U.S. does better than the U.K- team support. I was going to go to the game by myself since Alex couldn't make it, but at the last minute I called Monique to see if she would come because I knew she'd be the quickest to get ready plus she would actually enjoy the game, so she hopped on the bandwagon and came with. Unfortunately, it was a sad day for my bros 'cause they lost, but it was still fun to watch a good basketball game with the occasional Austin Powers, "Yeah, Baby, yeah," streaming through the announcers' speakers after a good play.

After the game, my boys came up and gave me a hug and thanked me for actually coming to their game, and made Monique and I promise to hang out with them later. Deng was taking forever to get ready and he kept walking in and out of the locker room with random KFC boxes, so we finally gave up and left the English Institution of Sports complex to hunt for food. We stumbled across a promising Mexican place that was pretty pricey, but we followed our noses since we've been in search of good Mexican since the day we arrived. We also purchased bottomless drink glasses so that we could get free refills for 2 pound 85, which is basically 4 USD, but we were thirsty. We tried to not let the exchange rate calculations bum us out while we were eating. The food was actually pretty good, and naturally I had vegetarian enchiladas, but I can also say that I've never felt hungry after consuming Mexican food. Usually I feel like I'm going to barf from fullness, but here I was still unnaturally hungry. It's probably all the walking. Monique and I both ate for 24.50, a little over 33 USD. When you realize how little money we spend on food here, you would be okay with us spending money to eat real Mexican. Trust me on that. Food in the UK is friggin expensive. We also both spent 3 pounds for an all-day tram pass to get to and from the Sports Complex and 3 pounds to enter the tournament, bringing our daily total to about 18.25 GBP a peice-- a little over 25 USD. From there, we trammed our way back to good ol' Uni of Sheffield. My faithful buddy, Deng, called me and the 5 of us girls (Genna, Chelsea, Monique, Alex, and I) planned to meet up with my bros at their hotel. I was negligent to spend money to go to clubs, so I worked my magic, and was successful. Yes. They met us in City Centre and walked us back to their hotels where 5 white girls hung out with about 7 or 8 black guys. It was fantastic and perfectly innocent. People here feel like they constantly need to drink to have fun, but we all were perfectly sober all night. We were rapping and dancing and chilling. And we performed magic card tricks with one another and had a pillow fight, which was awesome. The guys we hung out with were named, Timmy, B, Jou-Jou, Deng, and I can't remember the other 3 guys' names, but one of them had the nickname, Lil' Wayne because he looked exactly like him. It was hilarious and fun. Jou-Jou and one of the other guys kept harmonizing for us. Jou-Jou is great and he was proud that he found a fellow Christian in me, so we sang some hymns together. He's also a ridiculous jumper by the way. I've never seen a man jump so high in my life. He cleared some guys head during the basketball game. No joke. Monique and I were amazed and both turned to look at each other with our jaws dropped. The boys had a curfew at 11 p.m., but I'm pretty sure that we didn't leave their hotel until about 1:30. They were gentlemen and walked us back a good part of the way, which is more than I can say for some of my local guy friends. Sweet southern hospitality in the UK. We promised to visit them in London, and Deng texted me later to make sure that I had fun. The girls minus Genna (ahem!) capped off the night with Kebabs and burgers for the uphill walk home. Bringing my personal total to 22.25 GBP, and an 8 pound charge to my credit card for some food from the grocery store. Lol.

That puts me to today where I am currently blogging and sitting on my second bed in Genna's room. Reflecting on hanging out with the basketball guys was truly one of the highlights of my trip so far... it was a lot of fun and a chance to do something different. The only other thing that's really knew, and that I'm really hopeful of, is that my brother, JOSEPH, may come visit me. I'm really hoping that my parents will see how this could potentially benefit him, and thus donate to the campaign of getting Joe to the UK. I mean if you think about it, when will he ever not have to pay for housing again? It's the chance of a lifetime, but I'm just saying... It's not like I've spent any time online looking at all the things we could do if/when he gets here and planning trips, at all. Also, attention to my pregnant sister. Send me pictures, miss vanity. I want to see you in all of your glory!!!

It has been a good weekend, and I plan on hitting up the gym and spending the rest of the day researching for my Shakespeare essay. I'm also going to make a shout-out to my dear friend, Lindsay, because she was not able to take part in the basketball festivities. We know you're having fun, but we miss you.

Self-Discoveries

Something about this place is magical. Usually I can remember every one of my dreams, but I can't remember a single dream since I got here-- that is such a blessing for me because back home I would have nightmares every night where I'd wake up crying. I sleep like a baby here.

There are so many things inside of me that I want to tell all you readers. It's like everyday I hear about the same old stuff back home and it seems like some things never change. But, I feel like I am in the right place at the right time and I am constantly changing. I was talking to my Australian buddy, Tegan, for a long time last night and we were saying how it will be so weird to go back home and realize that no one else has changed, but we are totally different people than we were even a month ago. The way I see things is no longer through the veiled eyes of the way people tell me to see things, it's completely and utterly myself. It's like I can't see enough. Each day I want to see more and do more. I know back at home my family would tell me that I just need to be content and grateful with what I have, but I think that's all wrong. It's important to recognize how lucky you are, but it's never okay to give up searching and desiring to see and try new things. What would be the point of living, then? I don't want to live a boring life, I'm sorry. I'm learning what I am capable of and I will never settle for less than that again. I'm over that for myself. I used to think I knew what I wanted for myself, and now I have absolutely no clue. It's both terrifying and exciting all rolled into one. What I do know is that seeing things for yourself is the best thing that you can do to learn about yourself and what you are capable of. After studying abroad I really think that it will be impossible for me to take anyone's "words for it" again. Maybe that sounds stubborn and selfish, but I think it's the best thing that has ever happened to me.

It's like I'm flying everyday. In my Irish literature class we watched a movie called, "The Wind that Shakes the Barley." I can't describe it to you... you have to see it for yourself. I was crying at the end of it because the beauty was too much for me. My professor, Matt Campbell (a real life Irishman), looked at me with tear-stained, red and blotchy eyes and asked if I was crying or if I had a cold. I said both and he laughed. I was the only other person who was totally moved by the movie in my class besides him, I think. And I'm realizing that my whole life people have told me that I'm too sensitive, but I'm realizing now that it's the Irish in me. It's the whimsical search for love and the beauty in people that makes me this way. Never before have I been this proud to be Irish. Every one was telling the main character to give up fighting for independence from Britain because he should be happy with what he had, but he refused to give in. He refused to believe the lies that things couldn't be better than they already are and then he died for what he believed in. In my opinion, there's no better way to go than that. Call it stubborn and stupid, but I call it liberating and refreshing.

I'm soaking up the text in my Shakespeare and Renaissance Drama class. I swear... I don't know why I was denying myself the one pleasure that I have always fought for: reading and writing. I just sit there and read my plays, and it sounds gay, but I sit there while reading and laugh and cry to myself. The characters are so wisely pieced together and in our classes, were encouraged to explore and analyze the depths of their character. I love analyzing. My mom calls it analysis paralysis, but it's what of the things I love. I had to write a short response to the play, The Spanish Tragedy, and my teacher handed me back my response with his notes and it said, "This is fine, Lindsay. You engage with the play and its requirements really well, and as such have left me with little to criticize. A rare feat!" That's all he wrote. I couldn't be prouder of myself. Call me crazy, but I feel affirmed for the first time in a long time.

I love it here. For all you that told me I'd miss home, you're wrong. Sure, I miss my family and friends, but I am so positively happy that for the first time in a long time, I'm right where I need to be.

London Calling to the Faraway Towns

Sorry, it has been so long... I actually updated about a week ago, but stupid skype erased my post. I'll try to give you a fast update about my life because it has been so long, and I don't want to bore you with a long post. So, here goes...

Last weekend, as you may very well know, I went to London. It was amazing and hectic all rolled into one. We left Friday morning, and I had all of my things laid out to take a shower and then roll out of Tapton in time to meet the girls for the bus, but I took drowsy cold medicine the night before and totally missed my alarm going off. Luckily Lindsay called me at 7:27 when we were supposed to be meeting at 7:30 and my phone ringer woke me up. I ran to the bus stop- to make a long story short. Once we got to London, we were all totally starving, so we grabbed lunch, then went to get TUBE (Subway) passes. While we were in line, I noticed that there was a Wicked Theater across the street, so I ran over there just to see if there was any possibility of getting tickets over the weekend. They had 1/2 price tickets for that night, so Genna, Chelsea, Mon-Mon, and I all went to see Wicked. It was everything and more. I have wanted to see it for so long, but it's impossible to get tickets in NYC, so I was so happy to have scored tickets. 25 pounds.

On Saturday we did all of the touristy things imaginable. We started first thing in the morning with Piccadilly Circus, then went on to Covent Gardens and Covent Gardens Market. Covent Garden is where all of the movie premiers take place in London, so it was pretty tightttt. Then, we grabbed lunch and proceeded to King's Cross Station where we took many a picture in front of Platform 9 3/4... as per my demanding. Then, we did a super long walking tour of the city of London, which was ridiculous and cool. We saw the Tower of London, Tower Bridge, London Bridge, London Eye, the Globe, Big Ben, and Westminster Abbey... all in a days work. We were friggin pooped afterwards though. Then, we grabbed some good Italian at Spaghetti House and then headed back to our crap hostel. By the way, on Friday night the hostel people moved our stuff into 2 different rooms then the original room we were given because one of their people "made a mistake." So while we were out, they came in and took our stuff. Alex and I were with three randoms and had the worst night of sleep imaginable. They could care less about us though because we're poor college students who were only paying 20 pounds a night to stay there. That was fun. After dinner, we walked to Soho. That was an experience to say the least.

On Sunday we went to Harrod's Department Store, which was FANTASTIC. I would go there again and again if I could. That's where I would take my family if they ever came to visit. It had a chocolate room, dessert room, meat room, etc. on top of all of the other department store-like jazz. We grabbed lunch and then walked to Hyde Park for a picnic. It was delicious and pretty. Then, we walked back to Harrod's and Lindsay and I split a gigantic gelato sundae. Amazing. Best ever. Hands down. After that, walked around some more, and I can't remember specifically what we did, but it was fun. Alex, Lindsay, and I all tried to go see movies later in the evening while Genna did work in the hostel and Chelsea and Mon-Mon went to visit family friends, but that plan failed miserably because all of the movies stop showing at like 8 pm. Pishaw. I fell asleep by like 10:30 p.m. on Sunday night.

Monday morning we all enjoyed a nice breakfast... baguette with jam for me because it is my favorite thing about England. Freaking amazing bread. Then, Lindsay and I decided that we wanted to go to Notting Hill before our bus back to Sheffield. We told Alex, who accompanied us, and Chelsea and Monique decided to take their time at the café. They were the smart ones, but I think our trip was the most interesting. We wound up walking down a street full of ambassador's mansions, so that was neat. We took pictures and the hardcore security guys were glaring at us. Not like we looked like terrorists with our backpacks or anything. Then, we walked on to this road with a ton of shops and I bought 3 super cheap dresses and a top from Urban Outfitters for cheap. Excellent. We walked back through Kensington Gardens where Princess Diana has a memorial. At about 12:30, we headed to the Tube to make our bus that was leaving at 1:30. We missed the bus. Chelsea and Monique were on it. We were freaking out and Monique asked the bus driver if there was a way we could get on the bus later on and he said we had 25 minutes to get to Golder's Green, a bus station 30 minutes away. We told our taxi driver the details and he, being a he-man warrior, got us there just in the nick of time. I could marry him. We got on the bus, and we got home to Sheffield. We were all super happy to be home, surprisingly; we had really missed it.

That's my London trip in a nutshell. I'll put pictures up in the next post.