Home Week

This past Tuesday was my German exam. On Sunday or Monday the German class and some other randoms watched a German movie (set up by the German prof) called Die Edukators (not sure on the spelling). It was very interesting and I recomend it especially because it has subtitles. It is about revolutionaries in Germany (present time). It was especially good because of the reaction from the audience. It was dramatic but hilarious at the same time. I think we found it more funny because it was a foreign language and just some of the reactions from the characters is hystarical. Basically the whole class was laughing hystarically and talking to the movie but not annoyingly, when they talked they said something comical and you could usually ignore it because you didnt need to hear what the characters were saying. If you see the movie you will understand I guess, I definately recomend it, it was very interesting.

So the actualy exam was on Tuesday and I think it went well. I mean I dont think I did great, but I didnt do badly, so we`ll see. After that we went and started packing for home. I actually got most stuff packed pretty well. Not all, but that was left to today. Then after lunch Katie, Kari and I went ot Katie's room and watchd Back to teh Future 2 and 3 and drank tea. It was actually so much fun cause I havent seen those movies in so long and we just joked and laughed the whole time. Michael J Fox is a kitty in that movie. I will explain, you see after that last exam we dont really speak no good english no more. Well at least we find it difficult to get words out properlly, I think the vocab/language/speaking section of our brains is taking a break. So at one point Kari went ot say he was cute, but it came out as kitty or something like that, anywho the basic point is that now we refer to cute guys as kitties.

When those movies were done we went down stairs to Kari`s room and met up with Amy, Jacinta and Emma and watched Garfeilds Christmas. During the movie we were talking about cat names and we decided that if we ever got a cat we would have to name it according to something in the Back to the future movies. There are so many good cat names in there. Our favourite that we came up with was Mcfly. Today we decided it would have to be a tabby cat so we could call it Mic for short (pronounced Mick). I leave it up to you to come up with other names related to that movie. After Garfeild`s Christmas we looked at Annie Lebovitz pictures, then went back to our rooms and went to bed.

Today was a full day. We (being Kari, Katy, Amy, Jacinta and I) went to breakfast early so we could walk to the village together and get pictures/ just hang out together. On the way we stopped to chat with a local elderly lady walking her dog. We are all on pet withdrawl. That seems to be a main topic amongst us. Anywho after a couple minutes Eric came along and strangely enough I dont think the dog liked him very much because it started not only barking but growling intensely. Sexist pouchie, hee just joking ...we all continued on after that, Eric coming with us. DAS POUCHIE! Kari and I started saying that randomly/ every time we saw a dog. By the way that is not how you say dog in German, it is actualy it is der Hound (wrong spelling and not pronounced the same as english -- sorry).

We went to the village through the short cut getting beautiful pictures. We stopped in the corner store and this art store that sold local artwork. Katie got a couple cards for her family and we got to meet andother cute pouchi. He was really scared of strangers I guess and the lady who owned the place was trying to get him to socialize so he would only go so far, let the nearest people pet him and play with his ears, but when he was encouraged to go say hello to the other people he ran and hid behind his mommy. Too cute, I got some adorable pictures of him too. The walk back was relatively uneventful, quite beautiful. When we got back we all went to finish packing. Angie invited me to go to Sarah`s for tea. Oh yeah, I forgot to tell you about that. I think Wednesday or Saturday I went ot Sarah`s room (the SLC/dorm mum for our corridore) for tea. She has these little meetings throughout the last few months where you can go to her room and drink tea and eat cookies and just plain chat. So I did that and there were only a few of us and we chatted and stuff...fun. Sorry my language is just going straight down the tubes, dont expect great grammer...it can really only go down hill from here. Anywho we went to one of those today and there ended up being like 15 people crammed into her room eating and drinkingtea and chatting. Sarah is leaving after this (not coming back next semester) because she is going on a sail boat with her family around the Caribbean and then to Australia. So we said our goodbyes then I went down to supper and now I am here writing this blog.

I am going to go after this to Kari`s room with the whole group to watch muppets Christmas Carol. Next that I write this blog I will be in Canada! See you all on the other side!

Exam Week

OKAY, so I only have two days and then guess what? I am home or at lesat on a plane home. Wish me luck! Anywho Starting last Tuesday my days were kinda bare to be honest. Most people were studying for exams or writing exams. I walked to the village everyday this past week if I wasnt going into Eastbourne. One of the days Karicia came with me and showed me a path that takes you behind abunch of houses and into the feilds to get to the villlage. It has a gorgeous view! I cant wait to take my camera up there. One of the days I went into Eastbourne because I had to pick up a few things. I ended up have an extra 4 hours without much to do so I went into a bookstore, which I normally am able to spend hours in, but fond my self still with a couple of hours to spare. So I went ot Costa (European starbucks) and got myself a hot chocolate and read Pride and Prejudice which I had brought along. It was very relaxing and nice. I also hung out in Kari`s room a bit with people and chatted. Other than that I either studied or read or caught up on my computer time. Oh and I watched the BBC version of Pride and Prejudice...can you tell I have a theme going?

On either Wednesday or Thursday night there was a surprise Birthday party for Heather in her room. Herroom mate bought a cake and got everyone gathered in the room. It was funny because Kari and Katie were supposed to bring her down from a study party at 8:30, but half an hour early Heather said she was going to head back to her room so Kari delayed by saying she had to go to the bathroom and instead gathering everyone early and telling Heahter`s roomie, who scrambled, got the cake and Kari flew back up to get Heather. They brought her down and we all surprised her (I think there was about 8 of us in all). It was really sweet because she had no idea. So the next couple hours was speant eating cake and watching weird stuff on youtube. Those Japanese game shows are super weird but super awsome!

I had my English exam on the Saturday morning. When I first looked at it I was like, what the fuck? Seriously, the first thing on it were two poems we had to choose between to analyse and when I looked at both my brain started to melt from my ears. Luckily I calmed down and discovered after a good 15 minutes that I understood the first poem, I wrote a good few pages on what I thought it meant and all that other analitical stuff. The second part was easier I think. Just analyse a passage from some work that we read in the course. I chose MacBeth. Mostly because I was in a really foul (spelling?) mood that morning. I will explain further. I hadnt gotten muc hsleep because for some reason I was having a hard time falling asleep in the first place and people were being loud down the halls. At one point I guess a couple people went racing down the hallway (they do this often -- and it is very annoying), but this time the walls shook so badly because they were banging into them that my bed literally shook. Lets just say I was not a happy Libby when I woke up the next morning. I went to breakfast in a really pissy mood and the worst part was I got there fairly early, but there was no becon left! And they didnt refill it, they actually didnt have much for breakfast that morning that I liked, so I was pissed off about that too. Let me axplain that while here I have tried really hard not to be in a bad mood or grouchy at all because that sucks for the people around you and i dont want to be like that. But this one morning I just could not be cheery. Luckily everyone found this quite entertaining, especially right before the exam when we were waiting to go in. We actually started joking about how I would probably write really grusome negetive essays. Being like, this book sucked, this one was too happy, this one was nonsense, but MacBeth was ok because everyone died in the end. So in the end we all made a joke out of my grouchiness which actually put me in a better mood. Needless to say I wrote about MacBeth on the Exam, but no worries I didnt write about how I liked all the death and grusomeness (HEAD ON A PIKE) though I do think that would have made a quite interesting essay for the prof. Keep 'em entertained.

So then on Sunday I went to ASDA to pick up some more stuff and ended up getting myself grapes, because I miss real fruit. After my ASDA trip I hung out and watched Pride and prejudice until it was late enough to head down the pub with Katie, Kari, Heather and that group. It turned out there was pub quiz that night. Basically everyone was in groups at different tables and then they would be asked certain questions, each round had a different catagory, and then they would swap and have to mark eachother's when the guy read out the answers. At first we just stood at the back sipping our cyders or beers (cyder for me!) and guessed the answer to eachother. There was one group in the back corner that was called the back corners that was only two guys. Kari, Katie and I decided to join them and contribute our answers. The first roundwe were a part of was the movie round. We got movie pictures (christmas related) and we had to fill in the title. We did really well on this one and I got one no one else knew (can you tell I was really proud? -- I dont normally dowell on these things). I got Meet Me in St. Louis, I love that movie -- Judie Garland -- not really well known because it is obviously older. There was a music round next that I contributed mmbop by the hanson brothers, thanks RESURECTION for those lovely days of non stop mmbop. gah. Anywho We ended up getting third place, which was awsome because the guys had been in last before we come along, what can I say? We are the cahmions. Afterthat our team plus Cameron playd pool. I got progressively better as I drank more (i got a rum n coke). I actually got three in! Hee.

So I will hopefully fill in the rest tomorow before I come back and I will probably keep this updated while home, so stay in touch! LUNCH TIME!!!

First weekend in December

So wow, what a week. I cant say i`ve done much, but I cant say ive done nothing. I will start with the day after the older lady`s visit. This happened to be a Friday. On this Friday was also our closing ceremonies. Now you may remember our opening ceremonies? Basically the same thing only people get really dressed up and... you know what I am just going to walk you through it. So it started fairly early, well kinday, if you consider 3pm early. Everyone got as dressed up as they could without being ultra formal. Al the girls in their pretty dresses and the boys in their suits. I travelled between my room and Kari`s. You may have seen pictures on my facebook? Well I had a halterish dress on, black on the top and then a silky skirt part. Everyone looked really nice. We walked down in the pouring rain. A bunch of girls wore their wellies down and then changed into nicer shoes when they got down to the castle. Me not so much. I wore my black flats so I had to take the long and unmuddy way down so I got a little more wet, but at least I was a little more comfortable...kinda.

Anywho, we got down there and then we were ushered into this one narrow hallway leading to this one room. It took a good half hour to get all 180 kids plus all of the faculty into picture positions. You see they were taking a group photo. A bunch of us were placed sitting on the sides so you cantreally make everyone out. They did the whole, ok a serious one, and now a fun one! Mmhmm. Whatever. Afterward we were told that the photographer was taking photos in the Elizabethean room, of individuals and groups. Everyone mingled for a while and got their own group photos with their own camera`s. I didnt trust the photographer...you see he was sporting a Nikon...never trust a Nikon owner. Hee, just joking ...kindof. Anywho lets move on, next was supper. This was divided into two parts. We were asked a week before this to sign up for a particular table in the cafeteria at either 5 or 6:15. I signed up for 6:15 with Angie, Mel, Alison etc. Kari and Katie and that group signed up for 5 so I headed back up to Bader with Angie. We had an hour to kill so it was predrinking time and time for me to start polishing off the Expidition rum I havent used in a while. There was a no pants party upstairs in C3 hallway so everyone headed up there. Basically that means the girls were fine because we were in dresses but the boys were mostly in boxers, not all obviously but, well its C3. Eventually I was in fuzzy land so we all headed down to dinner! We werent allowed to bring our own drinks as there was wine provided. They also decorated up the caf a little so it was all fancy. Then we lined up as usual to grab our grub. Kinda messed with the fancy but you take what you can. There was indian food, but I focusing most of my attention on the wine anyway so it was all good. Not bad wine either, it was from Herstmonceux so it was interesting. Once this was completed, and after listening in on a little Bader gossip, we made our way to the ballroom. This is where we were to listen to speeches and some music by the students and other fun stuff. WE got some average seats and the festivities began. I dont remember with what but after a few speeches and announcements Angie and I were ready to pee. We agreed to book it to the washrooms when the student activities coordinater went to do her speech and then listen in on the other side of the door until she was done so as not to distrupt anyone.

The music was good. First was THE Choir. They were really good and really profesh. Not a lot of students but they had some faculty and they were all very talented. We also listened to a couple of people play the piano (one being Karicia). They were all fantabulous and we cheered all of them on heartily. Also that sang was the regular choir, for the people who cant read music. It was also actually quite good. The best part of the night was Rachel (student activities coordinator) and the female english prof (who is very sweetly dating the male english prof) stood up to sing. I am very sorry I dont remember what it is called but some of you may recognize it from the description. Basically they sang this opratic sang but in meows. It was fabulous. They started doing actions and had little personalities and character, but not too silly at all. I hope I can find it on tape because it was amazing. And it is normally done in meows, but they made it so much funnier than it initially is.

After that was a slide show in the caf of everyone and then the cherry on top was the dance. You know like a formal. And everyone knows how much I looovvee dances. Luckily I had been paying very good attention to my liquer that night and I had brought a 5 pounder. Hee, you see this dance also had a bar. I actually found people who like to danceat dances too! We literally danced the whole night. It was amazing! I actually had so much fun because we danced our asses off, no matter the song. I let Katie try some of my whiskey and I dont think she liked it very much. Most people dont have double whiskey, but I like to be unusual. We then walked back to Bader and I watched something in my room before falling asleep.

Okay so Saturday. I woke up at a moderate time, actually quite early considering I was up fairly late. Kari, Katie, Jacinta and I caught a bus to Eastbourne as Katie had never been to Eastbourne and they all needed to do some Christmas shopping. We explored and window shopped and chatted. We went to the sea shore and took pictures. It was a really nice morning. I honestly dont remember what i did when I got back, I may have studied, but I honestly dont remember. If i do I will post it. I think I cleaned my room and Sunday was similar.

Monday was exam day! I had history in the morning at 9am. That wasnt so bad. We were in the ballroom and I had one essay, an analysis of a primary source and two define and state significance. The primary source was a cartoon from 19th century about social class and stuff in England. I left feeling good and then went to study for art history that was at 2pm that same afternoon. Basically what that was was a bunch of slides of art works that we had to write as much as we could about. Now I could remember the stories and random stuff about them perfectly fine, but the dates and names and stuff was harder. So, omg I am so proud of myself, I printed out each picture with all its information on the same page so I could study it and stuff. I even colour coded the dates to help me remember! My hardest (or so Ithought) was the painting Supper at Emmaus. I could not remember anything about it to save my life. I dont know why but this painting did not want to stick in my memory. So I decided I needed to name on of the 4 men in the painting Emmaus and the rest would flow, or at least then I could remember the title. There was Jesus (so I am thinking it would be blasphemy to call him Emmous) and these three other guys, but non of them looked like an Emmaus. So I looked at the table with all the food on it...and decided to call the chicken Emmaus. Seriously it looked like an Emmaus, plus you know, they were having Emmaus for supper, hahahaha... Anyway it flowed after that. I remembered the date and the artist; Caravagio 1601. Not that I could remember anything else no matter how hard I studied it, so I left it alone, she wasnt testing us on all the artworks she had put on the list for us to study. I shared this story with a few people thinking it may help them as well. So at two I went in, sat down and had to pee soo badly! I had gone before, but me trying to be healthy had had a lot of water! They had a bunch of stuff I knew a lot about, but they also had a bunch that I had trouble with so I found myself pulling a lot out of my but if you get my meaning. If you dont you have a dirty mind. Anywho we ended up having to compare Titian`s Venus of Urbino and Bronzino`s Allagory of Venus and Cupid (first part of exam). Strange thing to compare at first glance, but not really so when actually analysing it. Afterwards we had all the individual slides. And of course what should pop up at the very end, Supper at Emmaus. I snorted quite ruefully and apparently (as I heard later) made Kari giggle quite heartily (as I kept gigling to myself afterward too). She apparently got quite the interested look from the art history prof of whom I wished very much to explin things to and share my story (I am sure she would have found it funny) but you see I still had to pee quite massively, so I shot out of there fairly fast and made my way to the nearest washroom. The rest of the afternoon I felt quite free as I had another 3 full days until my next exam.

Oooo one more story before I conclude this passage. On the Sunday night before our exams at around 9pm when most people were in their pjs and studying or in bed the fire alarm went off. We all peaked out our doors to see what was the matter and found that it wasnt a drill and we had to make our way outside into the freezing cold. Some had time to put on boots and coats and hat. I had time to put on shoes, but that was it. We all huddled together and pined over the fact that this should happen the night before an exam. After around 10 minutes we were let back in. We found out later that a few people were making toast in their rooms with a toaster they had bought and it set off the alarms. We were sent an e-mail the next day saying that we were not allowed any cooking appliances in our rooms. We were also told that when the fire fighters arrived they were not pleased by all the christmas paper on people`s doors as well as the amount of paper on the doors, its not fire regulation apparently. So in the e-mail we were told to take it all down. I can understand all the reasoning behind all this but it doesnt make me any less pissed off. We are kinda isolated out here and it is nice to have decoration to remind us of home you know? Dont worry, this week they put up christmas decorations around the place, at the castle and at Bader so we arent lacking in spirit. But at he time I was very frustrated. Anywho, I shant complain as I will soon be home where there is Christmas spirit everywhere you go!

I had small interests throughout he rest of the week, which you shall hear more about later. Now it is time for bed! Good night and sweet dreams!

Second last Weekend

So Last Thrusday (one week ago) was my last class until next term. I had history in the morning (not really that eventful). But later after lunch when I was leaving Karicia grabbed me and asked if I would like to go to another tea time thing with a "friends of Herstmoncaeux". This was a different person though. If you dont remember from my last experience what happens is we get invited by a person from the group "Friends of Herstmonceux" to their homes to chat and have tea. This time Karicia had organised it herself with the elderly lady (who`s name was Angela) to get driven over. I of course said yes because I really had nothing else planned for the evening and it usually means free tea and cakes. Not that that was the only reason, its also nice to meet people from around the area and have some interesting conversation. This time it was three of us getting driven by Angela to her home. The third girl going with us was Brittany (I have never mentioned her before so dont worry about remembering who she is). When Angela came Brittany and I got in the back and Karicia got in the front and we knew it was going to be interesting right from the start because trying to back out of the space she had parked in was interesting. Some van had parked beside her and on the other side was grass, so it took a few moments (Brittany and I holding our breath) before we made it out.

So we got to her house and she showed us around her garden, she apparently loves flowers and gardening. Unfortuately it is too late in the year to see any, but it was still lovely non the less. She apparently loves history too because she started telling us fasinating stories about the area and about the cottage she lives in which is apparently many centuries old. She told a story about the miller who lived there used to also play the flute at pubs and get paid in liquer. So by the end of the night he was very uncoordinated and not able to control the reins on his horse, but the horse always took him back. The horse apparently remembered where they lived or something because it steered itself home every time. I thought this was fascinating, loved this story. The house used to belong to a miller as I said before so it is called Mill house. And apparently there used to be a windmill nearby. Very cool. She showed us through her house which was absolutely adorable. She used to be a nurse then tought nursing and has paintings and old stuff all over her cottage. She eventually took us to her living room and showed us some historyish books and told us about the one chair Brittany had chosen to sit in. It was the favourite chair of I guess one of the main miltary commanders in the Boer War or something. Again very interesting. Then her Karicia went to get the cakes and make the sandwhiches and tea and Brittany and I looked over the room a bit more and chatted. Now Angela said she loved to surround her house with things she loved. This was very evident because she had little pictures and statues of ...god I cannot remember the type of dog it was. It was one particular breed..damn. Anywho she had that all overthe place as well as pictures of the Queen everywhere. Apparently she also loves the queen. What was really cool was upstairs in her bed room was a letter from the Queen`s lady in waiting saying thank you for Angela`s concern and devotion and it was appretiated and she had been advised by the queen to thank her. To be honest I thought it would be from Diana`s death, but hte date was wrong and apparently Angela had sent aletter to the Queen in 1992 when there was a fire at Windsor Castle or something like that and she was very delighted and surprised when she had answered back! Very cool.

The tea and cakes and sandwiches were good. Yes I actually tried the sandwhiches. Mostly because Brittany didnt want to eat them because she doesnt like butter (understandable as I dont like sandwhiches). So that would have left Karicia and Anglea to have them themselves so I tried it and actually liked it. I could only eat so much because the texture of sandwhiches still bother me, but I actually tried them! So I also had a great test as well. You see as we were driving up into her driveway I noticed two signs saying, vote conservative. Oh no, I thought. This could be interesting. Not because I mind conservatives or anything, its just that I could tell she might be hard core if you know what I mean. I have no other way of putting it with making it sound rude and I dont want it to sound like I am really biased or prejudiced. Anywho we started talking about politics because she is also very into politics. She apparently loves David Cameron (I beleive that is who she was talking about). The leader of the Conservative party. She said her old dog used to bark and at the screen and everything when Tony Blair was on but would pay attention when Cameron was on. So she sent Cameron a letter with pictures and telling him the stories. He apparently sent a letter back with a signed photo which she got framed. I am afraid I did not really understand why she hates the current Prime Minister so much, but I shouldnt really comment because I dont know what he is doing or what is going on right now in British Politics. But you know me when it comes to politics. She said she didnt like Blair but at least he was pleasant looking and good in front of the crowd, but said Brown (the curent Prime Minister) was unpleasant or something to that effect. I dunno, what got me was when she started talking about American Politics and how she was disappointed that Obama won. She apparently felt that he didnt have enough experience or something. I dunno, it just took a lot of determination to not get into a debate. I figured it would look bad for the school, I didnt want her inturpretting what I was saying as something rude and then her taking it to the school. I am sure she wouldnt have done that, she was a nice lady, but still, DONT STIR THE POT LIBBY. Bad things COULD happen. I couldnt resist though, I mentioned Canadian Politics to see if she followed that and she doesnt really that much so I couldnt have as much fun there but hey. When I get home right? Everyone here is super Liberal (at least most I beleive) so not much debating. YAY Coalition Government maybe! I promise I will not go on a politic rant as I know everyone has different opinions and I dont wanna step on anyones toes when I am not speaking to them directly, especially sinceI am coming home soo soon.

Well I think that is long enough for today. Basically the rest of the afternoon/evening we chatted about various things and then she drove us home and I beleive I went on the computer, then hung out with some people then went to bed. You`ll have too tune in again to here about my fun Friday and Saturday!

London experience day THREE

Hello, sorry its taken so long to finish off the weekend. I had two exams today! Yay, thats half my exams done! But still, I actually studied, I am getting a lot better than I was in Highschool. Anywho I will carry on, I left off on the Saturday of my LOndon experience. The Sunday morning I woke up fairly early and felt a little chilly. Remember I was right next to the window and it was left open the whole night. I turn back the curtains or disapear behind them to stick my head out but not distrupt anyone and see that it is snowing! Well, not really, but there were flurries and few centimeters or snow on the ground and on cars! We were very excited as we knew it would be cold, but could justify it if there was a little christmasy snow.

We had to check out by 10am and afterward made our way to the tube and back to the centre of London. Our first stop was at the National Portrait Gallery to see the Annie Lebovitz exhibition. It was amazing, I really enjoyed it. I love most of her stuff and they had her works from 1990 to present. They also had private photos of her family and friends that she had taken. We then went around other galleries in the gallery and looked around for a bit. After all that we went back to the internet cafe and chatted there for a little bit to pass the time. We then went to lunch at an italian restaraunt and had the most amazing pizza in a while. What was perfect was we realised that it was the same franchise that we had gone to when the two of us went out in Edinburgh! Do you remember that? We went out the last night together to a restaraunt? Same one basically.
By that point it was time to make our way to Victoria Station. I decided to take a bit of a longer way so that Karicia could see Buckingham Palace because she hadnt seen it yet. It was a nice surprise because I didnt tell her what we were heading towards until we got to it. We took some pictures, ood and awd over it and then continued walking, realising that it had stared raining. We finally made it to the station and took a few extra seconds to figure out what the enterance was as I have never atcually entered the station from the front before! Either we come into it from the train drop off or the tube or take the tube or train out of the station! It was weird.

Anywho we got in and what you have to do especially at Victoria is look at the big boards and see what terminal to go to. Sometimes it is only 5 minutes before the train is supposed to leave before it tells you! Well I guess everything was in a confuzzle because of the snow/rain (even though there was no snow left) and there was construction on one of the lines because of unexpected failure of some kind there were concellations here and train/time changes there and delays all over the place. We were fairly early so we had at least 45 minutes to wait and we just kept hoping our train wasnt cancelled as we kept watching other people get screwed over. Eventually strangely enough James found us. I dont think I have mentioned him before but he goes to the ISC and he had been somewhere else and happened to be taking the same trains as us. Oh and by the way we had this crazy thing where we had to trains and a bus to get us back. This will be explained as I go along. So basically we wait and wait and chat and then it says our train is in terminal 11 or something and all we see is mass amounts of people start migrating towards the terminal at a run. It felt like the stock market crash of 29, seriously, you know those pictures you see of people running and clamering to the bank on the fateful day? Well thats what it looked and felt like. Especially because we had to make our way through the little ticket machine thigns and way too many people were trying to do it at once. We eventually made it onto the train, but it was an effort and literally people were jammed into every nook and cranny. Random strangers were pressed against eachother, it looked like the New York subway system ot London tube at morning and evening business hours. Seriously, only this was a train! That we were going to be on for an hour and a half.

Why was it so busy? We were we left standing on our train with bags and smushed against otehr people? Well because the station had told everyone that had had a ticket on the train before us going to one certain station could get on ours because theirs was cancelled and a tram line that goes to Gatwick airport was closed and THEY were also told they could get on our train, so we had 3 train loads of people on one train. We were hot, we were thirsty and tired from wondering all day and people who hadnt even had tickets on our train were sitting on our spots! Boo, luckily Karicia, James and I had gone into the aisle and so had a little more air and space, plus we had peoples bags that they had shoved into the aisle, so that left a little more space. We also thought we were lucky because all the crowds were getting off a bunch of stops before us so they should only be on for half an hour to 45 minutes. Well you, the train was delayed...while we were on it. They would stop and then go, stop and go and then go slowly, apparently because they were doing work or something, but the guy driving the train kept coming over the speaker set and appologizing and at one point said he had no idea how long it would be, but he would keep us updated. We were deleyed an hour, yes an hour. And eventually the freaks got off, taking their screaming baby with them. This child didnt just scream, it was play screaming saying "I`M GONE!" because it was hiding amongst ppl legs or something. I am really glad and probs so is the mother that I could not see that child or was close to it in any way. Dont worry, I wouldnt have caused any harm to it, but seriously do not scream on a crowded train and dont let your child get away with it no matter how bored it is. Because seriously everyone was already pissed off and wanting to go home and the screaming only added to the torment.

Okay, so that rant over, the next part of our journey home. We eventually made it to Lewes, where we got on a bus (with a crowd of people) and and took that to Gerwick or something like that and then another train to Polegate. And all this was cheaper apparently than a straight journey, gah! We had scheduled (all three of us actually) to take the free mini-bus home, but since we were an hour late we had to call a cab and make our way back. Supper was over also by the time we got back so no food for us, only our beds and good whine to whoever would listen. Beleive it or not i actually wasnt that grouchy! I was in a pretty good mood, I think I was so worn out that I was just left to random fits of giggles and weirdness the whole time. It was an adventure though, so...whatever. But still, gah!

The week following was kinda slow, I mostly had classes and hung out on the computer or with people or I studied for exams. On one of the nights though Kari, Katie, Amanda and I decided to watch some christmasy stuff. We were going to watch Mericle on 34th street the original because its a tradition for Katie (who is American) to watch it on Thanksgiving, and you know how much I love traditions, seriously I do! But unfortunately it wouldnt load from the site she found so we went online searching for other things to watch. Mr Beans Christmas worked, as did frosty the snowman (animated) and Katie showed us this thanksgiving song (30 minute long) that she always listens to on Tanksgiving. It was really funny and if I ever remember what it was called I will tell you.

Okay, so a lot happened this past weekend too but you`ll have to wait for that one. Some tid bits - closing ceremony ... with a bar! As well as a morning after in Eastbourne and an interesting experience with remembering art history.

London experience day 2

Hello, So you want to know about the rest of my weekend? Here we go! Okay, so I left off on the Friday right? So Saturday morning I woke up to some kind of alarm. There were only a couple other girls that woke up and we were all wondering if it was a fire alarm, but didnt want to rush out side because it was cold. Since I was next to the windo I got to look outside and check to see if people were running outside. No one was so I asked one of the girls who was dressed to go downstairs and ask. I turned off afew minutes later when I was dressed and getting my stuff ready for the day. I mean it was a little ahead of schedule, but I figured we should get a head start anyway. Turns out it was a false alarm, so no biggie. When she was ready a bit later, Karicia and I made our way to St. Pauls Cathedral. We had some issues finding the enterence for some reason, but over all got in and actually paid less than I expected. It was gorgeous. Very pretty and very big. We climbed the stairs to the Whispering Gallery and walked around that for a while. It was like 260 steps or something. Then we climbed another 150 steps to get to the next gallery which was outside and overlooked London. It felt like I was on top of the empire state building again. We tried to go to the highest gallery but were told it was closed! That was a bit of a disapointment, but we still got to see the rest of the gorgeous cathedral.

Next stop was Cafe Nero for a hot chocolate and coisant. We chatted there for a bit then made our seperate ways. I was going to go to the TKTS ticket booth in Leister Square. It sells half priced tickets to West End productions. But Karicia wanted to walk and Leister square was most def a tube way away and she wasnt going to see anything that night anyway, so she decided to take a walk down the thames and see the market that was near the London Eye, while I got my tickets and met her at the London Eye later. It actually didnt take as long as I thought. I thought I was going to be in line for a while as it was mid day Saturday and I was sure it would be busy. I actually got through within 20 minutes and got one ticket to Spamalot and as I was by myself I got a really good seat in the first balcony second row! It was then a fairly short walk, at least shorter than I had anticipated, to the London Eye. I got to walk accross that bridge that is only for people and is all pretty and you can see the Eye and stuff.

I got there at least an hour before I expected to and got my tickets that I had ordered online. Karicia must have read my mind or something because she appeared very shortly after so we were able to get in line right away. The line was HUGE, like no joke, so we thought we would be waiting 45mintues to an hour. But surprisingly again, it onlytook half an hour and it wasnt at all annoying because we were constantly moving and making progress, no long waits in one position. And we had lots to chat about which only made it go by faster. The Eye takes around 20 people in a pod at once and takes around half an hour to go around. We got marvolous pictures and since it was around 3pm the sun was starting to set giving the city a nice glow. There were some rude foreign people, but that didnt phase us, we were so excited to be in the London Eye. At one point we were trying to get a picture with Big Ben behind us and this one girl pushed in and tried to stick her camera in the way. I literally pushed her (gently of course) and told her to wait. She just kind of looked at me and after the shot Karicia and I moved to a new position that we could see better and have less people around to bother us. I think if those foreign people had been smiling or happy in any way I wouldnt have been so rude, but they were incredibly unhappy, at least that is what it looked like. You think they would be excited to be in the london eye. I mean they did probably speand enough money on it.

Anywho, that being done we decided to wonder around for a bit then go for supper. We managed to make that last a good hour and a half, then wondered around until we found that internet cafe that was so cheap. When I left we parted ways. Karicia back to the hostel and me to see Spamalot. I got in fairly quickly, got a program and sat down in very lovely seat, I could see everything very well. The musical is hilarious to anyone who hasnt seen it. I definately recomend it! It had everything and more that is Monty Pythonesque. Mostly Holy Grail. It had the flying cow and killer bunnies and all your favourite characters and more. The guy who played King Arthur was East Indian I think so there were some really funny jokes about religion in there. He was amazing too and obviously and improver. My favourite part was when they are looking for Jews so they can put on a play and the servant says that he is a jew and Arthur is like, why didnt you tell me this before, then the servent says it isnt something you tell a heavily armed Christian and then Arthur looks at the audience and then does this little, nevermind, gesture, because he is obviously Muslim. At some points he made a ramadon joke and even started speaking in whatever language he is. It was all quite perfect. My favourite character/actor was Sir Robin. He was perfect and obviously laughs kinda easily, like corpses easily, but he totally incorporated that into his performance and it worked very well. The singing was actually very good, they were very talented singers. The sets were awsome, everything was very Monty Pythom, in fact most of the actors looked like they were Monty Python. Like they should have been a part of the group way back when.

Anywho, after that I checked out the gift shop a little closer just to see and dont worry everyone I didnt buy anything though it was soo painful I actually had to rip myself away from them. You have no idea, there were killer bunny slippers, a killer bunny hand puppet. Spamalot spam, cow merchendise and all these other things, that make you just go ooo. I instead tore myself away and made my way back to the hostel. Luckily there was little if any creepiness. I quite enjoyed my ride back. I got back, put my stuff away and went to bed.

Oh, I didnt mention something from that morning. We actually talked to this girl who had been sleeping in the bunk mext to us, she asked if we were from Canada and said she was from Vancouver. We chatted with her for quite a few minutes and found out she was on an exchange with a program called swap. She had just graduated and what happens is the program helps you get a flat or apartment in ..somewhere you want to go and then helps you get a job and integrate yourself into the culture. She said its been awsome and that she was moving into her flat that day. She said she had gotten lucky and gotten a journalism job at amagazine. Not really the magazine she would want, but its still a really good job and a good start. I noted the name of the website of the swap thing and then thats when we made our way to Saint Pauls, but not before wishing her luck on her life.

I will try to do Sunday tonight or tomorow. But for now its time for lunch!

London experience day ONE

Okay so I was still at the tower of London right? Its hard to remember sometimes. So the tower was very interesting, very big. It took us quite a few hours to get through the whole thing. The tour only lasted an hour and didnt take us into the towers, so the next few hours were us exploring the castle and all the cool towers special rooms and neat stuff there. We also sawteh crown jewels. The first thing you see when you go through the building is a video of Queen Elizabeth getting crowned, then you see a video about the jewels, what each one is and what they represent. Then it was time for the actual jewels. OMG they were soo sparkley! Honestly, you know how you see diomond comercials or see the jewels on tv and they look unreal they are so sparkley. Thats not digitally enhanced (that much), it was dazzling. Very pretty and kinda freaky seeing them that close. We also saw the graffitti by Lady Jane Grey in whatever tower she was locked in, which was also pretty cool.

We concluded our tower experience in the cafe, had a small lunch there and chatted for almost an hour and a half. We then made our way to the gift shop, looked around for a while and then made our way to the tube. Our next mission, so to speak, was to have a meal at the hard rock cafe. I guess it is the origional hard rock cafe too! When we got there I was sure we were going to have to wait half an hour, so I was all concerned about making it to our show. The people in front of were told it was going to be a 20 minute wait, which we were perfectly fine with, but right as we were given our buzzer to call us over they took it right back and took us to our seats. To be honest I think it was because we were really nice when we came in and werent bitchy about having to wait, so they were really nice. The waitress was also really nice. We told her we were going to see Hairspray and she started chatting about musicals and shows we`ve been to. We had really good service and the food was obviously amazing. I had a margharita, which was obviously amazing and left me feeling only a little fluffy. We also had dessert, which actually just about killed me. It was hard to walk after. But of course once we had paid and were on our way down the street towards the tube the sugar rush kicked in and I decided it would be a good idea to run down the street as we were in a hurry anyway and I had a poo load of energy. Well that didnt feel particularly good after we slowed down to a trot. Now I know why they say you shouldnt excersize right after you`ve eaten. Best part was when we got off the tube later at our stop and saw there were lifts instead of escelators and crowds of people waiting for one. We decided it would be a better idea to climb the spiral staircase. Yeah, let me tell you how fun that was. Not really. It was an adventure and a half.

Anywho, thanks to my amazing direction skills and map skills we made it perfectly on time at the theatre to pick up our tickets. I also got a brochure/book thing to look through. Our tickets were for back/centre orchestra, so we could see really well. Oh and I dont know if I mentioned this but we were seeing Hairspray mostly for the reason that Michael Ball was in it. I have already seen it on Broadway, and normally I like to try to see new things I have not seen before, but like I said this one had MICHAEL BALL! If you dont know he is famous British singer/West End actor who I adore. Seriously, he is amazing and I have always wanted to see him perform/sing. He was playing Edna for anyone that knows the musical, which makes it all the more hilarious. Anywho the Tracy was amazing and the Link was super hot and the dancing was superb and in general the show was fantabulous! Michael was amazing, he just had that role down and was soo funny! The best part came when him and the Ian Talbot (playing Wilber the husband) did their duet. They were dancing and when their characters kissed I guess something happened or the audience`s reaction amused them because they both startedto giggle. They paused then continued the song, but when wilbur had his arms around edna from behind I think one of them improvised or said something they dont usually that was really funny, something about being jewish and penis`. But Wilbur totaly broke down laughing, he had to hide his face behind Michael, because he couldnt stop. Then Michael said something else I cant remember at the moment that got them both laughing. They kept banteringand laughing until finally Michael was like "I think a little pee came out!" You can imagine the entire audience were in hystarics with laughter. It was beautiful. They eventually completed the song and got the biggest applause of the night. The entire cast seemed really comfortable on stage, they hada great relationship with the audience and all around, it was just a magical preformance.

After the show, I took Karicia to behind the theatre to go to the back stage door. If you dont know, what usually happens is you go to the back stage door (with usually a huge crowd of people) and wait for the actors to come out and get their autographs. This time there were only around 10 people waiting which kinda surprised me. A few more eventually accumulated, but no huge crowds, which suited me fine obviously. First we got Link`s autograph, and let me tell you life has treated him well, he was very pretty. Very very pretty. We waited a while, me inwardly giggling in anticipation and willing and able to kick the old ladies in front of me out of the way if necesary. No need, for who should appear out of the doorway? Michael himself. The old ladies chat with him because I guess they know someone who knows him and then its my turn. I got an autgraph and a picture with him! He was so nice to everyone and willing to stay and take pictures and sign autographs. When I asked for an autograph he called me lovey or lovely or something to that effect, to be honest I dont really remember. I was actually very calm, no swooning so dont worry. But afterward, on the walk back, I swooned massively. I practically floated. How cool to meet Michael Ball! While in England! Mmm, it still makes me happy to think about. Oh ya, and before I left I got Tracy`s autograph and picture too. She was soo cute and sweet!

We got all the way back with little hastle. One sketchy guy on the subway, but other than that a pretty fluffy ride back. When we did get back, unfortunately I broke my portrait lens. I was sitting on my bottom bunk and I pulled it out of my purse too quickly and it pushed in, then back out. The actual camera is fine, but I did spend the next 20 minutes out in the hallway trying to get it back together. I basically pouted all the way into bed, then I remembered that I had met Michael Ball and I had very sweet dreams for a majority of the night. For the rest of the saga you will have to toon in again this week. Hee, Michael Ball...

Start of London Weekend

So right now I am sitting in a random internet cafe in London trying to kill an hour before seeing a show (you will find out which one later). So I though I would fill everyone in on what has happened thus far. Though I am not sure how far I will make it into my story as I only have 35 minutes left and these prove to take a while to write. So here I go.

So on Thursday Karicia and I left for Eastbourne around 6:15pm. We took a mini-bus (which is free!) and got a ride straight to the train station. Now I must inform you that I organised this trip completely on my own I ordered tickets for nearly everything online through my visa card and organised the timeing. I actually had to make out a schedule with all the times and codes for when we were going where. So pretty much everything was and still is relying on me and my codes and cards and stuff. So I was a little nervous. First leap came when we got to the automatic ticket machine in the station and it said I had the wrong code. That nearly gave me a heart attack, but luckily I had just typed in the wrong code. So we got our tickets and went to wait for out train. Luckily I was being massively paranoid and noticed after half an hour (we were really early) that we were in the wrong terminal (even thought there are only three). So we basically made it with ten minutes to spare onto our train. We had no transfers so the two of us just chatted and slept the whole way. If you havent picked it up already we were going to London. We landed in Victoria Station around 9 and then attempted to make our way to hostel which is a 20 min. tube ride away from the centre of the city. We had a couple set backs as my oyster card (look it up) didnt have enough money on it to let me on the tube and the machines didnt work for me so I had to wait in line behind these massively slow people (one lady arguing with the guy behind the counter) in order to put enough money on to get me through the weekend. I eventually made it out and we were on our way up to Hendon Central. I just want to say I have become a pro at getting around London and especially using the tube now. I hope I havent jixed myself for tomorow or tonight, but I guess you`ll find out later!

Anywho we were trying desperately to get to the hostel before 10pm because that is the latest you can check in without having to hand over a photo id for the night. Our hostel is literally a few seconds from the tube station so we rushed over and got into the building at exactly 9:55pm. Too bad for us they had just closed the till so I had to hand over my drivers lisence and we would have to do the checking in the next morning. We got our bedding stuff and headed up to our dorm style all female room. It was a 12 girl room. When we got in we found 4 three person bunk beds with a bunch of dutch girls already in there and a few extra`s. We basically undressed and went right to bed. I found it kinda funny though that all the girls were sitting there on their laptops doing whatever. They brought their laptops! And left them there during the day! I dunno, sounds kinda sketch. Anywho, it was an okay sleep, but it got kinda hot, and i was on the very bottom bunk!

So the next day I woke up around 8am and started getting ready. I dont know why, but I like to get up early, especially when I am in a hostel. I let Karicia sleep and I went downstairs to check us in. I figured it would be a good idea to get a locker, cause I am paranoid. And I now have "valuable" stuff to keep in there! You will have to find that out later, as I do not have time to include it in this particular blog. I chatted with the guy in the front desk and then Karicia and I got ready and made our way to our first stop. This was the Tower of London. I got kinda paranoid because when I read the print out more carefully it said I needed my confirmation e-mail. Big lie, it turned out I just needed the code they had given me. It was quick and easy especially so early in the morning. So here is my London advice: get London Tower tickets online. It will save you a couple pounds and you get your tickets faster. We then made our way down to the tower entrance. We got one of the first tours which last about an hour. The guide was hilarious! He kept telling us to laugh and saying how depressing we looked. Very good, I thin you would have enjoyed him dad. He basicallytook us around and gave us basic information on the fortress. He wasnt just a tour guide, he was a Yeoman or something. He is one of the guys who looks after the tower. To be one of these guys you hve to have served in the British military for at least 20 years and have certain decorations.

I have run out of time on the computer, so I will have to continue my description of my adventures tomorow when I am back at Bader or on Monday when I have some free time. In the mean time, enjoy this little tid bit!

Sheepy Weepies!

So last I left off was Vimy Ridge right? I honestly do not remember the next few days after that. I think I was doing homework and projects...ya I was definately doing projects and homework. I had an annotated works cited for history, a film essay and loads of German studying to do. But guess what!? I just finished my last essay for the term! YAY! Except now I have exams, but I dont mind, the crazy stuff is over, now all I have to do is study.

So last week was my stress week. I was supposed to go clubbing in Eastbourne on the Thursday with a bunch of people, but about an hour before we were going to leave my group for film decided we had better get working on it. Which was understandable as there were literally no other days when we were all available to do it. So I stayed behind to work on that instead. It actually turned out pretty well because I stopped by Jacinta`s room and we ended up watching two episodes of Doctor Who season four and laughing our heads off. I turned in and the next day was Friday. Mmm, friday...Oh ya, I went to ASDA on Thursday and got some fruit and study snacks and essential supplies and my pictures developed for the photography competition. I have some really good shots so keep your fingers crossed! Saturday night I worked on my Film essay. Amanda and I were both the only ones in the computer lab most of the time and kept distracting each other by chatting, it was actually quite fun because I kept making random noices when I was either happy or frustrated and she would just laugh at me then we would just start talking about God knows what.

You know what is really funny? I was trying to figure out what I did on Friday, because I know I wasnt here and I just could not figure it out. It just dawned on me...I went to London on a feild study. But not just any feild study, the film feild study. Now on this expedition was both the drama class and the film class (same prof). The bus left around 3:30ish in the afternoon. I for some reason got a seat near the back (all the front were filled) so I was honestly expecting a not so friendly ride to London. When you are on the back it feels a lot more intense, like being on the back of a rollercoaster, especially since the roads are so winedy (I have no idea how to spell tha word! I can honsetly say I have never had to spell that word). Anywho I ended up sitting beside Max and we chatted about movies and stuff and what the play was about until they turned on the movie Moulin Rouge! I have not seen that movie in so long and it was so funny to watch it again. I also found out from Max that we werent seeing a movie but rather a play, with only two actors and aparently it had aspects of a movie or something. Okay... sounds interesting. When we got to the location in London it was already dark out and we had about an hour before we had to be there, so most of us headed to the pub accross the street and ordered a drink (a magners of course for me!). A few of us just sat together and chatted about drinking and about drama and film class and computers and other random chitchat that occurs at pubs. After a while we look around and notice the other group of sudents has left so is it time to make our way back to the theatre.

Now why I dont know, but for some reason I managed to get a buz off that one Magners so I was feeling pretty good. We had to wait for a little bit before we could go in but once we did, it looked like a larger version of the registry theatre in waterloo. Where the seats are raised, but not the stage. It reminded me of all those old dance performances that we used to do at random theatres God knows where. Ah good times. Anywho, we sat down and waited for the show to start. Let me set the scene; lights go up (simple lighting, nohing fancy), there is an empty stage with literally nothing on it. Then someone pops their head out from behind a curtain and looks around. He then proceeds to walk slowly and cautiously to the centre of the stage looking around awkwardly. Oh and by the way he is dressed in black pants, black long sleeved shirt and a black mask/hood thing that covered his whole head...and he had a skeleton paited on the whole costume. He then proceeds to start talking about how that eveing was different than most nights. How there were things missing. Dont even ask what he was talking about the rest ofthe time because I have no idea, non of it really seemed to have any importance. I must give him some props, he had complete control of the audience and it was almost like he was trying to prove it to someone. He would have us laughing and then would completely bring the mood down to this complete awkward boredum. It was almost like an experiment. He must have known what he was doing because he was doing exactly what you arent supposed to do in acting. He would say something and then just pause and stare at the audience, he talked really slowly and I dunno, its hard to explain but it really pissed me off. It was so wrong. I understand its supposed to be artsy but I was annoyed that it felt like he was using us but not in a positive way. He would pat his belly and wonder aroundstage the whole time.

Oh and I almost forgot the girl that came on a few minutes in. She came on and was like..I would like to do my death scene now. So she proceeded to do her death scene...throughout the rest of the play. She would sometimes be really lowd and melodramatic and other times more quiet or almost silent. But she seemed like she was begging the audience for attention. It reminded me of a few things. Once and a while the skeleton wouldsay, now I really like what your doing here Claire, or I really liked that or something. To me it reminded me of all those strange modern dances we used to see for dance. It had the weird breathing and moaning and some really floppy and falling movements. A lot of people were laughing, butI found it hard to because most of the time when we see dances like this they arent supposed to be funny. In the end I was just really unentertained. Though I did laugh at the people I was sitting with. At one point the guy was saying that nobody ever laughed at the part where Claire just laid dead on the floor. Of course right as he says that Max and Devon give out this huge laugh and continue giggling which only makes the rest of us in that area start giggling for another ten minutes when everyone was supposed to be silent and mellow. What surprised me is the actor`s reaction. He did nothing. Now this is normal for a play I know, but I expected him to have some form of reaction, I mean he was alone on stage. This is what got me about this play, they had no reaction to the audience, there was no connection between them and the audience. It was like he had his script and that is what he was sticking to. I must hang out with improvers too much. I later found out that this peice was one in a series that that particular company does and others have been better, but they kinda have a following, like fans who are really into it and keep track and stuff. If you are interested the play was called spectacular by the group Forced Entertainment. On the way back on the bus we watched wedding singer and slept and that was basically my Friday.

Okay so interesting day was Sunday. I went to Stonehenge and Salisbury. Katie and I sat together on the bus and since we both get motion sickness it was a perfect combination. We chatted once and a while but mostly listened to our music and slept. The first stop was Stonehenge. It was really cool because we got a lot closer to it than I thought we would. We kept being told we would be sooo far away from it, but both Katie and I were pleasantly surprised by how close we got. We got some beautiful shots, said hello to the sheepies surounding the area (they were soo cute!) and then made our way to the gift shop. OMG! THere were these stuffed animal sheep that were sooo cute! Hopefully I will have the pictures up on my facebook eventually because they were ultra expensive so i took pictures of them instead. Hee.

Then the coach took the group to Salisbury for shopping and touring and stuff. Katie and I walked to the Cathedral there and saw a Magna Carta that is there and took pictures, though we later found out we werent supposed to. We ran into Jacinta and Amanda so the four of us proceeded to wonder around Salisbury looking in the shops. There was this one that had tea and coffee and chocolate things and it took all of my effort not to buy this tea that came with a tea strainer thing and it was beautiful, but I am being a good girl with my money. We also went into this toy store which at the back had these inapropriate toys like insult buttons and penis noodles and insult booklets and other sexual/insulting things. When we got on the bus they turned on Mean Girls which I havent seen in so long! After that we still had a while so they turned on Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants. That one brought back good memories.

We made it back for dinner and the rest of the night was speant doing god knows what. This past week I have been trying to figure out housing for next year and planning my London trip for this weekend and writing my major Enlgish essay, so lets just say its been a full week. And I still dont know what I am going to do next year about housing, but I`ve got some ideas so we`ll see where it takes me. I am actually thinking living in res looks really good right now, meet some new people and still live on campus. Anywho I`ll keep you updated. I leave today for three nights in London to hopefully get all that extra touring stuff done that I have been meaning to do. I`ll let you know how it goes! OMG you realise its only three weeks until I go home?!

Forgotten Article

So make sure before you read this one, that you read the post below. Yes I know it is long, but I still recomend you to check it out. What I forgot was the beginings of my lists of "rules" or at least lessons I have learned while here in Enlgand. The first is, as you have read before, listen to your body, aka dont climb a Scottish mountain after eating a shitload of fudge. The second is DO NOT use duct tape to attach anything to the walls or ceilings in a room or apartment you have rented or in any way do not own. It ends badly. The story that goes along with this is that when I got back from my mid term trip Angie and I were very excited because we received in the mail halloween decorations from my dear parents. I had clear tape and Angie had duct tape. We proceeded to excitingly put up decorations not only on our door but in our room. This included those wire things duct taped to our ceiling (entirely my doing I must admit). So this past week when I went to take them down what should happen, but a tiny bit of paint may have been ripped from the ceiling. I proceeded to use water to remove the rest and luckily no further damage was done. Unfortunately there is still a couple inches with a lack of paint that we are hoping the cleaning staff do not notice. This concludes my list thus far, but I will keep you updated with any further proceedings that make the list.

Two weeks Examined

So last I left off I was just back from Mid term trip right? God I need to fill in two weeks! I can sum up the next few days after I got back farily quickly. I did school work and chatted with people and hung out and all that teenagery stuff that kids do. My film seminar on the Monday went ok. I stood at the from of the class for two hours with two other girls and talked about the silent films, Dr. Caligari and Une Chien Andelou. The later of which I recomend at your own risk. No, I actually do recomend it, just beware... and dont let the first few minutes deter you. It is only a 17 minute long film so I am sure you can all handle it. Its on youtube.

The next big thing was the Thursday. You know why? Because it was HALLOWEEN!!! Yes! Most people were leaving that day or the day before for portugal or Dublin or Amsterdam or they were going clubing so there was only less then 50 of us left to dress up and head down to the pub. Most people speant a good hour or two getting their costumes ready. I went to Kari`s room with her and Katie and Karicia to change. I had decided to be a playboy bunny. You may have seen pictures on facebook. I had a nice blouse on with my corset overtop and a jean skirt with black tights and kneehigh black shiny boots. I even made the ears out of white paper, cardboard, pencil crayons and what else? I am so Canadian, I used duck tape to paste it all together. Katie was a hypie, Karicia was a business woman and Kari was Audrey Hepburn. Katie did the most amazing updo on her. It looked like the real thing and she just looked at a picture. I even gave her my sun glasses which just completed the look, along with a shiny white coat. Cameron and Kurtis came down for a good ol` predrinking game. We played Roxanne. For anyone that doesnt know I shall explain the game. There are two teams. The song Roxanne is played and everytime Roxanne is sung team A drinks. Everytime redlight is sung team B drinks. Well Karicia and I were team Roxanne and Kari and Kurtis were team redlight. OMG Karicia and i were capuncted, snockered, jazzled. And this was only halfway through the song. Dont worry I relaxed it down, I faked it the second half, not that they could tell or cared, the game was only meant to warm us up anyway and keep us warm for our walk down to the castle. Afer that we were in fuzzy land so we went to see Angie, Sophia, Mel and Alison in the room next door. Their costumes were awsome too. They were Beauty Queens from various competitions. Angie was Miss Ontario, Mel was miss BC, and Alison was miss conneticut or something and Sophia was a cheerleader. I love how everyone got so creative since we dont really have much to go by in the way of costumes, but pretty much everyone dressed up as something or other.

Anywho we danced with them for a bit then made our way down to the pub where games and such were to ensue. I chatted with a bunch of people. Anyone who has seen me drink before will understand. I generally dont stand or chat with the same people for more than 5 minutes, I get distracted easily and find myself in need of talking to everyone/move around. At one point we played agame where we had to mummy wrap our slc or dorm person. There is one for each corridore and I am not sure if I`ve told you this before, but ours (D2 and 3) is Sarah. Our corridore lost but it was still fun dressing her up. There was a costume contest but I do not remember who won as it was a while ago. After a couple hours we made our way back up to Bader. Kari, Katie, Cameron, Kurtis and I decided to watch a scary/halloweeny movie. It was called Vamyre. I can honestly say i have no idea what was going on during the movie. I kept getting really bouncy and antsey and completely confused at what was going on in the movie. I sweare even when I did watch the movie I couldnt follow the plot because I was so distracted by the stupid little things that were going on, who the actors were (there were lot of famous actors) and what was going on in the scene and stuff. I think you would understand if you sa the movie, it had quite the mis en scene. I left a couple times to say hi to Angie and them but ultimately speant most of my time asking what was going on in the movie or chatting with them as we were watching. I cant remember any libyisms as it was a while ago though I am sure that Kari and Katie could remember a couple for you. Maybe?

So that night was fun. Then the next day I woke up at 8 for a 9am drive to Brighton. It was shopping day for Libby! Unfortunately it was raining intensely and incredibly windy and chilly, but dont worry I speant as much time as I could inside...the shops. First thing I did was look for a coat. I found an amazing one in H&M but decided to keep looking just incase. I came across this one store with all these amazing dresses and decided sinceI was by meyself and had about 6 or 7 hours to shop I would let myself try on some dresses. It was fabulous because most of them fit beautifully, which made me feel really good about myself. There was one in particular that was so cute and complimented me well enough that I got it for myself. There was onother that had long sleeves that was the most amazing colour and compliment, but the one I ultimately went with was more practical as it had short sleeves and a better shape. So after that I went back to H&M and decided to go with the coat that you will probably see in my facebook photos. Its blue and puffy. There was another that was probably warmer but I dont think complimented me as much and wasnt really my style. The one I got has this weird puff thing in the back that is strangely very ealy 20th century, but I love it.

Next very boringly for everyone else I got organisational stuff for my room. I dont know why but I love organisational stuff. It makes me happy to buy stuff to organise my room, it makes me happy to organise my room. Though I have a feeling in order to keep my room clean I am going to have to get rid of a bunch of random crap that has appeared. Oh well, mostly I find I dont have anywhere to put my dirty laundry. I try to keep it all in this one bag, but there is so much after a while and there is stuff I want to where again because it isnt dirty yeet nd then I dont have to do laundry for a bit longer and so that stuff i try to keep on top of my dresser, it all often all ultimately ends up next to it. Oh well. The next thing I want everyone to do when they go to England (those of us with boobs sizes D and up) is go to the store Bravisimo. I told them they should go to Canada. I went in and got a free bra fitting and it was one of the best I have ever had. I got a fairly young girl who was probably in her early 20s and right away she looked at the bra I had on and went out to find some others I might be interested in. She was so cute wwe talked about traveling since she is interested in traveling and wants to go to Canada and Australia. Basically we just got along very well and chatted like we were old friends, it was cool. She asked me if I was looking for anything in particular and I said I wanted something kinda fancy, sinceI had never really had a fancy bra and maybe a plain one and a sports bra. When she came back she asked if I wanted her to leave while I changed and I said I didnt care so she stayed in and helped me put on the bras and adjust and showed me how to adjust them properly for myself. There is actually a certain way to adjust your breasts in the bra that will make it more comfy and fit better. If anyone is curious just ask and I will explain further, but as it is I will continue with my story. So she also explained to me that when you buy a bra you want the wire in the middle to touch the space inbetween the breasts. I already knew this but I have never been able to find bras that actually do this for me. She finally explained why! Apparently my breasts are very close together, which is what most girls want because that means better and more cleavage, but it makes for harder time with bras. It is so nice to at least understand why I have such trouble! Any who in the end I found four bras that I really wanted and I decided I knew I should only get one...until I looked at the price. Now I must explain that often time one bra can cost between $100 and $120 for me. In this case they were between £25 and £30 pounds. So once I calculated it I decided it would cost just as much for 3 as it did for 1 or 1 and a half bras. So I chose between two of the fancy ones, getting ablack one with pink lining and a bow! I also got a plain one that is designed a little differently, the wire only come up part way between the breasts, so it fits differently and I finally got a sprots bra that holds em down! It is so exciting! I told the people that worked there that I loved the store and they needed to go to Canada. You can order stuff online for fairly cheap so I am very excited for my future comforts sake! They also sell clothes and bathing suits! So who knows next summer I might actually have a bathing suit that fits and that I dont fall out of! I am also thinking that might be a good future summe rjob for me is in a store like that in KW.

Wow, back to my shopping experience, I basically wondered around for a bit, bought another fashion magazine, the newest vogue, and settled into a lunch/supper at a pub overlooking the water. After a fine meal I wandered around in the rain until my minibus ride came. I wsa early, but so was the French prof, who had come, and her companion. I chatted with her about tv shows until we were on our way to Sussex Library to pick up those kids. I chatted with Elizabeth L about books until we got back. When I finally made it back to my room I just relaxed, watched some movies and read. Later on that evening however Karicia came by to say hello and we ended up chatting...until 4am. I dont know how we did it but literarly we looked at the clock were like, should we even bother going to bed? NO, why would we? Breakfast is in 4 hours. It bacame our goal to stay up for 8 and walk down to the castlefor the biggest most bestest breakfast of our lives. So we turned on a movie and "watched" it, while actually dozing during it, not sleeping, just dozing. I remember actually that we were still talking to eachother and apparently understanding one another but neither of us can remember what we had been saying or if we were really even coherent in anything that we were saying. We eventually made it down for breakfast at 8 and paced ourselves over the course of an hour. Yes we made our breakfast last an hour, it was amazing. A few people came in and when we saw them Karicia would give an incoherant hello and wave, I would instead give a booming hello with a lot of flailing of the arms. Needless to say we both had a ginormous nap, not before writing that legendaryily horrible blog of mine from a couple days ago. Grammarily, the content I here kept up to pace.

Anywho, that took a couple days of recovery but the rest of the week was much the same with the teenagerly hanging out, doing schoolwork and just plain being a Libby. Last Friday morning at 5 Angie left for Paris with the French class, I was kinda asleep, though I do remember waking up in time to see her walk out the door, have her say something to me and me mumble and grumble a reply. I think I thought I was still asleep. Which only added to later confusion as when I did fall back to sleep I dreamed that she came back in and said that she missed the coach and couldnt go. It is needless to say when I woke up I was a mass of confusion as her laptop was gone and her backpack, but the dream was so real I had to ask around to make sure she had actually left. This past Saturday I went to the Sussex Library...for 6 hours. I got so much school work done it almost frightens me, I swear I have nightmares about it. Then there was yesterday, Sunday.

So yesterday was my feild study to Vimy Ridge. It was only about 40 kids I think? Mabe a little more or less. Anywho, Jacinta and I were the ones venturing on this trip together. I woke up at 4 to take my shower afer around 3 hours of actualy sleep, I dont know why but I was finding it very hard to sleep that night. Jacinta and I walked down to breakfast around 5 and found that the catering staff had made us packed lunches and breakfasts the night before> I grabbed a couple apples and nibbled on a coisant. We were told that there was basically no realy food to buy while we were there so to stock up now. The summery of this trip is that out of the 17 hours we were gone, 3 of them were at the actual Vimy Ridge, 14 in getting there and back. This isnt necessarily a complaint, but you can understand that it was "brutal" as many of my fellow comrads put it. So what happened was we got on the coach at 5:30 and got to Dover around 7:15. Ahead of schedule allowing us to go into the little traveling station and grab a bathroom break and cash and look around the WH Smith and stuff. around 8 we got back on the coach which subsuquently drove onto the ferry. From there we wondered around the ferry and I decided I felt like poo from lack of sleep and from the rocky boat so I slept most of the way to Calais. From ther eit was another couple hour coach ride to Vimy Ridge. It was weird being on the wrong side of the road with the driver being on the right side.

Once at the ridge we were told we had about 40 minutes to wander around the trenches. Around the trenches were craters and electrical fences warning us not to cross them. We were told many times not to cross the short electrical fences as there were still possible explosives. What ammused Jacinta and I was the fact that not too far off from our view was a feild of sheep. The fence was not quite tall enough I would say (as I saw it from my view) to prevent the sheep from hopping over and wandering around the craters. To be honest the sheep really were quite close to the fence. Of course you can imagine what started to go through my mind as I am sure you all know me well enough by now to imagine it for yourselves, but to my great surprise it was jacinta who pointed it out first. "Oh My God, what if the sheep hopped the fence and wandered accross a mine, it would be little sheep parts everywhere." Now these are not her exact words, but it is the basic idea of how our dramatic sheep mutilation converstaion/ laughing fit started. Now I am not a lover of mutilation and I must say that I have found a deep love and obsession with sheep since I have gotten to Enlgand, but once that first image crossed my mind I could not stop laughing. Mostly at the horridity I guess, I really need to stop questioning humour. It was funny, no reason why, it just was. Basically both Jacinta and I had this forever image of a sheep bouncing along, oo whats this over here? The sheep would ask. Oo look a crater, then Bah boom. Little lamby parts to season the french landscape. Oh God I am horrible, it sounds so bad in writing! I shall now redeam myself with a small aside; once upon a time I was walking to the village listening to music and enjoying my walk thuroughly when I happen to look down and see something furry...something furry and dead. A poor little fox had been run over and was about 3 inches from me. I cried quite dramatically until I reached the village and bought myself an icecream bar to sooth my poor aching thoughts over the poor little foxy. TheEnd. So now you do know, I am a lover of animals and find it quite difficult to eat anything sheep related now as it tends to bah everytime I bite down, but in the case of landmined sheep I surrendered to the darker side of my humour. There is no turning back Anakin.

So now you have an idea of how Jacinta and I were feeling as we were walking through the dramatic historical site. I know it was entirely inapropriate to be making jokes and gigling ferociously, but that really only made more funny to us. At one point we pointed out the sheep to Hailey (I dont know if I have mentioned her but she is on my floor and hangs out Angie, Sophie and them). Hailey reacted with, "I dont know if thats a good idea to put them there. Unless they use them to set off the mines." This only started Jacinta and I on another fit of laughter and sheep related humour. So the sheep were there for our protection, now we get it!

After that whole debacle we were on the coach again for the monument for a rememberence day ceremony, all Canada related and stuff. We got there and there were camera crew there for cbc I beleive and we were told we were to participate in the ceremony. We got to go in a certain place and were each given a white carnation. During the ceremonie there were lots of speeches which I couldnt hear very well because it was so windy. Then they presented the wreaths much like everyother ceremony that you see in Canada. Two girls from the ISC got to present a wreath though I do not remember what it was for. Then all the kids from the ISC lined up and walked to the unknown soldies monument/statue thing and placed the carnation in front of it. I was at the end and admitedly smiled the whole walk up. I dont now why I tend to smile when I am in these situations, I should be all mellow and thoughtful, but for some reason it is natural for me to smile. I dont think that a bad thing anymore though, its just me. Any who after that the choir (they had a french childrens choir there) lead us in singing the British anthem or Queens pledge or song or whatever, sorry I cant remember the name of it at the moment, then the french anthem and then the Canadian anthem half in french half in english. We were then allowed around 15 to take pictures around the monument.

We were back on the coach quite quickly and off to Calais for the ferry. Oh I didnt mention before, on the way from the ferry to Vimy we watched Black Ader, and I was so proud because at least one of the episodes I had already seen. Made me feel all knowledgable (she says as she spells the word wrong, or maybe not, to be honest I dont know). Then on the way from Vimy we watched Joyeux Noel. I recomend it, for a worldwar one movie it is really nice. It isnt too sad, its all awww, and makes you feel semi good inside. I will probably end up showing the main scene to people because thats all you really need to see to make you feel good. I recomend it as a christmas renter. Anywho, once we got to the ferry, it was about a half hour dely to get on the ferry because it was all backed up. I went slightly insane for the half hour as I got really antsy and just wanted to get on the boat. This gave Jacinta and I a good laugh...until we got on the ferry. Then we werent so much in the laughing mood. You see I got nice and sea sick, just nausious but still not cool, mostly this is because the weather was really bad, but not bad enough to be fun. I mostly slept and avoided buying food because it was only 3 hours until we could get supper. I had only really had a couple apples that day and was really banking on supper. So the hour and a half go by and the captain comes over the anouncements, the docks are deleyed and there are 4 ships ahead of us waiting to dock and load off their people, so we are the fifth in line. Pause for a few seconds, so there is going to be a deley of... an hour and a half. A small part of me dies on the inside, dramatic you may say, but I would like to see you when you have barely eaten or slept the whole day and then get stuck on a ferry cought on the very windy english channel for an extra two hours than was expected. Worst part both Jacinta and I agreed was that there was no one to blame. We couldnt be pissed at or complain about anyone because it was no ones fault and in situations like these all you want to do is be pissed at something lagitimate. It is so unsatisfying and redundant to be angry with the weather. We tried sleeping but ultimately ended up having a nice converstation about school and life and our futures and stuff while reasting on eachother for support, oh and we talked about silly old cartoons becausethey were playing Tom and Jerry. The worst part of the voyage was when the ferry wasfinally docking it was so intense that it looked like the titanic, with the whole shuddering and intensity of it all. We finally were told to goto our cars/coaches and when I got on the coach I realised I needed to pee really badly, so evn though we had been warned against it I used the coach bathroom. Well was that an adventure and a half itself. I think i will leave it at that as I dont know where even to begin with that. Once I made it top side and sat down we were almost ready to depart the fucking ferry. Liz the slc summed up the whole ferry very well. "I thought I was going to die on that ferry." Everyone nodded and hhmmed like they were at a southern baptist revival. I half expected someone to shout, hallelujiah, I half wanted to myself.

The rest of the ride we slept. Jacinta had let me sleep on her on the ferry so I let her sleep on me for the ride back. We were supposed to arrivve home at 8:30 to a hot meal. We got back at 12:30. The catering staff was awsome and there was still a meal for us when we got back. Unfortunately I never saw this meal as I decided it was too close to breakfast for me to enjoy supper anymore and that it was time for bed. Jacinta and I got in and then as quickly as I could, switched into pjs and passed out in my loving bed. This concludes my story and I cant wait to share next weeks. I am hopefully back on track, so they wont be quite as long as this one. Then again I find I am saying tha alot so I will make no more promises.

Mid Term Trip day 6 and 7

So I read my last blog again because to be honest I could only remember the first paragraph. I was honest to god falling asleep when I wrote it. I can also say I am quite proud of myself, I mean not half bad for someone who literally had her eyes closed for half of it. I think I will tribute it too all those long nights in highschool and all those 80% essays written in much the same state of mind. It gave me good practise I guess. So I shall finally complete my mid term trip tales and then write about the weeks following as it has now almost been two weeks since. God I am lagging eh? So on to Day 6!

As you may or may not remember I was in Cardiff when I left off in the comfy hostel. I probably should have taken a shower the next morning but it was to much of a hastle, so I put myself together as best I could, packed my things and headed down to check out with Kari and Jacinta. The other four were sleeping in and so we had told them the night before we would meet up with them later. We grabbed breakfast (FREE!) before figuring out where we wanted to go and how to get there. There were a few seconds when we had already left when it was a bit iffy since I apparently dropped the map I had grabbed in the hostel. Luckily Kari has an amazing sense of direction or an awsome memory since we just kinda trouped after her for a while before we came upon Cardiff Castle. We were there pretty early so there were barelly many people there yet. Jacinta and I were able to put our luggage down in a holding area while we looked around. It is huge!

First we went on a tour of the house part of it. The guide was very good, kinda stuffy, but he knew his stuff and was quite good at explaining it to us. This part of the castle was newer and used when this certain family owned the castle and used it as there house a few months out of the year to live in (18th and 19th century). It was owned by one of the wealthiest families in Britian. They apparently had many other "houses" around Britain. There was real gold leaf on the ceiling and elaborate paintings and carving and marble and such everywhere. There were some of the wood in the ball room apparently came from Halifax, which of course excited us. Another Canadian connection was in a room were a couple beavers were carved into the fireplace. The guide said that whether they were Canadian or American beavers was to our own opinions and we all scoffed, because everyone knows beavers are all Canadian. Also as we were going into a certain room the guide said (after pointing out all this elaborate marble work and wood carving and gold leaf), "could you imagine living in a real Castle, having it as your home". I said quite seriously, "I can`t even imagine living in a castle." To which Kari replied "Libby, we DO live in a castle." Well then. Of course we had a good laugh over that one, Oh Libby.

After the tour we decided to go on the audio tour around the walls and to the centre dungeon thing. First we were shown this hilariously epic 15 minute movie about the castle then we were given our guides and taken along the wall of the castle as well as to the middle dungeon thing with a real mote around it. There are pics on Facebook that I will eventually label. There were a lot of staris to the top, but we made it. I got some amazing pictures of Kari and Jacinta, they took some good ones of me in return and then we departed to the gift shop (not forgetting our bags I promise). Next we hopped onto the open top bus tour of cardiff. I recomend this as it was only £6 for students and it takes you all over Cardiff with a guide telling you about the site and stuff. There are at least ten stops too where you can hop off and hop back on again. The ticket lasts you two days and it is basically a great deal. We sat up there until it took us to Cardiff Bay and the site of Torchwood! The guide told us it had been all torn up the week before as they were shooting an episode of Torchwood where the office thing gets blown up! So cool, it obviously was fine when we saw it as our pictures prove. We all took pictures of eachother and generally freaked out as we love Torchwood. We walked to the water and got pictures next to the entrence of the doctor who thing. Kari got some baeutiful pictures of me, which was really exciting. She told me at one point to take off all my bags as I looked like a pack horse (all in fun) and I must admit I did. I had one backpack on, a strapped bag at my front and a purse at my side. I am glad she told me to drop em cause the pictures would not have had the same quality if you know what I mean.

Next we were going to go to the Doctor Who exhibit but it was closed for renovation so instead we hopped on the bus and made our way back to the castle to explore the shops around there. We came upon this one used book store at one point and you can imagine how long we spent there. It was amazing, had some really good stuff for really good prices. But no worries I decided to save my money for another day. Or food purhaps. It was at this point we met up with the other four and I departed from Kari and Jacinta. They were going home (to Bader) and I was going to stay with the other four for another night. Kari and Jacinta were awsome and took my backpack so that I only had to carry one (technically two) bags. So the four of us wandered around window shopping until I mentioned I hadnt eaten since breakfast some 9 hours before (I had forgotten) and we all decided we were hungry and started a hunt for a good and cheap fooding nest. We came upon a tavern pub thing and it was another one of those places you have to go to the counter to get your food. We went up two and three at a time. When Varsha, Shandice and I went up we were befriended by a couple guys in their late twenties. They described us in (in their drunken manner) as the one who talks a lot (Shandice), the one who knows everything (Varsha) and the one who doesnt say anything at all(me). Give me a break I was hungry and willing to bite into the next thing I saw...oh you dirty dirty minds! I didnt mean it like that! So I got a Magners this time (another type of cyder, but one you cant get in Canada). So after we ditched them we sat back down and I sipped my Magners. So I am not a light weight, but having no food can effect you, if you know what I mean. So I felt the Magners and my arms started to do the flaily thing a little, but not too bad. This group is hilarious, especially when not drinking. I basically was constantly laughing the whole night and next day.

The others had gone to the hotel already and left their stuff there as they were not allowed to check in. We got on a bus to go to our hotel which was a good 30 minute bus ride if not longer from Cardiff Central. The girls started chatting with some youngens on the bus. One guy was drunk and basically insulting Americans the whole time and the girls around him were trying to be nice and make up for him veing kinda rude. He kept appologizing after he would say something insulting which only made it weirder. Shandice is from the states kind of, she moved to Canada when she was a little older, so I think thats what got him started. He eventually got off and we all had a big laugh about it. The lodge itself was pretty good, clean and with a tv in the room. The rooms were small and squishy, but to be honest I liked it that way. I shared a room with Shandice, Varsha and Steph were together and Sarah was really excited to have her own room. The others decided to go out to some clubs and dance and stuff, but I was questioning whether I felt like it. What deadened the bolt for me was when a Chef Ramsey program came on and I was glued to the screen, it was amazing, I couldnt leave now. Plus the taxi and bus fair there and back plus the drinks wasnt worth it, especially when I had chef Ramsey. I also wasnt feeling great so I figured it was a win win. That night was basically speant with me taking a shower, watching chef Ramsay and then reading some of my magazines and watching some angsty movie about a girl with massive issues, then going to sleep.

The next day started with everyone getting their stuff together (them leaving their stuff again, to be picked up at the end of the day) and then us all making our way into town. I was treated to all the fun drunken stories of the night, including them accidentally walking into a gay bar/club. Apparently they were like "this is awsome, look at all the guys." Then they all one at a time realised there was something off. I think they left fairly quickly if you know what I mean. So we got to town and since it was a little afternoon we decided to grab lunch. We went to pizza express and had some amazing pizza as well as indulged in amazing dessert. OMG, it was soo good! mmmmmm. Sorry we havent had much in terms od food this week, I think tis leftover week or something, I miss real food! Anywho we then went on the open bus tour again (which I got free since I stil had the ticket from the day before). We went down to the bay, got more pictures and wandered around. Steph and checked out the Doctor Who exhibit as it happened to be open that day (boo). It wsa cool, not as elaborate as the London one, but still cool. We next went and met up withthe other three at the bus station. Thats when Shandice`s ticket got blown away in the wind and her and Sarah chased it accross the street and into the fountain. Varsha, Steph and I watched as the two of them attempted using a stick to prod it out, then failing having to take off their shoes and socks and roll up their pants to go in after it. Oh the life of a student. This was of course accompanied by Varsha laughing so hard she knocked her head on the metal pole next to us, giving off a reverbrating ring. We got on the bus and made our way up to the main shopping area to shop and window shop and such.

We shopped for an hour or two, concluding in one store of which i bought a lovely pair of leg warmers. It was one of those indy, punkish shops, which made me laugh because they were selling various forms of drugs (legal) in the front case. Dont ask why it made me laugh, it just did. I then got a strange urge for MacDonalds, something I havent eaten literally for years, so we went there for our supper. By this time it was 6ish 6:30ish and fully dark out. I decided while they went to get their stuff I would walk to the train station alone since it was silly to chip in for a taxi when I didnt need one. I think it was the only time I have been nervous walking around in a strange city alone at night. Not because it was dangerous at all, I mean I stayed on the main roads for gods sake, but for some reason I got nervous. But I obviously made it to the station and obviously the others met up with me. I grabbed another magazine that had free dark chocolate in it, which made me really happy. We had to wait for a little bit for the train so we scoped out some pretty boys. The first train to london was fine. Then we took a subway to a different station, which was also fine. We had to wait a while in the London Station, so Sarah and I plaed agame where we watched the big board that said what platform had what train coming to it and cheered everytime they announced on it the platform the next train had t obe at. They usually announced it a couple minutes before the train was to leave, so thats what made it so exciting. We eventually made it to the right platform and then we were told to make sure we were on cars 1 to 4 as 5 to 8 were going somewhere else at one point when the cars split. Not this again. So this one nice guy tells us that the back 4 are the ones we want to be on. (it was right it was coaches 1 to 4). We sat down for a bit and after some time it is announced that coaches 5 to 8 were going to polegate(our stop). This nice lady behind us told us that we had time to switch if we wanted to wait (she was from Toronto). So we waited then made our way to the back. I had to stand as there werent enough seats not next to creepy people. After a few more stops we are told that the next stop is when the trains are seperating and to make sure you are on cars 1 to 4 if you are going to polegate. So we fairly grouchily force ourselves awake and rush to car 4 right bofore the switch. We luckily all got seats and quickly fell asleep. I woke up some time later and decided it wouldbe a good idea to listen to what stop was next. Except I had already missed that and what I heard next was the train stop and the announcer say "Polgate Station." You should have seen everyone jump. One second they are fast asleep, the next they are popping up, swooping their stuff into their arms and high tailing it off the train. We all got off in one peice and luckily we only had to wait around 10 minutes for our taxi before loading our stuff and making it back to Bader Hall.

We made it back around 1:30am and me expecting Angie to be asleep tries unsuccessfully to sneak into the room only to find Angie still awake and chatting with Kevin. So I now have renewed energy and decide to show her all the stuff I bought and chat with her and Kevin for another hour before I fall fast asleep in my own bad at last. THE END. Not quite actually, let me tell you has it been an action packed week and a half. So just watch out for the next installment of my life. A preview eh? Well lets just say we have to cover Libby and Angie`s decorating debacle, my film seminar, HALLOWEEN NIGHT, as well as my shopping experience in Brighton. Till next time!