I'm alive! And, I'm using an English keyboard, so bare with me if things get typo-ish. I think I can handle it, though.

So. I'm in Oxford, and tomorrow I check in at Brasenose College. Until then, I'll spend my second night at the hostel. Northwest lost my luggage. Yeah. So I have one more clean outfit before I really need to worry. Also, the hostel does not have internet ... so that's the reason for my delay. I'm avoiding my email, since I'm sure it's jammed.

The enter key is so hard to find!

Oh, and my cell phone doesn't work.
And my flight was extremely delayed getting into London.

But other than that, I'm alright. The city is nice (but huuuge), and the weather is pretty damn entertaining. I could sit in the hostel and watch it and laugh, but I have far better things to do.

Sorry for the short post. Hopefully BNC's internet will work tomorrow. For now, I have to try to track down my baggage, figure out my cell problem, and email a few people who probably think I'm dead.

Ridiculousness

Alright. I think I’m actually going to survive the next day and half, and find myself in London! After huge problems with Northwest, I think everything is straightened out. That was a nightmare, by the way.

And, if you’ve seen the itinerary that I sent out, the flight numbers posted there are wrong. What happened was, NWA canceled my flight to Baltimore. So, they then put me onto a flight to Amsterdam, and then to London from there. Yikes! Then, to make things more difficult, they also scheduled me for another flight to Baltimore. So, I was supposed to be in two places at once, on two separate routes to London.

After a few hours, I got it all straightened out with NWA (they were very nice about it), and now I’m back to the original plan of going to Baltimore first, and then on to London. The flight to Baltimore is earlier than first expected, but as long as I get there, I’m happy.

Also, the plans for renting an apartment in London are finalized. Yippee! That’s going to be much better than staying in a hotel. We can make our own food, do laundry, and pretend we live in London. It’ll be fantastic.

Needless to say, I’m excited. I just hope I don’t forget anything too important! Oh, and I got all of those papers finished, somehow. Still not sure how I did it on time.

Cant Take the STRESS! *tweaks out*

Ahhh! So stressed out.

I leave Thursday afternoon.

I still have to:
Get dressed.
Get all of my stuff from Sean's place.
Write 3 essays.
Haggle over grades with 2 professors.
Visit my grandparents.
Return crap at Target.
Set up my computer for my little sister.
Get to Oakland from State.
Return library books.
Do Laundry.
MOVE OUT OF APARTMENT BEFORE 9pm tonight.
Find an extra few thousand dollars for my trip.
PACK/figure out what the hell to take
waterproof my shoes
figure out a cell phone solution
find a few thousand more dollars
get on the freakin' plane


I don't know if I'll make it. I have so much to do before I fly out!
Hah. So instead, I'm writing on this thing.
Wish me luck!

Travel Journal Entry Numero Uno!

So, here's the deal-io.

This is going to be my shiny new TRAVEL JOURNAL!
I know, you're all dancing around unable to contain your excitment.
Calm down! It's much easier to read when you're sitting still.

I'm writing this not only for my own record, but also for the handful of people who want to live vicariously through me while I'm abroad. Friends, family, co-workers, strangers ... you're all welcome to watch for updates. Hopefully I'll be able to upload pictures pretty regularly, especially since I'm bringing my nifty laptop with me.

For those of you interested, here's the overview of my next month and a half:

• Fly out to London on June 28th and somehow get to Oxford.
• Throughout the month of July, take a class about British dramas and theatre with Prof. Brian Connery at Brasenose College (BNC), which is part of the University of Oxford.
• Study multiple plays and SEE THEM PERFORMED with the class. So far, I know we're doing Midsummer Night's Dream, Love's Labours Lost, and Macbeth, along with a few more. Plus, we're going to theatres like the National Theatre, the Globe, and the Swan in Stratford-upon-Avon
• Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Release Party! I'm totally going. It's in London, and it's pretty impossible to get into. But, I'm sure there will be a few thousand fans hanging around outside, and I'll be one of them! Probably won't dress up, though. That's just a little too much.
• London, Cambridge, Stonehenge, Bath, Avebury, and a few places in between are all on my list of "excursions".
• SEAN! My wonderful boyfriend is joining me out in Oxford at the end of my term. Once that's finished, we'll be staying in either Oxford or London for another week, then we'll go to Paris for a few nights, and then back to northern London to visit his relatives. Seeing him after a month will definitely be the best part of this trip.
• Come home! I'll be back in Michigan on August 8th. That gives me about 40 days to make my mark in England.

So, there you have it. A brief overview. It'll probably change drastically over the next few months. I'll try to post often and keep it somewhat interesting. But, if you don't hear from me for a few days, email me! I might have fallen into the Thames or something.

Shower Epiphany

So in about a year (or less!), I'll be moving out of the student apartments and into a great little apartment complex in Rochester Hills. My friend found it and already toured it and everything.

It's odd. I don't really have many friends who are girls. In fact, right now I live with two guys. That took a bit of getting used to for my boyfriend. Anyway. The girl I might move in with is really nice, and we're really compatible.

Moving off campus would be a nice change, since there isn't any actual college life here. Plus, there's nothing to do for free and in walking distance, save for... well, walking around. Rather pitiful. If I'm not in class or at work (on campus, of course), then I'm sitting in my room being lazy and watching TV or wasting time online. I'm tired of it.

Rochester would be a great change. It's only 4 miles from campus (easy commute), and the area is fantastic. The public library is next door, as is the big park. About a block away is Starbucks and beyond that is the "main drag" of Main St, complete with bars, a bakery, boutiques, and other lovely things. I <3 it.

Back to the epiphany. I've been hankering after a dog for a while now. However, the apartment I live in is not pet-friendly. The apt. complex I'd move to with Marlene takes both cats and dogs! Plus, Marlene wants to get a teacup yorkie. What's better than getting a dog? Why, getting a roommate with a dog! All the playtime I want, next to no responsibilities, and no long-term commitment!

The more I think about it, the more it's shaping up in my mind. This move could be exactly what I need. Right now, I'm riding on the edge of a rut and about to be sucked in. If I can survive another semester or two as an on-campus resident then the move to R-Hills would be excellent.

Enough babbling. Back to Shakespeare. It's exam time.

Countless Beginnings

I have a blog.
Again.

I think this is my 6th or 7th blog that I've begun with the intent of seeing it through.
There are hidden dreams of fame, or at least dreams of people reading what I write.
Everyone with a blog hopes for readers, though.



Anyway.
I guess I should talk about myself since this is my introduction to Blogger.
I'm 21, naturally blonde-ish, and double majoring in history and English for secondary education at a not-so-well-known university in Michigan. Instead of going to Michigan State or University of Michigan, I opted to save money by going to this much more intimate, commuter-driven school. It's alright, I guess. This fall will begin my 4th year here.

This fall will also mark my 4th year at the university's library. I work the front desk as a "Access Services Student Employee". Yeah. Glorified version of a Check-Out girl. It's a pretty plush job, all things considered. I sit at the front desk and watch people walk in and out of the library. Sometimes they check out books. Sometimes they return books. Sometimes they try to steal books, and then our ear-piercing alarm system goes off and I have to call the supposed perpetrator back to the desk so I can politely accuse them of stealing. More often than not, the alarm gets set off by someone's laptop charger, which makes everyone involved somewhat angry.

There's more to my job than that, but to the untrained eye, that's all I do when I'm not pushing 600 lb. book carts to and fro, or picking up after the slobs on the main floor and in the stacks. (By the way, being able to call the aisles and shelves "the stacks" is a sweet perk of being a library girl.)

On the first day of each semester I am instantly recognized as the library girl by my new classmates. In every class, people expect me to remember the one time they came in three months ago with a $2 fine/crappy pick-up line/pizza, and then apparently I'm expected to reminisce with them about this moment in their lives. Yay. And, when that's not the case, my new classmate(s) want to know if I can get them any sweet perks if they come in while I'm work.

It's a friggin' library, people. The perk is books.

In about 22 days I'll be on a plane, flying across the Atlantic. For all of July I'm going to be studying abroad at Oxford University (BNC, for those who want the specifics). I'm extremely excited - and extremely broke from paying for all of this. It should be amazing.

• So, here's one of those old-school survey things for those who hate to read long and rambling intros. I'm making it up as I go, so maybe it won't be much better than me rambling.
• Nickname: Library Girl
• Age: 21
• Home: Michigan
• Current Desire: A dog, more money, and some lasagna.
• Status: Very un-single.
• Current Obsession: Threadless.com, the UK, and reading.
• Current Books: Duel by T. Fleming, Mrs. Dalloway by V. Woolf, The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath, Gossip Hound by W. Holden, The Peppered Moth by M. Drabble, and The Narrative Life of Frederick Douglas by himself.
• Childhood Dream: To be an author/princess/teacher/fairy
• Current Goals: To graduate, to write for the school paper, and to find a better paying job.

I really want a book journal. That way I might be able to keep track of what I've read this year. Ah. Too bad the year is already half gone.

Oh, and also, I've been keeping a pen and paper journal since I was about 10 years old. So, while I'm not a novice to recording thoughts, I'm pretty shabby when it comes to blogging. All tips and tricks are more than welcome!