Celebs and Horses

The History Boys was a weird play. Some of it was very good, and some was just weird. I can't decide if I liked it or not. Most people liked it, but some hated it. I have no idea how to describe what it was about. Short version: a group of boys trying to get into Oxford and Cambrigde. But you know who starred in it? Uncle Vernon from Harry Potter! Haha. And today Nathan Lane walked right by us on the street! (I didn't see him, but Liz did.) He is in The Producers right now, replacing Richard Dreyfus who got injured.

Anyway, tomorrow Jen and I go to Wales for a wonderful weekend of sleep, nature, and horses! :) I'm excited! But now I am going to meet Amanda back at the flat (another IWUer who is studying somewhere else in London. She's really nice!)
Toodles!
-Jen

A wee las goes to Ireland

Hello! I'm back from Ireland! It was definitely fun, though not completely all I expected. I went with 9 other people, and we flew to Dublin on Thursday night. We pretty much just went to the hostel and went to bed because everything was closed. In the morning I went with Sam, Jon, and Jen on a bus tour around the city. It was one that you could hop on and off to see what you wanted to see, and then get back on a different one. We stopped at St. Patrick's Cathedral. I wasn't sure if I wanted to go because we've seen so many cathedrals, but I'm glad I did because it was my favorite one. It had a really neat ambiance, and cool historical documents, plaques, and artifacts along the walls. There were some beautiful stained glass windows, too. Not as big or as many as the other cathedrals, but prettier, I thought. We also stopped at Trinity College to see the Book of Kells, a 9th century Bible with lots of intricate paintings and designs. It was really neat, and interesting to think about how Bibles used to be so rare, having to be copied by hand, and that we're lucky that today we can have our own, and that we are able to read them as well! We also saw the great room, which was huge and beautiful, filled with books to the ceiling and busts of famous thinkers and writers, like Plato, Aristotle, Shakespeare, and lots more. That was one of the best things. Then we went to the Guiness Factory and took a self-guided tour that told us about how they make it and all sorts of stuff. It was 7 huge floors of stuff and at the top there was a bar in a big room with a panoramic view of Dublin! It was really neat, although Dublin isn't exactly a pretty city. We also saw O'Connell Street, Grafton Street, Dawson Street (Jen Dawson liked that one), the Molly Malone Statue, the Bank of Ireland/House of Lords, and the River Liffey. We trekked through the rain to find a place for dinner, and then we went to a pub in the basement of a hotel where they had live Irish music and dancing. That was fabulous! (And the best part-it was free!) The music was just like what Fergal and Breda King play at Wine & Roses on St. Patrick's Day, only it was actually in Ireland. I even knew some of the songs, like Wild Rover ("And it's no, nay, never- clap clap clap clap- no, nay never no more..."). And the Irish dancers were great too. It was the ultimate Irish experience.

The following day I spent with Jon, Jen, and Sam again because we were the 4 who wanted to go to Galway. It is a town on the opposite coast from Dublin, where some of my family and Jon's were from. It was about a 4 hour bus ride, and we saw a lot of rural countryside, but it actually looked a lot like England (some of the others saw some cliffs, waterfalls, and more Irish landscape in other parts of Ireland though). We got there and found a pub to eat at called O'Flaherty's, which was great because Jon's last name is Flaherty! Then we started in search of Galway Bay. We saw it and crossed over a big footbridge along the train tracks to get to it, and someone told us where to go to get a good view. We followed his instructions and found ourselves at an Irish military base! We were trying to decide if we could take the path around the base or not, when a guy in uniform came out (seemingly the only one on duty) and told us we could take it. So, we walked around and got a nice view of the Bay, seeing a few guys golfing on the way. Then we went back to find the town to do some shopping, and then Jen left to take the 6:30 bus back to Dublin (the last one of the night), but Jon, Sam, and I decided to stay and take the 2:15am bus back! After Jen left we realized that unfortunately all the shops close at 6pm. So, there was nothing to do but go to pubs! Funny enough, Jon loved going to all the pubs (he's the one of us who is the biggest non-drinker!) He liked getting the Irish experience, particularly the music. It is really neat that they have traditional music in a lot of the pubs. But seeing as they were the only places open and it was then pouring outside, they were very crowded, some requiring you to force your way through a sea of people to even breathe. Needless to say, I got some sort of strong smelling alcohol spilled all over my pants and backpack (which went nicely with the Guinness someone spilled all over my shirt the day before)! It was a fun night, though. We looked for a place to eat dinner and couldn't find one that was cheap enough or traditional enough for us, so we asked some girls, and they said, "Oh, there's a nice little place called O'Fla-Herty's you could try!" Haha. We actually did end up going back there, because it was good, warm, uncrowded, and had a rugby match on a big screen. I had Irish stew. :) We had lots of laughs and good memories that night, and went to a few more pubs, wherever we could get a seat and get dry. In the last one we were in, it was 2am and we were about to leave to catch our bus, when a song came on the radio that I didn't know, but it sounded very familiar. All of a sudden I said, "Wait, guys, it's Dance the Night Away!" This is an incredibly corny song that somehow got popular, and William Radice (the poet we met at Riding Mill) and Dr. and Mrs. Hatcher all got up and danced to in the middle of the chapel the night we heard him speak. It was completely ridiculous, and hilarious to see our professor, his wife, and a poet all dancing crazily for about 5 minutes and trying to get us to dance. So it's a funny thing with the 12 of us. Hence why we had to stay and listen to it! And yes, we danced! In honor of Dr. Hatcher and William Radice! Even Sam, who always refuses, danced, though he now won't admit it! So, it was pretty funny, and we told Dr. Hatcher today! After that crazy stunt, we went to find our bus, and all of a sudden weren't completely sure that there was a 2:15 bus! Uh oh. We started to get a bit worried, and it didn't help that since midnight Jon had been saying, "Hey, guys! We're on the wrong side of the country, and our plane leaves today!" Ha! Well, after a while of standing in the cold rain, there was a bus and we did get on it, and they did accept our tickets even though they expired at midnight. So, we got back ok, although we arrived in Dublin at 6:30am, had to check out of the hostel at 10:30, and leave for the airport at 1! Kind of a crazy night/day! But somehow I stayed awake and had a good last few hours in Dublin. All in all, it was a good trip, though I wish I could have stayed longer and seen other parts of Ireland. Maybe I'll get to go back someday...

It's London life again for a few days. We've been writing papers, and tonight we're going to see The History Boys. I don't really know what it's about, but I've heard it's good. We're also picking classes for next semester and May term. IWU has made some poor choices about which classes to offer (like no Analysis of Values or Contemporary Social Institutions gen. ed. classes offered in May term, which many of us need). It looks like I will have to take my last two gen. eds and a class in each of my minors (I'm thinking I will go for the English minor after all), so no classes in my major! That's fine, though, because I've taken a lot of psych classes already and I need all the ones I am taking. It looks like I will be taking Social Problems, Sexuality and Christianity, Spanish Lit, and Practical Criticism. Oh, and Fencing, for fun! My schedule will be Monday/Wednesday 10-2 (2 classes with a lunch break), and a rough 8-12 (3 classes) on Tues/Thurs. But that will leave Fridays off and completely free afternoons 2 days a week! Not too shabby! (Though it will be filled with work, studying, a possible internship, and tons of activities!) May Term I plan to take Helping Skills, a psychology class that doesn't count for anything except a credit, but is one of the few psych classes offered that actually relates to what I want to do. So, if all goes well with registration, it'll be good. I better go work on my paper now, since we have to leave for the play soon! I'm working on getting postcards out, but it's pretty busy, so sorry to those of you I promised one and haven't sent yet! Feel free to write to me too and tell me what's going on at home!
~Jen

"Alive, alive-O! Alive, alive-O! It's cockels and mussels, alive, alive-O!" -'Molly Malone'

A week in Northern England

October 17
Well, I’m finally back in London after 10 days of going all over! 3 days in Barcelona, 5 hours in London, 5 days in Riding Mill, and 2 in York. I’m exhausted! But at least I’m almost over my cold or whatever it was. I gave it to Pat and Sam, though. Oops.

Barcelona was fabulous! I don’t remember what I wrote about it, but here are some highlights of the trip:
- Parc Guell
- La Sagrada Familia
- The beach!
- Experiencing a hostel
- Trying to speak Spanish
- Meeting people from all over the world
- Trying Spanish food (some good, some not)
- Walking along La Rambla
- The cable car ride over the city and beach
- And lots more neat experiences and memories with Pat, Jen, and Liz

Riding Mill was also fabulous! The whole group went for our mid-semester break. Aside from the travel, some speakers, and reading, it was a break, which was really nice. Riding Mill is a tiny town outside of Newcastle in northern England, one of those towns that has more cows than people. We stayed at Shepherds Dene, a beautiful retreat center about a mile away from town, which basically consists of a pub and a post office. Everything else was pastures with sheep, cows, and horses. It was very pretty and looked just how I pictured English countryside. We had single and double rooms which were very cute and quaint, like a bed and breakfast, and the center made some of our meals for us. I wasn’t used to some of the food, but some of it was very good and it was so nice to have home-cooked meals that weren’t microwaveable. Our speakers were for Dr. Hatcher’s class, Religion After Empire. I think they were some old acquaintances of his. One was a vicar (I think that is like an Anglican priest?), one was a poet, and one was a professor of religious education (which is mandatory in British schools from age 5-18!) The poet read and explained some of his poetry, which was pretty neat. The vicar talked mostly about pluralism. The professor explained what religious education is like in Britain (it includes many religions, and students’ own non-religious worldviews and other things). Some of what we heard and read this week was interesting and good, but some of it I just didn’t buy. I’ve been reading articles and books and hearing from professors and even a vicar about how you shouldn’t hold any "absolutist claims", but I think they are teaching me their own absolutist claims. I believe, and think logically, that there is an absolute truth (something must be true, after all), and to say there cannot be is itself an absolute truth. There is a difference between that and claiming complete truth, because there’s no way as a human to know everything in the universe, but I think there is truth and that we can seek it out and learn some of it, and that God shows some of it to us. I don’t like being told that believing exclusively in something is necessarily going to lead to nuclear world destruction. I know that some people take their beliefs to negative extremes, like suicide bombings and beheading innocent people, like I’m taught and I see in the news. But believing in something strongly can be admirable and does not mean that you are going to violate the rights of others like that. The things we have been exposed to in that class, specifically from the Postcolonialism book, have been teaching us to think critically, so I am applying that principle to what we are learning now, and not just accepting everything I am taught as true, which I think is a good thing, and one of the goals of the course, even if Dr. Hatcher would prefer I subscribe to his views. Overall, I think it’s a good learning experience.

Anyway, on Tuesday we went to Hadrian’s Wall, a 73 mile long stone wall (about 5 feet high, maybe) built by the Roman Emperor Hadrian to show where Roman territory stopped when the Romans occupied England. We hiked about 3 miles along it, though I think it was more than that because it was up and down a lot of big, rocky hills! It was fun, and beautiful to look out over the countryside and see so much green, and sheep and lakes and trees. I was originally disappointed that we were going there instead of Allihies in Ireland like last year’s group did, but now I am glad we did it. It was a great experience, and a side of England I would not have otherwise gotten to see. It was definitely the highlight of the week. We also took a day trip to Durham to see the cathedral and the town. I didn’t particularly like Durham, though. It was probably partially because I was feeling very sick that day (as were most of us), it was rainy, and we just wanted to be in bed back at Shepherds Dene. Oh well. It was one more place I got to see, and I’m not sick anymore!

Thursday was Jon’s birthday, and we all pitched in to pay for a round of golf (he is a golf maniac!). He loved it. I also got him a bunch of little things he likes, like a golf keychain, IRN-BRU (a funny kind of soda here), Frosties (Frosted Flakes), and stuff like that. It was funny, because we all associate him with all those things. He really liked it. We all went to the Wellington (the Riding Mill pub) for dinner. It was a really cool place, with fireplaces, candles on every table, and a very cozy English atmosphere, especially when it was raining outside. We had to walk back to SD with a flashlight, because without it it was pitch black out there on the country road. It was actually kind of refreshing to be away from all the city lights. But we still didn’t get to see any stars. Oh well.

Most of my nights there consisted of playing crazy eights in Sam and Pat’s room with Sam, Pat, and Allison or Jon or Jen. Pat sang us camp songs in a Sean Connery accent (it was hilarious!) and made up silly sonnets about Sam. It was a lot of fun. During the days I took some walks and made friends with a horse who was so cute! I named him Sunny (not like Jen’s dog Sonny) because he was brown but had a blond mane that made him look like a male model from California. And because he was very friendly! He was nuzzling me and lifted up the side of my shirt and licked me! I jumped, he got scared, Pat freaked out and told me not to do that, and we all went a little crazy. It was funny. I’ll never get to see Sunny again, but we had a wonderful two day friendship. He said goodbye to Sam and Pat, but wouldn’t even look at me. I think it was because he couldn’t bear such a sad goodbye. Parting is such sweet sorrow…

I’m sure there was more I’m forgetting about Riding Mill, but that’s all I can think of right now. We spent Friday night and Saturday inYork, which was not very fun because it was very rainy. We stayed in a hostel, so we hung out there a lot and had some funny moments and card matches. I also tried Indian food and Turkish food! (and Korean food today!) They were both good, but I especially liked the Indian food. I’m glad some of the people with me like Indian food a lot and like to try different types of food, because I’m not too picky but I probably would never have just gone to an Indian or Turkish restaurant on my own. It just wouldn’t have occurred to me because I tend to stick with what’s familiar. Variety is good sometimes, though. Still, I do miss things about home, and food is one of them. I mean, we’re not famous for incredible American cuisine or anything, but sometimes a girl just wants some cheese fries…

Anyway, now I’m back in London for a short week of writing papers and studying for a quiz and preparing for Thursday’s trip to Ireland! I can’t believe I have crazy trips planned for every weekend! And I can’t believe my time here is just about halfway through! It’s been good so far, though. It’s a little bit of a daze since I’ve done so much and the time is going by so fast, but I know I’m learning and having great experiences and making memories. It’s definitely been worth it. But now, I need to focus on the first half of "study abroad" for a few hours. History paper, here I come!
-Jen


"But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things- and the things that are not- to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him." -2 Corinthians 1:27-29

"Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see." -Hebrews 11:1

Adios a Espana

Hi again! It's Sunday, our last day in Barcelona. I think we're mostly going to hang out at the beach. Yesterday was really cool, though. Jen and I walked down the street to a pattiserie and I had a croissant with chocolate inside. Yum! We then went the Picasso museum. I didn't realize he had painted so many "normal" paintings. There were only a few funky ones. It was good, and I got a couple postcards of paintings to put in the journal I am making for art class. After that, Pat went on a bike tour of the city, which sounded awesome, but I didn't know if I could last 4.5 hours, and there were some other things I wanted to see. So, Jen, Liz and I went to the Parc Guell (designed by Antonio Gaudi), which is probably right up there with Oxford for my favorite things about the trip so far. It isn't a typical park as we would think of it. It has palm trees, other types of trees, lots of stone steps, funky designs, a few crazy looking buildings, and mosaic type pieces all over. It's hard to explain, but you can look it up or wait for pictures. At the top you can see over the city. It was great. I actually got a lot of arial views of Barcelona, between the Gaudi park, the cable car, and the national art museum steps last night. Anyway, after Gaudi, we met up with Pat at the beach and I swam in the Mediterranean! I didn't go too far out, but it was fun, warm, and there was a pretty sunset behind us over the city. Muy bueno. Then we walked around looking for a place to eat dinner, but they dont eat the kind of dinner we do, and nothing opened til 8:30. We finally found a place and got a bunch of appetizery things. I had a vegetable omlet, which was sorta like green keish, and a three cheese hot sandwich (grilled cheese with lots of different strong cheeses). It was a bit too intense. Yikes. Then we had gelato again. Pistacio, tira misu, and dutch chocolate. Yumm. Then we went to the place where they had some of the Olympic stuff in ..1992(?) because there was supposed to be a laser light show and the turning on of a big fountain. We sat there til almost midnight, but didn't find it. There was a little carnival but it was kind of creepy. So we hiked up the really tall steps of the art museum and looked out over the night skyline and talked. It was cool. The weather is very nice. Very mild. But I am getting sick. I've been a bit sneezy since we got here (Pat said Im allergic to Spain), but now it's turning into a cold. Plus I hadn't gotten much sleep cuz people in my room snore really really loudly. So, the good thing about being sick and a bit run down is that I was so tired I actually slept through most of the snoring last night. Yay! So, today it's to the Sagrada Familia, to get more churros, sit on the beach, have paella for dinner, and fly back to London. Hope you're all doing well. I must be off now!

Barcelona rocks!

Hello again! Liz and I did sleep on the roof last night! I didn't sleep much because the mattress was sorta damp, and I could hear cars going by, but it was still cool! We got up in the morning and took the metro into the main part of the city to Las Ramblas, the main pedestrian street, where they had a huge produce market, lots of flower, pet, jewelry, and art stands, and those funny frozen statue people that do things when you give them money. It was fun. I had juice from some fruit I had never seen or heard of. It was hot pink! I got a flower for myself and Liz, so we could feel pretty and foreign, or whatever flowers make you feel. It was fun. And I got one for Pat and Jen too, who came later in the day, and I said "Bienvenidos a Barcelona!" :) So, Liz and I had breakfast at a little restaurant- eggs, bacon, sausage, and churros con chocolate! The churros were excelente! One gambling guy on the street tried to pull Liz into a game, but she got out of there, which is a good thing, cuz I think it was a big scam with a lot of people involved. Yikes. After we met up with Pat and Jen, we went on a cable car that went to the hills and to the beach, so we got an ariel view of the city and the Mediterranean! Very cool! Then we waded in the water, Liz and I collected sea glass, and we tried to avoid the naked people! Then we walked around and found a restaurant, where I had a weird meal. Cold, white asparagus, salad, little fried fish with their heads still on (It freaked me out but I was brave and ate half), and weird vanilla mousse stuff. Eh. At least I tried it! Then I had amazing gelato, found a toothbrush cuz I forgot one, we got bathing suits, and made our way back! It's been an adventure trying to speak some Spanish. I better go cuz people are waiting for the computer!

Estoy en Barcelona!

Hola de Espana! It's Thursday night at 11:45 Spain time, and I just got to Barcelona a little while ago. It's crazy that I can just hop a plane and be in Spain in 2 hours! It's dark and late so we're not doing anything tonight (we being Liz S. and me. Jen and Pat come tomorrow). I got a cab here using my unpracticed Spanish, and we made it! Accomplishment #1! Well maybe not number one, but it was cool. We're staying at Home Guest House, which seems pretty neat. It looks very Spanish, and it's all new to me to be staying in a hostel. There are a few people in our room. One, Adrian from Zimbabwe, is very nice and showed us around. I think Liz and I are going to sleep on the roof (a big terrace like thing). It's dark so we can't see a whole lot, but we can see some, and the roof has a mural and a hammock and a sort of view of the city. I've just been informed by Susan that it is Survivor Day! No Survivor for me this season. :( It's ok. I'm sorta doing my own Survivor around the world! Well, I don't have much time left online. I just wanted to say hello and that I think Barcelona is going to be neat. I'll find out in the morning!
~Jen

A weekend in the flat

September 30th
Hello to all! How is good old America? Still there? England is good. I don’t have as many exciting things to write about this time, but it’s good to be a little more settled here. Classes are getting more interesting. Our art teacher took us to Kenwood House at Hampstead Heath on Tuesday to look at the landscape, and the paintings that were in Kenwood House. It was great to have a long walk in a sort-of forest, because London is not typically as green as you might picture England, and it’s so neat that we get to go to the places we learn about. Our history professor took us on a walk yesterday to where the Black Plague started and we were standing on plague pits where hundreds of bodies were buried! And we walked down a street called Frying Pan Alley. Haha. We also went to Brick Lane, which is where certain people groups often migrate to. It used to be a large Jewish community, but recently it has turned into an Indian area. We will actually be reading a book in Dr. Hatcher’s class called Brick Lane. We’ve moved from the Empire book onto A Very Short Introduction to Postcolonialism by Young. I like it better, because it is more interesting and I feel it is more understandable and applicable to our lives. It is, however, difficult to read at times, because it attacks the knowledge and way of life that is all we’ve really known as Americans/Europeans. It’s actually pretty offensive. But this kind of thing is one of the reasons I decided to study in another country- to see how other people view the world, and view America. So, I’m definitely getting that. It’s challenging some of the ways I think about things. The book is pretty one-sided, though. It’s basically the “third world” against the “western world,” and the third world opinion is the only one that really gets heard. But I think there are reasons for that. Those are the voices that often don’t get heard, and that we need to hear. In class today, Pat talked about being at Bush’s inauguration with his class, and being kind of upset by protesters who were burning flags and things. His teacher told him that that kind of thing can actually be something to celebrate, because even though it seems like they are being un-American, they are actually exercising the very rights that make us Americans. Sometimes we need voices that are hard to hear, if we want our thinking to be challenged, and not to become like a 1984 kind of society. So, Dr. Hatcher thinks we should look at Young like one of those flag burners, and be thankful that someone will write the things we wouldn’t otherwise hear about our way of life. So, that has been interesting. In Shakespeare & Others, we’ve been reading the Changeling and MacBeth. Last night we saw a production of the Changeling at the Barbican Theatre, and tonight we’re going back to see MacBeth. It’s really great to read a play and then see it performed that night! It makes it come alive, and each helps us to understand the other. Other than that, I’ve just been writing some papers. I finished one on Measure for Measure, where I looked at the theme of Justice vs. Mercy in the play. Neither one won out, if you were curious. I think Shakespeare was just trying to discuss the struggle between the two and the good and bad of each. I don’t think he really gave a clear answer to which is better, because both are necessary. But it was interesting to look at some concerns with the justice system (even though it was with a made-up monarch of Vienna in the 1600’s!). How can justice be administered fairly? Is it right for someone to enforce penalties on his subjects for laws that he himself has broken? When is mercy beneficial and when does it encourage lawlessness? Why do many criminals go unpunished for numerous, terrible actions, while others pay severely for making just one mistake? It was really interesting to think about, and Shakespeare had some good insight into it. Anyway, that’s what I’ve been up to academically.

On a more humorous note, I have come to have quite a complex relationship with the Cadbury Bunny…
Cadbury is the popular brand of chocolate here, and in almost all of the tube stations, there are Cadbury candy machines. One day, I decided I wanted to try a Double Decker Nuts bar. I put in the money, reached in, and two came out! I was with Jen, so we each got a candy bar! Then the next week, I decided to get one again, because I really had a craving for chocolate. It was in the morning before school, and I put my money in, but it wouldn’t take my money. Sam tried, and he couldn’t get it to work either. So, I didn’t get one. I tried again at a different machine, and again at another one, but they either wouldn’t take my money, or they were sold out. The next day, Liz went to get one and I was waiting with her, so I decided to try one more time. She got a D.D.N. bar, which she didn’t like, and which I wanted, but when I put my money in, it was sold out! There was one right next to it, so I put the money in there. It said “Vending, please wait.” I waited. And waited, and waited. It sounded like something was going to come out, but it kept clicking and nothing came. The train came and we had to get on, but I couldn’t get my money back, and the candy bar wasn’t coming. Picture the train pulling out of the station, and me looking back at the Cadbury machine out the window with a sad look on my face, longing for my candy bar… it was a sad sight. (Haha.) Aside from the time when I got an extra, this was about the 6th time that the machine didn’t work for me. I started to think the Cadbury Bunny had it out for me. Liz told me there was a phone number you could call if it ate your money, so I dialled up 0800-CADBURY and they said they’d send me my 50p refund along with a little extra for the inconvenience. Score! Then, on the way back from Oxford with Jen and Jon, I tried once more to get my Double Decker Nuts bar. I put the money in and it was sold out. It wouldn’t give me my change back, so I had to make another selection. I picked a Flake bar, and when I reached in to grab it, Jen saw my eyes bulge out- there were two Double Decker Nuts bars and a Flake bar inside! One for each of us! What luck! We thoroughly enjoyed our chocolate delights on the tube ride back. Mmm. Then a couple days ago, Jen was going to get a candy bar after class. I went with her over to the machine, and just as she was going to put her money in for her Double Decker Nuts bar, I realized it said “Please take your selection.” I reached in, and lo and behold, there was a Flake bar inside! She didn’t want it, so I got my fourth free Cadbury bar! And I still have a refund coming in the mail! Hehe. (Just to let you know, I really don’t eat as much junk food as it sounds like! I’ve only actually eaten about 3 candy bars the whole time I’ve been here!) Anyway, I just thought you’d enjoy hearing about my run-ins with the Cadbury Bunny. I think we have a love-hate relationship. But it all works out in the end! J
Signing off,
~Jen


“Best men are moulded out of faults, and, for the most, become much more the better for being a little bad” Measure for Measure (5.1.436-438)

October 3rd
Happy Birthday to Dad! Hope the Bears win!

October 4th
It’s Monday again! We don’t really associate that with dreariness here because our weekdays are not too bad, and we get three day weekends. (Though the weather was incredibly dreary this morning and none of us had gotten much sleep.) It’s just food stipend day, and Sainsbury’s (grocery shopping) day! I’m not really getting any groceries this week, though, since I leave in three days for Barcelona!
The weekend was good. Probably the least exciting of all of them so far, but I really enjoyed hanging around the flat for three and a half days (our Thurs. afternoon class was cancelled), relaxing and hanging out with Jon, Sam, Liz, and Jen while everyone else was in Paris or Edinburgh. We went to McDonalds for McFlurries (not as good as home), the Sports Café to watch the Cubs game L, shopping on Oxford Street, did homework, played cards, listened to music, wrote some poetry, etc. Oh, and the Hatchers took Jon and me to the Houses of Parliament for a tour, but we couldn’t get it, so we went to an Evensong at Westminster Abbey and then to Harrods for tea! I’ve been starting to write some poetry here, which I used to really enjoy when I was younger, but haven’t done much of for a while. So that has been fun to do when we’re just sitting around the flat. I got a lot of homework done, too. I finished my chapter scouting paper, and two cultural site/event/performance reports, all for Hatcher’s class (we’ve affectionately dubbed him “the old Hatch Master Flash”! I have no idea why.) So, all I have to write for his class now is one more chapter scouting paper, but I can’t do that until it’s my turn. So it feels good to have that and the Shakespeare paper done. But now it’s on to start more papers- another Shakespeare one and one for History of London. I think I will try to do that in Newcastle (which we are heading to the morning after I come back from Barcelona) where we will be for a week. Well, it’s 2:30 already and I must be heading back to Birkbeck for class #2! Hope all is going well in the good ol’ U.S. of A., with the exception of you Cubs fans- my condolences to you!
~Jen
P.S. There's a candy bar here called Yorkie that says "It's not for girls!" and "Don't feed the birds" (a reference to women), with a big no girls symbol on the package! Of course, I ate one, simply because it said I couldn't! How weird.