One Down, One to Go

My first semester abroad is officially over, and my second one is off to a good start (not including the initial stress). At first it felt a bit bittersweet to be studying abroad all year. I was excited to travel, but I missed Hendrix and all of my friends. Now most of my friends are studying abroad so I am not really missing out on much anyway.

It was an adjustment living on my own without a roommate in a foreign country. I had to go through putting in all the effort that new friends require, as well as adjust to a few differences. It is really the small stuff, the stuff that I didn't even think about that require the most adjustment. The "@" is on a different place on the keyboard, the ketchup has more vinegar in it, and its difficult to find a decent tasting canned soup. I still am not a fan of grocery shopping without a car, but you just learn to make more frequent, smaller trips. 

I've also learned that making a packing list before a big trip is a very smart idea. That way you don't forget important things like converters. It also might make you think twice about what you really need to bring. For example, I did not need two big coats or more than two pairs of jeans. 

When I think about it the first semester had its ups and downs, but hopefully that will make this semester easier. If not then I will just catch a coach to London and bug Elizabeth.

Now that the first semester is over, its time to plan my trips for this coming semester. In May my dad is coming up and we are going to rent a car and travel around Ireland for two weeks, and then I am going to backpack with my mom, my friend Ally, and her mom through Italy. Finally I will end the year abroad in Spain with Ally and head back to Alabama at the end of June. I have all these great plans and now I just have to figure out what to do during the semester. I have the perfect travelling schedule because I only have class on Wednesday and Thursday (Children's Literature, Sociological Theory, and Popular Culture). Five days to travel a week and then I also have Reading Week and Easter Break and two weeks before I join my dad in Ireland. 

I meant to spend the last two weeks planning but oh well. I guess we will just see what happens. 

Exams/My Return to England

STRESS!! That is the gist of my first week or two back in England. Being the procrastinator that I am, I did not work on any of my essays while I was at home. I figured that would happen, so my original goal was to have them completed before I even left England. That goal was also not reached and all three essays were due just five days after I got back. One was a sociological essay on Earth First!, one was on Freud, and another was on Darwinian evolution. I hadn't even done the research for the essay on Freud, but like normal I was able to pull it off. I put the finishing touches on them the day before they were due.

Unfortunately my work did not end there. My exam on the British Welfare State was the day after my essays were due and I had to prepare to write three more essays for the exam. Its a seen exam so I had the topics. I had all three essays outlined with dates and important acts. I was ready to beast the exam, and you know what I did?..I slept through it. I am still not even sure how it happened. It is possible that I accidently took my left over sleep aids instead of the Advil I was intending to take, but it is also equally probable that my body was just exhausted from all the late nights I had been having. Either way, I awoke in a panic and spent the rest of the week trying to fix the problem I had created. Now I have to wait and take the exam at Hendrix in August. I will have to prepare for a different set of prompts and study all over again. I just hope I will not forget too much until then. 

It was a very eventful time, and it definitely tested me. Maybe in some twisted way it was good for me. It let me see what I could handle, but I would be okay if I wasn't tested like that again...at least not for a while. I guess it is just a new story I can tell about my study abroad experience.

Christmas Vacation

Two weeks home was not enough time, but I'm glad I got at least that.  It was nice to see my family and not have to cook for a change.

I got to start my wonderful vacation by spending 4 hours at the Philadelphia airport while it was under construction. Therefore there wasn't a lot of food choices for my first American meal, and the plane food had really filled my stomach. I was only comforted by the fact that soon I would be home and that a box of beef lo mien was waiting for me...that and my family. 

One of my main  missions of the trip back was food, clearly. Food that didn't require me to cook and that hopefully my parents would be willing to pay for. MISSION ACCOMPLISHED! I went to all/most of my favorite restaurants: Bottega, Cantina, Shangrila, The Original Pancake House, Sal's Soul Food Kitchen, Five Guys Burgers and Fries. I got to stuff my face with amazing junk food and just relax.

Besides eating I mostly just hung out with my brother Sam and then with Ally. I was a bit rushed the first couple of days because I only arrived about 5 days before Christmas. Unfortunately that meant I had to enter a mall during peak shopping time. It was a nightmare. There were just too many people in too small a place, and the parking was horrendous. Thankfully I managed to get all my shopping done in one trip.

Christmas itself was quite a geek fest. Basically "Santa" decided to give us a bunch of Doctor Who related gifts. Sam was probably the most decked out. He had a sonic screwdriver, 10's duster, a fez, and a bow tie. The day was made even better by the fact that we got to watch the Doctor Who Christmas special on BBC America. This is the first year we have been able to watch the new episodes when they air so it was quite exciting. It was also great because there was a large Sherlock Holmes presence in the episode and we had just spent the previous two days watching season 1 and 2 of BBC Sherlock. I guess the other elements of Christmas were pretty good but they were a bit over shadowed. It was nice to see my extended family, but this was the first year that one of my aunts was not there and she was definitely missed. I also got to gorge myself on eggnog french toast, which I have decided is the only way to make french toast.

Then it was just a rush of days till the new year. My parents treated me to both The Hobbit and Les Mis, but I definitely enjoyed The Hobbit more. My brothers were extremely occupied by their new video games, but we did play a couple of games of Risk together. Somehow Sam always managed to win. I think it was just because Jack and I were too preoccupied with stopping each other for winning. When I get home I am going to have to demand a rematch because I just can't allow this winning streak to continue.

For the first time I actually did something for New Year's Eve. Last year Ally and I watched the ball drop while knitting on my couch. Clearly we are a force to be reckoned with! This year we branched out a bit and went to our friend Connor's party at his apartment in Tuscaloosa. It was nice to get out of the house. In some ways two weeks wasn't enough, but other times it felt like too much time with the family...no offense to them.

Three days later I sent on my way back to merry ole England.

Oops!

Once again I have been a bit absent from the blog, so here comes a string of posts in an attempt to catch up.