Escaping Goblins to be Caught by Wolves

Stolen from Lommy...now cut for the relief of your friends page!

 

( meme )

I finally got back to Norwich at around 8:00 tonight.  I had a much, much better trip this time around.  It was such a relief!  I was really worried before heading out that I wouldn't get along with Dave and Teri, or that I just wouldn't feel comfortable with them, or that something would go horribly wrong and we'd all hate each other at the end.  Fortunately, everything was fantastic.  They were great travel partners, and I was able to slow down and relax.  I didn't feel like I had to be in control all the time, because I knew someone else would pick up the slack.  We were able to just explore things instead of structuring every moment.  Anyway, I've definitely become much more laid back since January.

I had a lot more I wanted to say, but I should think it through a lot more first.  Yeah, so, hi guys, I'm alive, I had an absolutely fantastic time and I really don't want to be back in dear old Norwich, and I'm definitely not ready to go home.  And now, eurgh, I ought to put up something on the Offical Blog.  Yick.

Two more days on this trip.  I've had a blast, but I've gotten a nasty cold and am tired, so getting home will probably be really good for me.  The only thing is, I don't want to go home!  I'm having too much fun!

So, yes, I'm alive, and relatively well, and am enjoying myself.  I'll see you all on Monday!

 I have finished my Romanticism paper.  2000 words on Wordsworth.  Finally!  Now just for the remaining 300 on Persuasion and Jane Eyre, and scrabbling together a presentation on Jane Eyre (which will basically=my paper, minus Persuasion), and all my coursework will be done.  Well, except for that nasty history essay due week 12, but let's not think about that, okay?

I have not eaten anything beyond an apple and a muffin (and some candy) today.  Which is really depressing, not only because I forgot to eat, but because I had some veggies I wanted to use up before I left.  Now they'll rot.  I can't leave a chopped onion for 8 days...oh, the wastefulness!  I think, for the time I have left when I get back from Easter, I will live off of porridge and potatoes.  I can handle that.

Is it sad that it's 2:14 AM and I think there's still tons of time left tonight?

 Have you ever had one of those days where you're too tired to drink your coffee and every breath is an effort?

Today is one of those days.

1.  I wore my contacts today for the first time in two months.  My eyes were not too pleased.  However, I realized that my glasses are really dirty.  Also, I realized that my glasses help hide the bags under my eyes that I have because I apparently never sleep.

2.  My hair is finally long enough to braid.  Yay!  I can get it out of my way when I sleep!

3.  I spilled some ink last night, and it got under my thumbnail and stained the skin.  Seeing as how I can't exactly scrub under my nail, right up next to the bed, there's still a dark line under my nail that I can't get rid of.  It looks really gross.

I'm sure you were all just enthralled by this post.  This is what you get for knowing a crazy insomniac with two major papers due in two days.

 I don't know why I keep staying up this late.  My schedule is all screwed up, and I can't stand it.  I sleep late, so I can't go to bed early, but then I can't get up early the next day.  And I'm not good for anything at night, except succumbing to my natural state of melancholy and posting on LJ, apparently.   So that's fun.  At least when I travel I get up early, no matter what, so I should be put back to rights in April.  Thankfully.  The week after I got back from my Christmas trip, I got up at eight naturally!  If only I did that all the time...I prefer being up in the mornings, but I just can't do it.

I've just realized that I haven't eaten anything substantial other than porridge so far this weekend, and I haven't even noticed.  (Don't worry--I'm not starving, I just eat a lot of junk)  Clearly, I fail at living on my own.

 If it were not for the two disqualifying personal characteristics of being nonChristian and being female, I would totally be a Benedictine monk. 

PS  This paper is not writing itself...

I'm freaking out a little bit because I've just checked my marks from last semester (and I'm really pretty happy, especially since I've just found out how St. Olaf may translate them) and because the course schedule for next semester is up!  Except this means I'm really jittery with excitement and I have no one to talk to about it--it's still 7:30 AM at home and I can't justifiably call my parents at that time...  But I really can't focus on this paper I'm supposed to be writing.

Argh.  I still don't know how to regulate my temperature here.  Yesterday, I was running around in a sweatshirt and a jacket (reasonably February attire), and I was too hot.  I tried to go to sleep last night, but I was too hot.  I had to turn off the heater and open the window and I still couldn't cool down.  Today?  I'm freezing.  I'm wearing a sweater and a sweatshirt and the window is closed with the heater all the way up, and I'm still cold.  And it's only 46 degrees! 

I walked to class today with a French girl who lives near me.  She was asking me about the scarf I just made--she told me, "It's so unique!"  I thanked her, though I was a bit suspicious.  People like to use the word "unique" in the I'm-totally-judging-you-but-I-don't-want-to-sound-rude-so-I'll-throw-in-a-supposedly-positive-word sense, which throws me off whenever I hear "unique".  Hey, I worked hard on that scarf and I really like it, so I don't want folks running around making fun of me for it!

Then I remember she told me earlier, when I was working on it in class, that she thought it was really beautiful.  Then I felt stupid.  Unique needs to be reclaimed, people!

(Anyway, she's a MA student and has to write a 30,000 word disseration, and was telling me she was having problems with finer grammatical points.  I am so not jealous of her--I don't think I could ever do it.  I'm also not studying literature in a different language.)

So, I've gone ahead and booked tickets to Ireland for the 12-20th of March.  No, I don't have a travel partner for that week.  I also don't really know what I want to see (not cities, I'm sick of cities at this point, and that's all I'll be doing the two weeks after my parents leave).  So I'm a bit worried.  This is what I've tenatively drawn up:

12:  Arrive in Dublin ~4:00
13:  Dublin
14:  Killarney
15:  Ring of Kerry
16:  Galway
17:  (possibly?) Bus out to Clifden
18:  Donegal Town
19:  Donegal Town ?
20:  Fly out of Dublin

Mostly, all I want to see in Dublin is the Book of Kells and the Writer's Museum.  I just don't know what to do with the 19th, honestly.  Donegal Town is way up north, but it sounds quiet and pretty, so I want to go.  I could always cut one of those days out and spend an extra day in Dublin, or extend pretty much anything else.  Or go to Waterford...  It ought to be a nice, quiet trip. 

Yeah, I'm scared to be going alone, but I'm also incredibly excited.  I finally get to go to Ireland! 

So I've got some things set, but lots left open...

Next Weekend:  Lancaster, to visit Whitney

29 Feb-2 March: ??? 

7 Mar-9 Mar:  ??? (I do have two papers to write, so I probably ought to stay at home and do that...)

14 Mar-21 Mar:  Completely open.  First week of Easter Break.

21 Mar-30 Mar:  Running my family around.  London, Paris, probably Oxford and Norwich.

31 Mar-13 April:  Running around like a crazy person with Teri from Arizona.  Woot!  Anyway, itinerary:
31 Mar:  To Frankfurt
1 April:  To Bern, to meet Teri, then to Interlaken
2 April:  Interlaken
3 April:  To Vienna, stopping off in Liechtenstein for a bit.
4 April:  Vienna
5 April:  To Prague
6 April:  Prague
7 April:  To Berlin
8 April:  Berlin
9 April: To Bruges
10 April:  Bruges
11 April:  To Amsterdam
12 April:  Amsterdam
13 April:  back to London, then hopefully Norwich, eventually.

Yes, we are insane.  I'm just hoping not to die of exhaustion.  But I'm good at sitting still for long periods of time--I do, after all, go to school 6 hours away from home.

Weekends after that?  I don't know.  I've got to get the other weekends sorted out, and then I'll plan those out (before I leave for Frankfurt, if I have any brains at all).  I've got to get to Ireland at some point, and I also really want to go to Inverness and Krakow.  And after that--I don't know.  We'll see.  I've got until 14 June at the latest to do all my traveling.  I still don't have my plane home set, because I don't know when my exams are yet.

Jealous.  Really, really jealous.

I've definitely decided against studying American history/lit at this point.  "What?" I hear you thinking, "That was still an option?"  (or I might just be mistranslating "we really don't care", but we'll go with it).  Yes, at the back of my mind, lurking in dark corners, it was.  After talking to Whitney (and seeing National Treasure for the second time--the first was in Italian, so I have an excuse), I've decided that I just can't look at my own history as critically as is necessary for a historian.  I love it too much.  She says the same thing--that's why she's doing American Studies rather than history, which I didn't quite get--don't you have to be just as analytical in American Studies?  But she told me she pretty much gets to make up her major because her advisor is in charge of the major and is, in general, a pretty cool guy.  So, yeah.  Anyway, three cheers for public school indoctrination--they certainly brainwashed me (and her, and quite possibly a number of my friends, and my father) effectively.  Too effectively, because I took it seriously and genuinely believe in the principles they like to say we were founded on, and then, I try to hold the government to those standards.

It's just better if I look at someone else's history, so I have a little bit of distance.

I'm pretty sure I'm the most pathetic person ever, and I love it.  I've spent my night so far looking at stupid stuff on the internet (will nothing sate my love of watching clips of bad sci-fi movies on YouTube?) and listening to the world's worst music, fueling myself with Pringles and grapes.  

I just listened to quite possibly the most obnoxious song ever (excerpt above):  El Paso.  You know, "Down in the West Texas town of El Paso, I fell in love with a Mexican girl..." and it goes on from there.  I actually watched a bit of Ghost Rider earlier, which always makes me want to listen to Riders in the Sky, and from there, I get stuck with El Paso.  It will now be stuck in my head for weeks.  The worst is going to 6 Flags Great America near Chicago, where they like to play it in the "Old West" part of the park, along with a few others I can't remember.  Probably the Bonanza theme song (also obnoxious).

So, yes, life is good in my little den here.  Even though I haven't started on my homework yet and my friend's coming tomorrow for a few days so I won't really get a chance...

First of all, I am very proud of myself for actually getting on a bus by myself and going into town, alone.  Of course, this means that I made bad yarn-buying decisions (namely, that I bought some, and that costs money), but this is kind of a big deal for me.  I did something by myself.  Yay!  

(okay, you can stop making fun of me now)

I just tried to call my parents with Skype, and they weren't there.  This is really depressing, especially since I am totally not willing to pay something like $60 for a year to give myself a phone number, meaning that they can't call me back.  So maybe I'll have time to call again tomorrow, or Sunday, or something.  We'll see.  It was sad, though.