Hello lovely little followers!
So while not much has happened since my last post a lot has happened at the same time...if that makes any sense! The weekend was actually pretty boring. A lot of people here either go home or kind of hole up in their rooms all weekend and sleep so there isn't much activity going on! The highlight of my Saturday was doing laundry...sad but true. You really have no idea how nice it is to have a closet full of clean clothes (and a drawer full of clean underwear. TMI?). When you only have enough clean laundry for 21 days and you've hit day 20 it's a sign that something needs to be done. Luckily the laundry room is right outside of my door so I don't have to go far to do it but yet it somehow took me close to 3 hours. (This very well could be because I was busy skyping people from home and failing at multi-tasking!) I was almost done with my laundry and had just a few things left in the dryer when I discovered something. The door to the laundry room locks sometimes when you leave. Now, it did not lock any of the 6 times that I had come in and out through out the evening but of course the last time I left it locked. And what was in the dryer you ask...ALL of my pants (except for the ones I was wearing, obviously) and towels...basically the necessities of life! Hmm...I thought to myself. What the heck do I do now?! Luckily I had my smarts and I ran into my room and called the front desk (it was around 11 pm at this time and there is only someone there until 11:30) and said the door was locked. The porter (the desk attendant/security guy) said he would come over and check it out. I met him at the laundry room and he was like umm it's not locked, you just have to punch in the code. Now, you would think that the people that gave me my keys on my first day would have included that little bit of info when they told me about things but nope, I had NO idea there was a code! He told it to me (and made me write it down, probably so he wouldn't get another annoying call from the American girl) and I gathered my pants and ran back to my room! I now have the code written down and hanging up on my bulletin board to use 21 days from now!
Now for those of you that are extra sharp you might be wondering how something is hanging on my bulletin board when in my last post I said I only had 2 thumbtacks. Well wonder no more because that leads to my next bit of exciting news! In the spirit of Valentines day I received the most UH-MAZE-ING (I hope that you could hear me saying it like that in your mind!) care package today courtesy of my mom and her amazing group of college mom prayer warriors (shout out to you ladies...you rock!) and from her, my brother and dad! Now you all have probably gotten a care package at some time in your life but I can guarantee that it was nothing compared to the monster that I received today that brought me to tears (that's not a metaphor people, it actually happened). Not only did this package have thumbtacks (now I have 12!) in it but it also had pictures, food, gum (Rach, I have quite the collection of gum now...you would be proud), you name it and it was probably in that box. It was the king of care packages and was just the icing on the cake of life if I may because I realized something while I was doing nothing this weekend. I am finally starting to feel like I am not just an international student but that I belong here. My little room in Sherwood Hall feels more homey and I love my creepy weird shower room. The last 3 weeks (I can't even believe it's been 3 weeks already!) have had their share of ups and downs, feelings of sadness, joy, and sheer terror but I'm finally feeling like I belong. Maybe that's the two cups of coffee that I've had today talking (I love when they give away free cappuccinos outside the Student Union!) but I don't think so. Everyone talks about how you hit a turning point when studying abroad and you go from feeling like an outsider to not. I think that I'm on my way to that. I didn't do anything this weekend but I didn't have the feeling of loneliness that had become familiar in the last couple weeks and let me tell you...that feels good!
On another note...I have officially embraced my inner European/study abroad student. Yes, I wore leggings to class today (please insert a gasp and/or raised eyebrows here). For those of you that see me on a day to day basis you know that I don't do the whole leggings thing. My legs are about 6 inches long so why would I want to highlight them?! I LOVE jeans and always just opt for those and kind of had the thought process that leggings did not constitute as pants. Well, today I went to the dark side people and let me tell you, I kinda like it. Now I don't know if I can pull it off every day (probably once every 21 days or so because I think I only have 1 shirt that can be worn with said leggings) but I can cross it off my bucket list and come home in May knowing that I blended in, well, at least for one day. See, here girls don't wear jeans or sweat pants like girls in the states do. People actually care about their appearance for class and most girls wear leggings or tights (stockings if you want to be British) to class and between my jeans, Northface, and Vera Bradley bag I practically have "American" stamped on my forehead and then I open my mouth and the whole blending in thing is toast!
Now for my final update on my crazy exciting life...I officially have a plan (or at least a partial plan) for my Easter Holiday. In the UK, University students have the month of April off for Easter Holiday. I don't really know why because if I was them I would rather get off school a month earlier but when in Rome. And speaking of Rome...I'm going there!!! Rae and I (that's grammatically correct for once, mom!) signed up yesterday for an excursion with a company that does trips for students. We will be going to Barcelona, the French Riviera, the Swiss Alps, Florence, and Rome from April 16-24 and then probably hanging out in Rome until I fly back to London to meet my mommy!! I am SO excited for this (although it almost killed me to spend the money...I'm a tad bit on the stingy side, I must admit) but I will only be studying abroad once and am going to try to grasp some of the opportunities that are presented to me! Now, this better not be the only time that I will be in Europe because I have officially promised my mom to take her to Rome when I have a real job but it will be a fun adventure for sure! For the rest of my break I will probably camp out at Jean, our family friend's house in England and maybe do some little trips here or there with people from school or that I know that are also studying abroad this semester but we will see how my wallet feels by then!
So I guess a lot has happened in the last couple of days. Oh, funny little story. I got a salad for lunch today and was trying to eat it but the fork they gave me was the size of a ice cream taste test spoon which made eating to be very difficult. I was on the receiving end of quite a few stares from people in the dining area. Good thing my AWESOME care package today came with a fork in it (I kid you not, people!) so I will just have to carry that around with me from now on! I will probably be known as the weird American girl that carries around cutlery but oh well :)
Classes are going well. I finally have a bit of a routine worked out and I am going to start working on the two papers that I have for my history classes tonight probably. I have talked to all of my professors (tutors as they are called here) about leaving England early to be home for Craig's graduation and all but one have said that I can do an alternative assignment if I am going during the scheduled final time so that is exciting for me! I'm heading off to dinner now and it's been such a good day that I don't even care if the only thing they are serving is potatoes (amazingly enough the chances of this are quite likely!)
Thanks for all of the love that I am feeling right now. Keep the kind thoughts and prayers coming. I never thought I could feel so much love from so far away but life has ways of surprising you! I mean I never would have thought this time a year ago that I would be sitting in England right now writing a blog (I LOVE BLOGGING)!! Happy Valentines Day!
Love from London,
Stacey
P.S. I have discovered a new love on this Valentines Day...nutella (a chocolatey hazelnut spread). I am going to have to increase my running to 2 times a day now but it is so worth it :)
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| I am just SO European now ;) |
