So after my last post about my adventures in London this one has some awfully large shoes to fill but I'll give it the old college try. Side note: That phrase would make NO sense here because the word college does not really exist in the English vocabulary. Here, I am in "uni or university" and if I were to say I am in "school" that would mean the equivalent of high school in the US. Speaking of phrases that don't exist here...
I was at softball on Friday (yay for making friends!) and the club president, Ross, lent his glove to someone. A little while later he asked for it back because he needed it. Now me being me and not really having a filter between my brain and my mouth exclaimed "what an Indian giver". This one got a few interesting stares from the team as they tried to figure out what the crazy American girl was talking about this time (people have a tendency to do that a lot around me!). Finally someone asked what I said so I repeated myself "I called him an Indian giver". The other American girl on the team came over laughing and said "finally, someone who says things that no one understands!". In my opinion it's about time these British kids know how I feel most of the time when they talk about the car park, the pavement, and tea (parking lot, sidewalk, dinner). They still didn't get why I called Ross an Indian giver so I tried to explain. "Well in America you call someone that when they give you something and then take it away." The more I explained it the more I realized that the phrase really doesn't make sense because we took land from the Indians, not the other way around. We finally got that situation all worked out and were off to do some drills. I got paired with a boy name Dan (shout out to Devin because this Dan looks just like your brother Dan!) and he goes "great, I'm stuck with the racist American". It was all in good fun and I didn't mind being on the receiving end of everyone's jokes. It actually felt just like home! :)
Breaking news! I have found the British boy that I want to marry. Now don't worry, I'm not going to marry some British lad and never come home. I will not disclose his name publicly because that would present a REALLY awkward situation if he were to somehow trip across this blog and discover his name in a post. But anyways he is great...too bad he doesn't really know I exist...YET! We did have a conversation today though. It consisted of him asking Rae and I if we had our tickets to the formal dinner our hall is having in a couple weeks and me saying "Yep, thanks!". Yes ladies and gentleman, the conversation says it all...we are meant to be! Well because of that and the fact that our names sound cute together and he because loves Jesus (from what I hear). I'll keep you updated on our non-existent relationship, don't you worry.
The weekend was pretty boring and consisted of my finishing writing the first of 3 papers that I have to write this semester. That is LITERALLY all of the school work that I have til finals. It's been very hard getting down to business with those papers because school here lacks the busy work that I always hated at U of I but find myself missing over here and I don't really feel like I'm in school. It's more like I go listen to old people talk for a couple hours a morning and the call it a day! I'm now writing my second paper and it's on national identity in post-revolutionary Soviet Union...fascinating, right?! Oh, and apparently one of my classes ends next week...too bad it's the class that I feel like I have learned NOTHING in! I'm going to have to go talk to the professor about that one to make sure that I do okay on my final exam in May.
Today marks my half birthday! So 6 months from now I will be turning 21...CRAZY! The school must have known because for dinner we had lasagna (not as good as my mommy's) and PEAS!! Now for those of you that have been to the dining hall with me (cough, cough, Kristen) you know that I am OBSESSED with a good plate of peas and I've been known to take an entire plateful and get weird stares from everyone around me. Now I didn't go to this extreme today because I finally have people to sit with at metals and I didn't want to scare them off but man oh man I enjoyed those peas! Today was also a great day because I won a 20 pound gift card to Amazon.com! I filled out a survey thing and won the prize for filling it out...go me. Note to self and all y'all out there...always fill out a survey that has a potential prize because NO one does it and chances are you will win! This is my second survey win and I think that's a pretty nice record. And speaking of countdowns... 26 days until my spring break starts and 50 days until my mommy is across the pond with me! (I probably counted wrong but still that's SO close!)
The weather here has been exceptionally nice the last couple days with around 45-50 degree days and not a cloud in the sky. I have been taking Psalm 118:24 to heart the last few days and have really been enjoying life. (go ahead...look it up Psalm 118:24, you know you want to know want to. I even made it easy for you, just click on the text...no typing necessary!) I've taken to finding a dry spot on the grass or on a bench, curling up with my Kindle or a book on the Soviet Union and reading for a while to soak up some well needed vitamin D. Tomorrow is Wednesday and at Notts that means no classes in the afternoon because it is sports time. I think that some girls and I are going to go watch our school rugby team play for a while and then I have to do laundry (I'm down to the last of my clothes again!). Good thing Grandma Anne sent me some money last week, she must have known that I needed to clean my clothes!
Well that's about it for my exciting life across the pond. I escaped eating potatoes today, that was quite the feat! Miss you all and can't wait to see you in just about 2 months and 2 weeks (not that I'm counting or anything!). Keep on sending the love and prayers my way :)
Love from London,
StaceyP.S. I think this might be the my shortest post yet!
