s-a-tur-day....NIGHT!

Hello again blog world, which for me consists mainly of.....myself, haha. It's cool. I know I had that huge chunk of non-typage, so it's no wonder my few followers have forgotten and deserted me. =P Plus, this whole thing is really meant as a way for me to look back anyway, and it still serves that purpose, which is why I'm here.

First off, the semester has concluded!!! I took my last exam yesterday morning, so no more classes for me until late August when I'm back at UWF. Whoohoo! I think my Intro to PR went well; it was the only multiple choice exam I had. I had to turn in a paper for PR & Media...blah. It was a "reflection" on the whole module. What a crap paper. Who knows how that went...? Anyway, Tourist Behaviour and Leisure in Mind were both essay exams, and while I feel like I did a bit better on TB (haha) than LiM, I don't think I did horribly on either. Here's hoping anyhow.

The other big thing on my mind right now is the fact that I am now in June. In less than a month, I'll be back in Florida with no idea when I'll make it back to England again. It's been so wonderful here, and I'm not looking forward to saying farewell. Even with the challenges I've faced over these last few months, I am so So SO glad I came here.

Tom will be making a trip to Florida this summer. Because of ticket prices sky rocketing as soon as you enter July, he'll be in the States a couple days before I am. On one hand, he won't be there to say goodbye to me when I leave here, but on the other hand, he'll be able to greet me when I get home, and I like that idea very very much. He'll be staying for two weeks, and I think it'll be interesting for him to experience Florida in the summer since he only knows of the more mild December weather, haha. We shall see what he says!

I only have 10% left on my laptop battery. That makes me sad, haha. Goodbye for now. Blog.

I see them lining up to howl at the moon.

ahWOOOOO!!

So this past weekend was pretty awesome. Sara and I went to London on Friday. We visited the British Library, where I saw original Beatles lyrics, correspondence from Jane Austen, the Magna Carta, some of Leonardo DaVinci's journals, and so much more!! It was just as wonderfully exciting as I expected it to be, although I did sadly miss the display of the ONLY remaining Beowulf transcript...by 15 days...yeahhhhh. That was really the only part of the trip that kind of sucked though.

From there we went to the Dali museum, which was cool. I especially enjoyed the furniture and clothing displays in there. He had such an eye for detail. I mean, I understand that's to be expected in artists, but I was honestly in awe. I've also discovered that I really like his use of drawers to symbolize the hidden and sometimes scary parts of ourselves, as well as his line of Alice in Wonderland-themed works.

After leaving there, we ate at......TGI Friday's, hahaha. Yeah, I know. It's not exactly English cuisine, but whatever. I was happy. Don't be hatin. Oh! And we also walked around in China Town, which was fun. Some of the shops there have the CUTEST stuff, but it's all completely unnecessary. Blah.

Tom came over Saturday night after he got off his shift, because the three of us had plans to go to London on Sunday for a concert!! YAY!!! We got into the city in the late afternoon and had a look-around in Forbidden Planet. It's seriously the ultimate geek haven, and Sara had never been to one. Plus, Tom and I hadn't had a chance to properly peruse this branch, because the last time we went it was closing within a few minutes of us entering. Anyway, it was great. Of course, they had a bunch of Star Trek stuff on display. Win. Tom bought me a little charm for my cell phone. It's Rikku from Final Fantasy X. I thought that was sweet. =) I also saw a book titled "Pride and Prejudice and Zombies" or something to that effect. Me wanty....

We ate at Burger King, because they're including Star Trek toys in the kids meals right now. I now have two, haha. How? I was originally given Uhula, so I asked if they had any Spocks left. They did, and when the lady gave it to me, I tried to give her the unopened Uhula back in exchange, but she just told me to keep it! w00t. They talk btw. Ohhhh yeahhhhhh.

We ended up getting desert at Friday's....even though Sara and I had just been there for dinner a couple of nights before....I know. But we needed to kill a bit of time before the show, and Friday's makes deliciousness, ok?? So get off my back! haha.

Now. The Concert. Heeheeheehee.

The Skints, some LA band that I don't really care about, Random Hand, and Sonic Boom Six! It was SUUUUUUUUUUCH a great show. I had SO MUCH FUN. Both of the main bands played all my favorite songs, and I was able to witness the awesome up front next to the stage. SB6 played their entire new album, which I've never seen a band do. Then they played some of their big hits from past albums. It was so good. So so good. I have some bruises, and the outside of my left ankle is rather beaten up from so many people kicking it/stepping on it, but I'm fine overall. My neck is still a bit sore, but that'll be gone in no time. I'd just like to end by saying that every injury was worth attending that show.

Love was made for me and you

So I made it through the week! haha, woo-hoo! I had that Leisure paper and my PR and Media interview points due last Tuesday, and I got them turned in on time! To celebrate, Sara and I went to our new favorite Luton eatery, Desert's Rose. The food is fantastic, AND they have shisha, aka: hookah. We smoked and ate our stress away, then we went home and watched a nice, girly movie (Definitely, Maybe) to complete the day.

Tom and I went to Alton Towers this past Thursday, and it was awesome!! Now I've been to both of the big amusement parks in England. w00t w00t. We had a lot of fun. I think my favorite ride was Air, which had you lying on your stomach to simulate flight. It was definitely the closest I've ever been to being Superman. After getting back to his house that night, his cousin Sam came over and we all went to eat at Old Orleans. It was basically a Friday's, Applebees type of place, but it was tasty. Plus, it was kinda nice to have some American-style food. We had this two-for-one coupon that was good for up to six people, so we ordered four mains...on top of a gigantic starter, haha. Talk about being stuffed...eesh. Twas yummy though.

I have MORE schoolwork due this Tuesday. In PR and Media, I have to complete my interview, which I'm hoping isn't too bad. I chose the evils of video games as my topic, but I won't know if I'll be arguing for or against until I walk into class. Even though I don't think video games are evil, I think I can argue either side well. Guess I'll see, huh? Wish me luck! The other assignment due on Tuesday is my paper for Tourism Behaviour. Boooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo. I'm writing it on Thanatourism, or Dark Tourism. Basically, it's all stuff that centers around death: museums, battlefields, sites of natural disaster, ghost tours, etc. You know, cool stuff, haha.

I can hardly believe it's May 16th already. Time seems to go faster and faster the longer I'm here. On one hand, I'm glad to be approaching the time when I get to see my family and friends at home again. I really do miss you guys. Really. Of course, on the other hand, I know I'm going to be sad to leave. This experience has been amazing so far. But hey, it's not over yet, right? Why be so gloomy?

Pretty soon I'll be celebrating 11 months since Tom and I started talking. June will be my first ever one year anniversary. That's still crazy to me. I don't know when or if it'll ever stop feeling surreal and extraordinary to be loved by someone I am so unabashedly smitten with myself. I don't really want it to though.

As a means of procrastination, I shall now post here two days in a row.

Surprised? Well, if you know me at all, and know how I operate when schoolwork is looming, then you really won't be all that shocked to find me here. But hey, in my defense, I have now completed two of the three assignments due Tuesday, so I'm not a total slacker.

Right now, I am sitting in the She Bar and Brasserie in Kenilworth. That's the name of the restaurant where Tom works. I've been here once before for dinner with his nan, but his boss wasn't in that day and asked that he bring me back to remedy our ignorance of each other. And so, here I am! The boss seems like a pretty chill, nice guy (as does his wife) and both of them appeared happy to meet me. Apparently, my name has been mentioned once or twice, and they were beginning to wonder if I really existed! haha. =) It's been nice here so far. I worked on my Intro to PR overview and journal, and I have internet access (obviously), so that's cool. Tom's made me three drinks so far: a fruity cocktail, Guinness with Tia Maria, and Malibu with pineapple juice, along with a Coke and a glass of water....so needless to say I've seen the bathroom several times now. It's a nice bathroom to be fair.

Well....I don't even know how long it's been since I finished typing that sentence, but I just concluded one of the most pleasant conversations with a pair of strangers I have ever had. Seated at the table to my left here at the bar area was a middle-aged couple who, for the majority of the night, had kept to themselves and rarely raised their voices above a polite murmur. However, out of nowhere, the woman decided to address me, saying that she had been watching me type and work away and had grown curious as to what I was doing. The three of us ended up talking all about my time here in England, from the differences I've noticed between here and America to the sites I've seen and what I'm going to miss once I leave. They were very friendly, and I genuinely enjoyed talking to them both. I'm really happy they chose to sit beside me, and that the woman decided to "interrupt" my typing. I now have the fear we were speaking loudly though, cuz I feel their absence in the overall volume of the restaurant now that they've left. Woops, haha. Oh well.

Oh yes, and add a delicious hot chocolate to the list of drinks. Yummmm.

Ok, so it's been a little while since I've written...

OK OK FINE! It's been a couple MONTHS since I've written on here, haha. Oh well.

So hello! How have you been, Blog World? Miss me? I was reading over my posts today and thought that I'd give an update, so here goes:

Let's cover school first, shall we? I know many of my American brethren are finishing up the Spring semester right now, and most of you are probably already back at home looking for summer jobs or merely enjoying the stress-free lifestyle of massive couch-sitting and blockbuster-watching. That's what I'd be doing anyway, haha. Sadly, I won't be completely done with this term until after the first week of June, but I am seeing it start to wind down now! That's right, it's finals time. Eeeep. I still really like Leisure in Mind, even though I have a 3,000-word paper due for it Tuesday, along with the outline of my press interview for PR and Media. Argh. The following Tuesday I have a Tourism Behavior paper due along with the actual press interview being carried out that day. Yikes! Wish me luck on all this stuff please. I'm a horrible procrastinator, and I have to get this stuff done!

Anyway, enough about uni for now. Blech. I had mentioned McDonald's in my last post, and when I was reading over that it made me think of another restaurant I've come to really enjoy here: Nando's. It's a chicken place. A really good chicken place. Me likey. Oh, and you wanna hear something weird about another, much more familiar and in my case beloved, chicken place? Well, since you asked so nicely, I'll tell you. English KFC's don't have mashed potatoes and gravy. They have chips (fries) instead. What the heck is up with that?? Also, no biscuits! Seriously, the biscuits and potatoes are the only reasons to pick KFC over another chicken place in the US, so I was shocked. It's still good though, just not AS good...in my opinion. They're doing these panini things right now that I've yet to try. Is that happening in the States also?

While on the subject of food, I'd like to say that I have had Indian more than once since my first time with Tom, Katie, and Rich. I really like it! In fact, I chose an Indian restaurant called Lazim's here in Luton as the setting for my little birthday dinner a month ago. Whoa, a month exactly, haha. Weird. I'm olddddd. It was me, Tom, Sara, and one of the housemates Steven. My other housemate Matt and his adorably sweet girlfriend Amy couldn't make it because they were out of town at the time, but it was fine because I had a really nice evening.

What else should I talk about...? Oh! I went to Ireland and Scotland since my last post. The first was in mid-March with Sara and her brother Jeff. It was fun, though there were moments of sibling bickery and general annoyance, haha. I wasn't that impressed with Dublin. I guess I'm not usually a big city person, and since I didn't want to be trashed out of my mind my entire time there, it really didn't have much else to offer me after the first full day of sightseeing. Western Ireland however was amazing. We went to the Ring of Kerry, Blarney Castle, and the Cliffs of Moher, and all of them were absolutely beautiful. That was definitely my ideal Ireland, and I'm glad I finally made it there. Scotland was in early April with just me and Sara, and it was equally as enjoyable. My favorite part of that trip was Loch Ness, though I kinda digged the marketplace feel of Inverness and the ghost-tour-happy center of Edinburgh. As far as future travel plans, nothing is set in stone at this point. I'd like to at least make it to Italy and Holland before leaving, but I haven't bought tickets for anything yet. Also, I think it'd be realy cool to tag Prague on the end of that list, but we'll just have to see....

Now, one more topic before I go, and that's concerts. I never mentioned that it was an Alkaline Trio concert that Tom and I missed on Valentine's, so there ya go, haha. Since then, we've seen Streetlight Manifesto together in London as part of my 23rd birthday, and we recently saw Innerpartysystem in Coventry a couple weeks ago with his cousin Sam. Both were way fun. In the last week of May, we have two Sonic Boom Six shows: one near his house and the other in London. Sara said she'd go to the one in London, so that'll be cool. Then it's Faith No More on June 10th as part of His 23rd birthday, followed by (hopefully) The Download Festival beginning June 12th. So many good bands are playing that, and although it'd be expensive, I think it'd be worth the experience. Fingers crossed!

I knew I'd be bad at this journaling thing =P

So here we are...over a week after my last entry, haha. Can't say I'm surprised.

I had my first week of classes last week, and although I don't have much to base my opinion on, I'd say they seem to be rather interesting. One class in particular, Leisure in Mind, especially strikes me because it reminds me of the Buddhist Psych course I took a little while ago at UWF. We'll be looking at how one defines "leisure," and what exactly occurs within the mind when leisure activity is taking place. Then we'll use that information to try to create the feeling of leisure in situations normally deemed otherwise, such as at work or school. Sounds pretty cool to me anyway. Kind of a non-traditional subject matter, which I like.

I've decided I prefer the McDonald's in England over the American chain. Don't hurt me for saying so, Carl. Just come to England and see for yourself! They have an extended menu, including an entire deli sandwich option. Plus, the food has simply tasted better. I've always had to wait a few minutes when ordering from a fast food place here, but it's always worth the small wait. I feel like my meal is actually being prepared AFTER it is ordered, which is an upgrade as far as I'm concerned, haha.

I like walking around here. It's kinda cool to be able to walk to town. Definitely not something I'm used to in Pinecrest. I do miss my truck though. I knew I would. Gah.... Hope my family is taking good care of him! =)

Ok, so this past weekend was Valentine's. I'd like to just go ahead and say right here how absolutely smitten I am with Mr. Thomas Micheal Luke Bell. I already outlined the weekend to my mom in an email, so I might as well paste that description here also. Prepare for wall of text!

He picked me up late Friday night after he got off work and brought me back to his house. We watched a couple British tv shows on dvd and went to sleep. Saturday, we woke up and got dressed. I met his nan (who is super nice btw) and headed out to The Saxon Mill for lunch. It was so nice. We had a pita bread starter (that's what they call appetizers here) with several different sauces for dip. He ordered a chicken main and I had salmon. Then for dessert we shared a slice of Bailey's cheesecake. Oh! And we had a bottle of wine. =) The food was delicious!

From there we went to the store to pick up a few grocery items for his nan because she was going to cook her usual Sunday lunch for us on the following day. After shopping, he took me to this park. We walked through and into town where we visited an old cathedral and eventually met his sister and her boyfriend for fresh-baked cookies and candy. They introduced me to this stuff called flying saucers, which is a type of candy with a thin outer layer filled with this super sweet sugary stuff. Really really good.

We ended up missing the concert, haha. It was in Nottingham (like Robin Hood!), which is apparently a land of one way roads..... Got super lost trying to find the venue, and by time we got there the band was finishing the last song of their encore. Despite that, I still had an amazing time. Tom just said we'll have to go to a different concert together since that one didn't work out in our favor, haha. I'm fine with that. =)

The next day was Sunday lunch prepared by his nan, and it was scrumptiousssssss. Beef, mashed potatoes AND little potatoes, cabbage, gravy, bread, and apple pie with custard for dessert. It was really nice to have a home-cooked meal. I like his house a lot. I felt comfortable there, ya know? I think mainly because a family lives there instead of just a group of people under the same roof like it is here. Anyway, later that night we ended up going out to an Indian restaurant with Katie and her boyfriend Rich, cuz she couldn't handle the fact that I hadn't tried Indian food before, haha. That was really really good as well. I tried lamb!

Yesterday, Tom took me into town and showed me a few shops he thought I'd like. One was this geek-filled extravaganza where I bought a Nightmare Before Christmas candle holder, haha. Oh, and he bought me Corpse Bride chapstick. Heehee. Oh! Oh! We also visited an old church that was bombed in World War 2. It's now a memorial, but the rubble has been left basically intact in order to see just how devastating the attack was. AND he took me to a castle, though I can't remember if that was Saturday or Sunday. I'm getting all mixed up now because we did so much!

Every story has a beginning.

I have arrived in England at long last! Since I can remember, I've been interested in travel. Once I learned about study abroad opportunities in high school, I knew I'd be doing that sometime in college. I had to! But at the same time, it was always more of a wish-list-type item more than a definite reality for me. Yet here I am.

We arrived to snow. I'd never seen snow in person before, so you can imagine my delight. It's absolutely beautiful. Everything shimmers when covered in snow, and I love the sound and feeling of walking on it. I made my first snowball! I was hit with my first snowball as well...thank you Tom. It was fantastic.

I really like the house I'm living in, even though it's at least a good 20-minute walk to get into town. My body needs the exercise; that's made painfully obvious by the pitiful aching in my legs. No cars to rely upon in Luton! My beloved truck is alllll the way back in Florida, so I will simply have to use my legs. I enjoy the walk to town. It's pretty easy and provides an ample opportunity to observe everything.

Man, I am totally jumping around as far as chronology, but it's difficult to write about everything that's happened since landing on Monday. Hopefully I'll get better at this blogging thing as the semester progresses.

Tom met us at the airport. He couldn't find me, so he had the information desk page me over the intercom. Kinda felt like a VIP, not gonna lie. He brought a cream egg for both me and Sara as welcome gifts. Isn't that sweet? Ohhhh punny.

I went to the induction session today, which is basically an orientation. We had a tour and met the other international students studying at Bedfordshire this semester. Three of them are from Poland, two from schools in Holland (though one is actually from China), and then us four Americans. After the session concluded, several of us went across the street to a pub and got to know one another a little better. In particular, the other girls (one from Poland and the other from Holland) seemed especially nice, though everyone there made good company. Sara and I were invited to hang out tomorrow night, which would be cool. Hopefully that works out well.

Speaking of tomorrow, I have to go back to campus to have my classes signed by the "course manager" (I'm guessing that's like the equivalent to the department head?) so that I can officially register on Friday. I tried to get this done today, but no one was in their offices.

Oh! And I bought some groceries today. Did you know there are different types of Toblerone? Because I soooo did not. The more you know! ;)