Enjoy!

Fin.

Regina Spektor - Fidelity (couldn’t embed the video so you’ll have to visit her YouTube Channel – while you’re there listen to the rest of her songs – you won’t regret it!)

Bored? Watch all the back episodes of these shows and get an education in REAL telly shows! Love me some British TV.

Doctor Who (Currently between Series 6 & 7)

A 900(ish) year old Time Lord (alien w/ two hearts) travels around the Universe in a space ship shaped like a Police Box and continually saves the day.

Misfits (Currently between Series 3 & 4)

Misbehaved teens with super powers.

Sherlock (Just finish Series 2)

Your favorite Sherlock Holmes mysteries updated to modern life.

Downton Abbey (Currently between Series 2 & 3)

Early 20th Century family of The Earl of Grantham & their servants.

Watch them all and you will thank me (or not cuz you’ll be hooked) for sharing these gems.

Fin.

I boarded the plane back to the UK with very little enthusiasm as I saw many small children sitting near me, but I was tried so I napped almost the entire way even though a baby cried the whole time — which doesn’t bode well for my future children as I apparently can sleep despite crying infants. Upon arrival I discovered that the only means of trasportation available to travelers on Christmas Day in London is by taxi as all trains, coaches, & buses stop running on this day. It was therefore necessary for me to request that my lovely friend Lucie (at whose house I was to stay for a few days) pick me up from the airport, a task she accepted.

Upon arrival at the home of my friend – I met her entire family (there was a long list of names that she thankfully gave me in the car) where we watched the end of the Downton Abbey Christmas Special, then played a board game!! The game was called Logos and though I though I was pretty good with such things, I proved semi-useless as the questions were mostly about brands that I’ve never heard of having not grown up in England. My inexpert playing wasn’t too detrimental to my team and we (the women) prevailed.

Next day (Boxing Day) Lucie woke me at 12:30 (I felt really bad that I had slept in so long, but she said she thought about waking me earlier and decided not to as I was sleeping so hard) after which we watched some horse racing on the telly and ate a wonderful meal. After lunch/dinner (it was mid-afternoon so more like linner) I accidentally fell asleep again on the sofa – it is a Silsby thing we like to call a food coma and happens on most holidays after large meals. Lucie woke me up to go pick up Christine from the airport (yes the same Christine that I went to Paris with – we are all friends and doing the same course at Notts). After retrieving Christine we came back to the house and I fell asleep again while the others watch some more telly (I don’t know what my problem was honestly). They woke me up to play more board games (Cranium and Logos again) in which my team lost once and won once.

27 Dec dawned bright (alright I wasn’t actually awake when the sun came up because after waking up at 5:30am I fell asleep again at 7:30 and slept til 9). All day I was quivering with anticipation as we were all just hanging about the house waiting to go to a Premiership Rugby match!! Harlequins v Saracens at Twickenham Stadium. We had fab seats and were close enough to the pitch to smell the sweat! The match was pretty good though the Quins lost (I don’t really have a strong allegiance to any side yet, but Lucie’s family are pretty dedicated fans so I figured I’d go with it). I was told off by the man in front of me for my colorful language (though if he had been supporting the Quins I doubt he would have taken issue). Yes that is Christine in the image – she didn’t get a photo of me, but it was pretty awesome to be there!!

After the match I bid Lucie and family adieu and made my way across London first by coach b/c the train system broke down and then via underground – to Kings Cross Station (yeah the one of Harry Potter fame)  – alright well the one next door to Kings Cross (which is St Pancras) in time for my train back to Notts. While waiting for the train I visited the Cath Kidston shop where I bought a new purse (as the one I had with me was suffering a slow death) with the money my Grandparents sent me for my birthday. (Thanks Gma C and Gpa J!!) I was going to buy a raincoat, but this purse is much cuter and I can always use an umbrella in the rain!

The train journey to Notts was uneventful and I arrived in safety at my accommodation at about midnight with nothing interesting to report. And so ended my holiday adventures.

Tune in next time to hear the exhilarating stories of my 25th birthday and New Years Eve…

Fin.

I’m back from my travels, a year older , and so bored the paint on my walls is starting to look interesting. I’ve spent far too much time on the internet lately, but that will probably change soon. I need to start working on my two 5000 words papers that are due in 2 weeks, which should spice things up a bit. Also, need to get to work on the new issue of Impact, which needs to be finished in about 2 weeks too. So, I guess it looks like I’m going to be really busy again soon!

On to more interesting things:

Went to Paris for Xmas with my American friend (we do the same course – you should read her blog too!) We got into Paris on Christmas Eve about 8pm and made it to the hostel (a super cute one at that). We then got ready and walked to Notre Dame (the Cathedral – not the school in IN you silly Americans) for Midnight Mass. There was a huge queue to go into the Cathedral, so Christine and I decided to sit and watch the jumbo screen. Mass was in French, so I naturally didn’t understand a word of it, but the rhythm of the Mass is the same the world over and the songs recognizable, so I got the gist. Sitting there cemented my belief that there is some sign hanging/written on my person that is invisible to me, but says “I like to be hit on by creepy men.” Here is why: Men that approach women who are sitting watching MASS must be creepy. We were approached and stalked for a while by men, while watching Mass. They must’ve seen the sign that is only visible to creepy men on my person or in my aura or something.

Next morning we got up early and went to the Eiffel Tower to ice skate. Let me tell you – if you ever want to go to the Eiffel Tower when there are no lines – Christmas morning is the time to do so. We walked straight up to the box office and then straight up the stairs, were two of about 8 people on the ice (a complimentary service providing skates and everything!!) Christine had to help me get up the stairs – that is some scary shit for a person with a debilitating fear of heights (esp going to the second level!).

Afterward we walked around a few cute Christmas markets, had some mulled wine, went to Ladurée, a fab macaroon shop near Champs-Elysées of Sex and The City fame (apparently), and headed to Montmartre where we walked around the cemetery and stopped by the Moulin Rouge, which I must say was pretty underwhelming in the daylight.

                                    
After that we headed back to the hostel so I could collect my things (my flight back to England was that evening) and went to dinner. Dinner could’ve been better, but the view of the Louvre was pretty cool. I mean the Crème brûlée was cold… is that normal? Have I been eating it wrong for years? I also got 3 tomato halves for my starter… who in their right mind wants that much tomato to eat for a starter? It all tasted fine, it was just a bit awkward. After dinner I made an epic journey to the airport (had to change trains 3 times as nothing was really clearly marked or explained properly) and thankfully didn’t have to deal with long lines at the ticket counter or security, b/c I made it to the gate just 5 mins before we began boarding. Finally sat down on the plane and…

Tune in next time where you will hear all about what happened upon my return to the UK!

Fin.

*all photos courtesy of Christine as my camera is still broken*

Failures :: Everything went wrong in Dublin! – My travel buddy never made it from Notts to the Emerald Isle, I only had my iPad for pictures as traveling with my DSLR is a pain in the ass (and it is kinda sorta broken )- which means I only took one picture, I got massively inebriated,  & missed my flight back to Notts.

<–This was my breakfast/lunch in Dublin.

Obsession :: Irish Accents!! <3

Success :: Turned in two pieces of coursework. Got the first of them back yesterday with a decent grade!! The way it works is you get a certain percent and those fall in brackets – I can only remember the top two brackets, which are Merit and Distinction. I ended up with a Merit on my first essay, which is really good! It is mega hard to get a Distinction.

Failure :: Handing coursework in early seems to be impossible for me. It reminds me of the quote from He’s Just Not That Into You movie, “You love it because you feed off that drama. You all love that drama. So you never wait until the last minute on a deadline or a phone bill… …because secretly you love the drama…” – It feel like coursework may just be the drama I thrive off of! – We’ll see what the next result it to see if it works for me.

Obsession :: Reading anything that isn’t my homework! Just finished rereading Jane Austen’s Pride & Prejudice. Going to the library later to find something else to read (thinking Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett) that isn’t homework related.

Success :: I’m a published designer!! Like for real! Look at my handiwork! Isn’t it beautiful? Alright I can’t take all the credit (thanks Luke, Alix, and Sophia!! best design team ever!) Impact is University of Nottingham’s student magazine – written, photographed, and designed by the students @ Notts. – I also designed an add for my sister a while back – I wonder if that ever made it into print….

Failure :: Designing this issue led to even further delinquency of my coursework. Also, I’ve been looking for a job in Notts and failing in the design field because I have zero Web skills… I tried to learn HTML coding when I first moved to FL, but gave up… now I regret not taking any sort of web design for my minor at Kendall.

Obsession :: Anything to do with design (e.g. blogs, Twitter feeds, etc.) If you have any print stuff or logo design you would like to hire someone else to do – let me know! I won’t charge much and may even do it pro bono just to stave off the boredom of the upcoming holidays (though please remind me that I have 2 more, way longer essays to write before 16 Jan 2012, but don’t remind me that I turn 25 in less than 30 days.)

In other news…                                                                           

I set up my mini Christmas tree in my room – it is mega cute with the addition of the tiny bulbs I found at Ikea when I first moved over here. I’ve also created a garden of origami tulips above the head of my bed because my room was feeling a little dull with the English Winter rains clouding up my skylight. I have a week and a half until the end of term, then Paris to look forward to for Christmas – can you say ice skating on the Eiffel Tower? – Look out for another post from me after that joyous occasion. I think that’s all the news from this side of the pond!

Fin.

I excitedly ran down the stairs (as quickly and excitedly as is possible with a bum knee and one crutch for support) and discovered a large package awaiting me on the doorstep. The postman then (seeing my crippled state) carried the extremely heavy parcel all the way to my room door in my flat for me!! Super nice man and I wish him a long life full of joy for carrying this parcel up for me!

The return address made it clear which package had arrived and I got even more excited, but it was A LOT heavier than I was expecting. I’ll let the images below tell the rest of the story!

I am now on cloud nine and headed down to the Rugby Pitch to watch my girls smash Leicester!

Fin.

I got a really cheap CF card reader so I can start transferring pictures from my camera onto my computer! Though I didn’t really find any that I wanted to blog today already on there.

More good news:

I’ve decided to go to Dublin on Thanksgiving weekend (for my UK friends that is the last weekend in November) because it is SUPER cheap to get a plane ticket and the friend I’m going with knows a good hostel there!! I’ve also made an executive decision to spend Christmas (the would be Eve and Day) in Paris!! My beautiful friend Deanna turned me onto a fantastic list of inexpensive hotels and hostels in Paris as well. Currently searching for an Adventure Time Sidekick for that little journey, but I am going to go with or with out said Sidekick.

Also, I got an iPad!!! This was the most exciting thing I’ve purchased so it will be super easy for me to record/recount all my adventures for you all! My first adventure in creating a video on the iPad worked pretty well, but Facebook didn’t like it so I opened a Vimeo account… I’ll post links to that when new videos start popping up!

Bad news time:

I dislocated my kneecap. I was at Rugby training and we were scrimmaging against one another. I got the ball and ran with it (I was pretty impressed with my run). I was then tackled, got the ball back to my team, and once all the bodies climbed off of me I stood up. This did not feel good at all. My theory is that while in the tackle someone’s stud caught me under the kneecap and pushed it out of place, then when I stood up it slid back into place. I spent my Friday night at the QMC (hospital) being prodded and x-rayed instead of going to the Quidditch Soc Halloween Party (*minor grumbling*)

In addition to that – this blog post the the first productive thing I’ve done all day today… so that could fall into either category. :/

I think that’s all the news in general…

Fin.

OK, so maybe not 101, but the NUWRFC (that’s Nottingham University Women’s Rugby Football Club) look like some pretty decent dalmatians! We’re mostly all white and covered in black spots.

Last Wednesday I played in my first ever Rugby match! I was so grateful for the opportunity as I don’t feel like I have all the rules (there are many) down yet. Mostly it is just tackling people, keeping possession of the ball, and getting it out to the fast runners to score tries (touchdown to those Americans out there). I only touched the ball once during the match, but my pass hit the intended target and I got a few good tackles in too! I play front row (which means I’m in the front row of the scrum, usually as a loose-head prop (Google it)). I’m really enjoying the game and the girls on the team are fantastic people. I think I might be the oldest person on the team, but I guess the younger ones keep me feeling young.

Next match is this Wednesday – home against Cambridge (which I hear is the hardest team in the league) – Kick off at 1400 – I’ll let everyone know how it goes! They are announcing the team roster (we can only field 22 players per game so I might end up in the cheering section this week) at training tonight, I have my fingers crossed!

More fun things are happening – just you wait!

Fin.

I’m finally caught up on all my homework (aside from one small reading that I’m currently avoiding, but it is only 10 pgs and can be done tomorrow before class) after my awesome work ethic slightly faltered when I had a visit from Normé last weekend! Though my work ethic suffered slightly, it was really fantastic that he came to visit as I was starting to miss the States and a familiar-face pick me up was all I needed! He came for a long weekend, we went to London where we wandered around, ate some lack luster chicken in Soho, and generally did the sight-seeing thing. He had to leave SUPER early on Sunday morning so I waved him off at the train station to the airport and went back to the hotel to use up the rest of our time. After a little more beauty sleep, I wandered around Soho some more and did a bunch of window shopping. I couldn’t be bothered to do much else (like go to some amazing art exhibitions that I am now kicking myself for missing) so I got a train home around 1500. (For those of you who don’t read 24 hr time that is 3pm) I was attempting to make it back to Nottingham before my 5pm Skype date, which I completely missed as the ticket I bought was on the twice as long route, but was only £3 cheaper :/.

Since I got back some other pretty sweet things have been going on, but you’ll have to read my next post to find out more (I think I’m going to write a bunch of posts and set them to auto-post over a few days time just to draw out all the excitement!)

Fin.

P.S. That is a Robin Hood Statue that lives next to Nottingham Castle!

P.P.S. Pictures have been limited as I don’t have a card reader for my proper camera and my U.S. phone will no longer charge, but I will hopefully have a solution that you will have to read about later!