University Of Essex @ MindSay 
The point of this entry, anyway, is to tell those of you who keep up with it (and those I respond to regularly, lol) that I'll be gone from tomorrow (Thursday! Already!) until Sunday. I think my train comes in at about 2pm Sunday but there's stuff I'm doing then anyway. I still have to finish Moby Dick, which is one of my least favorite books. McTeague is my absolute least favorite, by the way.
I'm dead tired and everything I'm typing is probably pointless. Meh.
PS: I have "Harry Potter" in my tags again. Buwahaha.
Right, so I'm not having any problems at all in my Literature classes - those are going smoothly (aside from my lecturer for American Lit, who just so happens to hate America and has an obsession with human rights in factory conditions ::goggles::). In Philosophy and American History, however... well, I'm not having problems with the materials so much as the teachers.
In Philosophy, the whole point of the class is to argue and debate and discuss the topic of the lecture. The lecture was meta-ethics and nomitive ethics and Humes (sp?) theory of wrong vs. right. Well, my teacher seems to agree with Humes and I do not and so we discussed, expect he got sort of mean about it and I'm unclear as to whether he admires my perseverence or dislikes my argumentiveness.
In American History I know for sure that I have a problem with the teacher (not the lecturer, because I haven't talked to him and he's some famous author of American History, Brogan something or other). See, in the lecture, Brogan spent a lot of time talking about how slavery was such a major issue in the Civil War. I don't disagree with that at all, but I thought that, for a balanced lecture, he should have at least just mentioned the other reasons for the war. I brought my concern to the teacher's attention and the guy flips out me. Then, for the rest of the class, whenever he asked a question he (and everybody else) would just stare at me as if I were such a smart ass and going to blurt out the answer without giving anybody else a chance. Just because I'm American.
It was the first time I actually felt uncomfortable and unwelcome in this country. And I didn't like it. I plan on speaking to Brogan personally, the next time I have a question about one of his lectures. He seems like a nice, reasonable man. I'm sort of afraid to speak up about anything in my history class now. If you know me though, you know that feeling will pass, hehe. I just can't help but share my opinion.
Oh! Neighbors is on in an hour! I can't wait to see what happens but supposedly Sky's dad's coming back and I want to see what happens to Izzy because both Karl (who threw a tempertantrum in the middle of a crowd! The Doctor!) and her brother have booted her out of their lives! I hope she doesn't leave the show because she's the most interesting person on it. That and the fat guy that owns the bikini shop who's name I can never remember.
And I think I'm going to make scrambled eggs for dinner. With ketchup. Oh, that sounds so very good.
Okay, I got this next thingy from something on Myspace and just found it amusing. (BTW, I was born in April).
APRIL:
Active and dynamic. Decisive and haste but tends to regret. Attractive and affectionate to ones self. Strong mentality. Loves attention. Diplomatic. Consoling, friendly and solves peoples' problems. Brave and fearless. Adventurous. Loving and caring. Suave and generous. Usually you have many friends. Enjoys to make love. Emotional. Stubborn. Hasty. Good memory. Moving, motivates oneself and others. Loves to travel and explore. Sometimes sexy in a way that only their lover can understand.
Well, I'm certainly suave...I've always known that. The loving to travel and explore describes me the best, though. As does the stubborness.
Right, then, moving on...
OCT. 4
I've met most of my flatmates. The room itself is pretty cool and I'm almost done decorating. I've got a little monkey (on a key chain), wrapped in vines, hanging by a tropical flower hanging by my light pull-cord (the on-off pull cord, you know... I have no idea what they're called). My favorite people so far are Maggie and Steve. They seem pretty cool. Maggie is super nice and Steve is really nice too but he's more funny and likes asking questions about America. Oh - and I learned something today. Most Brits perception of America is based on what they see on TV, the most popular American shows over here are The Simpsons, Friends, LOST, and, I think, Without A Trace. But The Simpsons is the most popular by far... which isn't the best thing at times. Steve seemed to think that's how Americans are. Hm. No, they're not.
Anyway, two other guys I met that are real cool are Matt and Brian (who are currently in the kitchen making egg fried rice and bacon noodles - some of the grossest noodles ever). I had fun last night shopping at Tesco's with Ma and Jane. They have some of the same things as us like Coke and NutriGrain bars and something that's very similar to Ramen noodles (a university student's main diet, right? haha). Their peanut butter looks funny. I haven't tasted it yet but... it just looks funny. I bought it anyway because I love peanut butter and my typical breakfast is peanut butter toast. I also got macaroni and cheese in a can. I kid you not, fellow Americans - it comes in a can over here, already made. Then I got some Honey Oats, which look like Honey Nut Cheerios, a pack of Coke that comes in cans shorter than my iPod and about the width of my wrist (they look like baby Coke cans, lol). What else did I get... oh, porridge. Or as Americans call it - oatmeal. I got some apple and cranberries porridge. I think it'll be good. I just have to get some milk, sugar and... some other things I can't entirely remember. Maybe some sandwich making stuff. They seem to like cooking here and I'm not a big cook. OH! I need cheese so I can make grilled cheese! YES! mmmm... grilled cheese...
I just opened iTunes to update my iPod and totally forgot I'm in a network here so when the 'share' music thing came up with about a dozen different names, I was totally like 'What in the hell?' Then I remembered, I'm on a network so I can see the playlists of other people on my floor. Or is it in my building? I'm not sure but I would think that out of the 100 or so people in my building there would be more than twelve people with iTunes. Who knows.
I need to find some sticky hook so that I can hang up my Orlando Bloom calender. I'm starting to feel lonely without him in my room, haha. Oh, I just remember something. The whole internet thing here is weird. Like, I have to do a bazillion differnent things, go to a few dozen different locations a speak to a hundred different people just to get connected. That's the actual process too. At Miami, they had about 30 people connecting kids computers for them and, even with the wait, it took maybe a half hour. Forty at most, and then we were instantly connected. Here, even after I do all the things I gotta do, it'll be twenty-four hours before I'm connected because there's a waiting period for some reason. Very strange.
(Late Night Addition... technically it's 10-5 b/c it's 12:38pm but whatever). Just spent the past 4 hours sitting in the kitchen chatting with my flatmates. Well, most of my English flatmates. Two other American's joined us for a while, one girl from Texas who also shares our flat. It was such a great time, just sitting there, all chill, talking about anything and everything. The big thing is the German girl on our floor - she seems 'Froulein'. Very motherly and bitchy. Ah well, I'll just ignore her is she gets like that. I don't want to pass judgement yet 'cause she could just have had a bad day. We all have 'em.
Been invited to go to the beach (a.k.a. arcades) in Clacton tomorrow afternoon with my new 'mates'. Hehe. It'll be a blast, I'm sure. Can't wait to check it out. Oh, and just for my American friends (all of whom want me to bring home an English or Scottish or Irish boy for them), there's a nice English boy here, who's name's temporarily slipped my mind, who looks strikingly like Nick Stahl and loves the telly, playing video games, and the computer, not to mention has a great taste in music. I think I'm in love, haha.
One last note: they have those chocolate oranges here! I remember only seeing them at Target, like five years ago, for about a month and I loved them and then they completely disappeared but they must be popular over here because Tesco had two shelves full of them! YES! By the time I leave England in December I'm determined to not want to see another chocolate orange for as long as I live. :) And they're only like 80p. Sweet, in both ways.
Ah...now I can get back to writing up-to-date blogs! But I promise nothing interesting has happened of late that I didn't mention. I have to go to Richmond this weekend (a suburb of London) so, hopefully something interesting will happen there. We'll see, eh?
So, it's all good now. I got the internet problem fixed yesterday but I had to wait the day it takes to connect and so, after watching Neighbors (an Australian soap opera that is horrible and yet, so addictive) with my flat's 'Neighbors Society' (which really just means that half the flat congregates in Aaron's room at half five everyday to watch the show. And I forgot what I was saying...oh, the internet! So, yes, I came back from Neighbors to find my internet working! After a few 'Hallelujahs!' and checking Myspace, I came on to blog. This won't be a real blog, though, I'm just going to copy and paste what I wrote my first week here.
WARNING: It will be long, because it's two days of crazyness. Only read on further if you're actually interested in my life...haha.
OCT. 3
England is insane... and I LOVE it. My Ma and her friend Jane (who came with and is our designated driver - though none of us is familiar with driving in the U.K. or on the left side of the road) don't seem to understand any of the road signs, which I don't understand because they're blunt. Other then the roundabouts, which I actually like, and the road signs, which seem to make sense only to me, the only thing that throws me off about driving in Britain is the whole driving on the left side of the road and the steering wheel being on the right side of the car. We actually had a discussion about this at the rental dealership, and none of us can figure out how, in a world ruled by right-handed people, there are countries with steerings wheels on the right side of the car so that everybody has to use their left hand to shift.
Good news is, I know Colchester very well after only 72 hours here (well, technically it's less than that but I'm not technical person anyway). I know where the superstores are, where the movie theater is, where Curves is, where the best shopping is, where my bank is, and, most importantly, where every single pub is. Haha, that's not a hard one actually because there's a pub every other store and at least 6 on campus alone. Also, in town, when excluding the shopping areas where almost all the stores are clothing-type shops and restaurants, the streets look like this: [pub][grocer][pub][asian food][pub][fish'n'chips][pub][grocer][pub][indian food][pub]
Oh! That reminds me - I experienced irony today in a pub. On campus they gave us these special bracelets that indicate we're students or whatever and those bracelets get you discounts, including in the pubs of course. Well, one of the discounts that caught my Ma's and Jane's eye was a two for one special for Mud Vodka's (or Muddy Vodka's or something like that), so, and here's the irony, I had to buy them the alcohol. I actually laughed out loud at that one. On a similar note, my Ma kept trying to buy me pints. I know most teenagers would love to have this problem but, honestly, I don't want to get drunk right away. Besides, at least one of us has to remain sober so we know where the hell we are and where we're going. That and I have too much to do right now to go and get drunk. And I'm sick from all the roundabouts, which aside from being helpful, turns your stomach into liquid... it's like being on one of those kiddy rides that go in circles at the same speed for what seems like an hour so that your stomach almost permanately moves in next to your pancreas and on top of your right kidney (a place a stomach does not belong).
I'm actually writing this in my dorm room right now. It's very nice - a corner space - and is about as big as my room in Miami, except, it's a single. They're all singles and it's fabulous. OH! And there are boys on the floor too (if you go to a school that's completely co-ed in everything, then this won't make any sense)!!! HOT English boys and one Irishman whom I'm totally in love with. I'm so glad I got my hair done before I came. And I'm glad that English girls are more... urgh, how to say this without sounding mean... well, it can't be done. English girls seem a lot more plain than American girls. Though there are some gorgeous Keira Knightly types, most are just so... normal-looking and plain and it really makes me feel better, especially after living in Miami where most girls look like Beyonce, Jennifer Lopez or Lindsay Lohan or in DeKalb where, like, half the girls in my high school were models (this is no joke either). I get to feel pretty here and I love it. And in Miami, the boys are on one floor and the girls are on another and we have some strict rules... and some of the RAs are total Nazis when it comes to keeping the rules. Though I know a few who managed to get around it by memorizing our RA's schedule... though I'm far too lazy to do that. So, whatever. It's better here!
I love everything here, really. The language (I love how articulate everybody is), the way they do things, just... everything. I don't ever want to leave. I especially love Essex - it's fabulous! If you're thinking about universities in England, seriously consider Uni.Essex cause it rocks. Now, the only thing I have to figure out is the kitchen situation... hm, I'll do that later. Right now I'm heading out to meet more people. Adios!
END
Right, that was super-long so I think I'll wait to post the rest till tomorrow.
I'm feeling good about the compliments I've recieved on my new look (haven't seen it? scroll down). It's such a big change but it's made me feel so much more confident because the other look... I've just looked like that for SO long, it was as if it was holding me back because it stopped representing who I am a long time ago. While I can be quite the girly girl, I'm very dark too (just ask my parents about my childhood obsessions, ::rolls eyes::) and finally got sick and tired of everybody assuming I'm a typical bubbly blonde ditz, because I'm not. Not that my A.D.D. helps with that image...
Whoa, this is turning into a rant almost and that's not at all what I intended. Actually, I think I forgot what I wanted to talk about. Something funny happened to me today. Damn... what was it? If you know the funny thing that happened today, please share it with me :)
Now, to the reason I'm tired. Well, I need to clarify first, I'm mentally exhausted and only slightly physically exhausted. I've been running around all day today! First, I had to go to Curves to get my travel pass because I don't want to break my exercise routine while I'm gone and ::claps hands:: because there's a Curves in Colchester, I won't have to! Then I had to go to Target for some girly thing and to search for a winter coat.
I went to Target, Old Navy, TJ Maxx, JC Penny, Elder Berman, WalMart and, finally, Kohl's before I found a jacket! Well, a jacket I liked. I found the perfect jacket at JC Penny's - it was a pea coat that was pink with blue, green, yellow, purple, and orange plaid-like stripes. It was insane and so me! But they only had small left and so, with some disappointment, I had to move on. I found a coat at Kohl's, though. It's sorta ski-resort slash pea coat and it's black with a pretty green, cream and purple plaid inside. I got a matching purple scarf, hat and gloves with it. It's alright. It's cute and all but I really wanted the crazy pink jacket.
Then, I came home, ate lunch, and then began to pack, clean and organize. I've got one large suitcase completely packed and ready to go. My medium suitcase is almost packed, I just need to wait for my socks to get washed and then that bag is done. And my small bag, of course, won't be completely packed until tomorrow because that's my over-night bag with my clothes for this weekend in it.
The cleaning sucked because not only do I have to clean my bedroom but my bathroom and my sister's room as well. Why do I have to clean my sister's room, you ask? Because my TV doesn't have a DVD hookup like her's and her's is about 3 inches bigger, so it's good for watching movies and playing video games. I don't understand, though, how it got so messy when I was barely in there this month! It's not like I slept and lived in there. My room was the worst of course, but after packing I realized most of the mess was bags and books and clothes, which are easy enough to clean-up. Now I just have to dust, straighten, and vacuum and I'm done in there. I haven't even started the bathroom yet. Even though I've packed most of my makeup, accessories and hygienic items, it's still a mess! Humph.
I HATE PACKING. I'm a nomad at heart who hates packing. Unpacking is fun, funnily enough, and I like that.
I can't wait to get to my room and set it all up and decorate. I should've been an interior designer. God, that'd be loads of fun! Painting and decorating... well, I'll get to do all that when I get my own place. Now, I just have to be creative and crafty with colorful construction paper and pieces of fabric, haha.
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