Day #72

Today started and will end with a blog post. Ah, the circle of life. It sure does move us all.

Both of our couchsurfing hosts showed us around downtown Cardiff today, and it is an extremely adorable little city! Most of the downtown area is for pedestrians only, so the shopping and food and work places are all condensed and you don't have to worry about getting run over (by cars, anyway- sometimes people are just as dangerous). We walked through the park and saw Cardiff Castle and the city's rugby stadium. Oh yeah, and we ate at a place that boasted an authentic American breakfast. I will admit, my scrambled eggs, toast, and hash brown did have the meal feeling like home.

They have this great part of the city called the Arcades, which is probably not what you're picturing. They're these cute little covered streets that have adorable glass ceilings so you can walk along the cobblestone road and not get wet of it's raining! Take a gander at the view from the second floor of one of these babies:

I know you can't actually see the glass ceilings, but you're just going to have to trust me. Also let it be known that I tried really hard to make a glass ceiling pun but, alas, sleep is getting the better of me. Let me know if all you readers out there (hi mom and dad) can think of anything.

Important: Tree With Sweater

Our couchsurfing hosts really were superb. One of them walked us to the bus stop and we sang One Direction to each other as the bus pulled away. They should write a platonic romcom about our visit. Maybe that would just be a sitcom? Or just a regular com?

After two very long bus rides, we finally pulled into downtown Canterbury at 11:40pm. Unfortunately, we hadn't calculated the fact that the busses don't run past 10:50pm on Sunday's... So we had a brisk walk up an almost vertical incline for 40 minutes back to our house! Okay so maybe it's possible that we potentially didn't walk exactly literally vertically up hill the entire trip. But it felt like it.

Around 12:20 we finally made it back to our house, where we all got ready for bed and I did some last-minute research for my ten minute presentation tomorrow. 

And with my eyes almost closing in the middle of this blog post (don't worry, mom, I made sure I finished so you wouldn't be worried again), I bid everyone a cozy night's sleep. May you all get at least 8 hours and wake up just long enough before your alarms to turn them off and avoid that terrible, terrible noise!

Day #71

I'M SORRY THIS IS LATE (to the few people who actually read this) I AM ALIVE AND WELL AND WAS NOT EATEN BY OUR COUCHSURFING HOSTS. I was just so tired last night that I fell asleep almost as soon as my head hit the pillow! So here's what happened:

We set out yesterday morning for the Doctor Who Experience! We now appreciate how close our hosts are to the center of Cardiff- we walked about 10 minutes to the train station, paid an extremely low price for the train, and after a 3 minute train ride we were at the Bay!

After seeing Baltimore and Boston's inner harbors, Cardiff's bay was actually pretty small, but still adorable. And then we got there- the Doctor Who Experience.

The entire experience included a hands-on trip through time and space with The Doctor, the exhibition where they had many original props and costumes worn by the cast, and the gift shop. I will admit that I was a tad underwhelmed by the gift  shop, but the rest was absolutely incredible. I won't spoil it for those of you who want to eventually go someday, but it is definitely worth every pent (pence? What's the singular form of pence?)

I saw some weeping angles and DIDN'T BLINK

Ran away in the tardis

And met a zygone! (Yes these are real creatures that someone actually thought up and they decided to use)

We took the train back to Queen's Street closer to where we're staying) and window shopped for a while before going to get pizza and donuts with one of our couchsurfing hosts. To top off our night, we got ourselves in the Christmas season by watching Love Actually, a personal favorite, before conking out. A fabulous day filled with lots of fabulous things! 

...oh yeah, and remember that time we were robbed at a travel lodge hotel? Look what we found in Cardiff:

It will haunt us forever more. 

Day #70

CARDIFF TODAY! We got to leave later than the last few trips, so it was nice to sleep in a little bit. Our bus rides were very long... We're talking a full 2 hours to London and then 3 hours and 45 minutes to Cardiff. Only both of them hit major traffic so all in all, our total bus time today totaled about 8 hours. By the time we reached Cardiff, we were extremely excited to get off that bus!

This trip is also our first experience with couchsurfing! Though at first we were weary that it would be completely sketchy, our two hosts are both lovely people. One of them went out to dinner with us and is potentially coming to the Doctor Who Exhibition tomorrow as well!

Speaking of which, it's definitely time to rest up for our big day tomorrow! Have a picture of the most majestic machine I the world, the Zamboni.

Complete with the most accurate caption ever. Goodnight!

Day #69

It really is so nice to sleep in my own bed after so much traveling. But I'll be off again tomorrow, this time to Cardiff and the Doctor Who Exhibition! I was pretty productive this morning with homework, researching Cardiff things, and whatnot, after which I went to the three hours of class I have this week (this is not a joke I actually only had 3 hours of class this week like wut). I made myself probably the least festive dinner ever of chicken and rice before the main event: SKYPING MY FAMILY FOR THANKSGIVING!! 

I got to see not only my parents, brothers, and dog, but also my Papa and Grammy! I'm sure they were pleased to hear that even abroad, I am staying up to date with many important things relevant to their lives, such as High School Musical and One Direction. I am very thankful for a lot of things this season, including the fact that I can still see the people I love while I am having such an amazing experience abroad. 

And with that, I will pretend to sleep of turkey after watching a nice American football game and eating lots and lots of pie. Except the sleep part isn't pretend. I'm actually going to sleep. For real. Right now. Zzzzzzzzzzz.......

Day #68

For the first time in a while, I slept in this morning. Ah 10am, how I have missed you. I did a little bit of homework before heading to my friend's rugby game. A few friends and I cheered her on until, unfortunately, she broke her nose about 20 minutes in. The good news is that she's doing fine now, and took it like a champ! The bad news is that Kent lost. But it was still a good game!

I got to skype with my professor about my final, which brings me to another good-news-bad-news situation. Good news: I've done a great job on my project so far and I'm further than most people in my class! Bad news: he wants the people who know what they're doing to be the first to present what they have so far on Monday! So, good. 

The completely good news with no bad strings attached is that I got my new house and room key today to replace the ones that were stolen in Dublin! And, because I had the criminal report reference number, Kent will wave the charge to get a new key! Making the best out of a bad situation- it's kind of my job. (HAAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH)

But the real highlight of my day was the thanksgiving dinner hosted by Kent. I got to wear my new shoes (on sale from Primark, which is a store on the same level as Target. And that's saying something.)

But the most important part: THE FOOD. After rolls came mushroom soup for the first course.

The main course included turkey, mashed, roasted, and sweet potatoes, cranberry sauce, gravy, veggies, Mac n cheese, stuffing, squash stuffed with corn and cheese, and a mini sausage wrapped in bacon. Feast your eyes on this beauty:

For dessert, they served Apple pie which looked so delicious that by the time I remembered to take a picture I had eaten it already. Oops. Also yum.

Though it certainly will not compare to my dad's turkey, my mom's sweet potato casserole, my papa's rolls, or my grammy's pies, I guess Kent did a pretty okay job with thanksgiving.

Day #67

Today we said goodbye to Ireland. I hope I can return someday under slightly better conditions, but Ireland certainly has redeemed itself. My 4 friends and I were in a 6-person hostel room, so this morning we said goodbye to the 6th person, Darren from New Zealand, and checked out before 10am. The hostel had delicious eggs and cheese on a bagel, and I got to walk the streets of Dublin one more time. All things considered, I really do like Dublin. It's a very manageable city and by this morning I was pleased to find that I sort of knew my way around already! 

Then it was time for the long trek back. We got a taxi from the hostel (Generator Hostel, for anyone out there traveling- I highly recommend this branch, which has locations around Europe) and got to the airport around 1:30. We got through security by about 2:15, and our flight left at 4 so we got some well-deserved noms to pass the time and satisfy our growling stomachs. The sunset was quite beautiful as we boarded the plane.

I slept a bit on the plane before touching down in London Luton around 5:30. We waited in the airport for another hour before waiting outside in the rain for our first of 3 busses which was supposed to come at 7. But it finally did arrive, and we got to victoria coach station around 8:45 where we got a little more food at the lovely Caffé Nero before boarding our second bus at 10. Two down, one to go!

More sleep and we arrived at canterbury at 11:45. Unfortunately we had to wait until 12:15 to get the next bus to campus, but I finally finally got back to my room at 12:45. Even though my room key was stolen, my door was thankfully unlocked so I am now laying in my own bed at long last. We may have gotten the luck of the Irish a bit late, but I'm glad it came at any rate.

......Cardiff on Friday................!

Day #66

As my friend recently said, "I hated this godforsaken place... But Ireland has redeemed itself". Our twelve hour tour was a phenominal success. Although we thought we were going to be late after leaving our hostel at 7 and finishing our breakfasts at 7:30, but the tour started promptly at 8 as scheduled. Our tour guide was a lovely Irish chap named John with ginger hair and endless anecdotes. Our bus stopped twice before noon for coffee and bathroom breaks, and I finally got a real feel for Ireland. Since I've really only been to cities so far (London, Canterbury, Bath, Gillingham, etc), it was a very nice change to see the rolling verdure, ancient stone walls, and countless acres of countryside spattered with small cottages or a small village with pastel colored houses by the sea, such as the one pictured below.

We had a truly Irish day- it was cloudy and windy, but that meant traveling by bus was perfect. We had enough time to explore each place, and we're glad to get back on the bus after taking pictures. Our first real stop was at an abbey near Galway. The Irish used to worship Celtic gods, such as the sun, moon, fairies, and whatnot. They believed fairies lived in raised mounds in the countryside, and would help you if you were nice and bring harm if you weren't. The British were excited to prove them wrong, so to impose Catholicism they built an abbey right through a particularly nasty fairy mound. For one reason or another (freak fires, storms, and accidents, to name a few reasons), the abbey was never finished and eventually the Brits gave up on that site. Some say bad luck; I say don't mess with the fairies.

Our next stop was the somewhat ironically named "baby cliffs". The only thing baby about them is that they're smaller than the Cliffs of Moher. I attempted to conquer my fear of heights while trying to avoid falling to my death. John even took a picture with us!

We made a quick stop for lunch before heading to the Cliffs of Moher, the main attraction! Unfortunately it had started to rain by that point, so we rushed inside the welcome center and played with interactive games until the fog started to lift. Luckily, within the last 15 minutes before we had to get back on the bus, the fog finally started to clear!

ALSO WE SAW SO MANY SHEEP AND COWS AND EVEN SOME DONKEYS AND LLAMAS. Or alpacas. I wasn't sure.

We made another pit stop on the ride home, and got to hear John play an authentic Celtic tune on his recorder and also sing us an old Irish lullaby. What an incredible experience!

When we came back to Dublin, we ate at the Brazen Head, the oldest pub in Ireland, established in whopping 1099. 

The chowder was hot, the bread was delicious, and we met another American family whose son is a freshman at Northeastern (hi Matthew) and spending his first semester in Dublin!

I am finally clean and laying in bed at our wonderful hostel. As we've been saying, we were not robbed today, so it was a success. My friend was able to get a temporary passport, so we will all be flying back to London at 4pm tomorrow. Oh Ireland, what an adventure you've been.

Day #65

Welp, a lot has happened since my last post.

When we got back to our hotel last night, our room had been robbed. Fortunately for me, I only had a few things stolen- my charger, adaptor, and key to my accommodation at the University of Kent. I was staying with four friends, one whose laptop and passport were stolen, another whose backpack was stolen with all of her clothes and toiletries in it, another whose backpack and some clothes were stolen, and the last whose University of Kent key was stolen. We had to stay up until 3:30am to talk to various people at the hotel, make phone calls from the desk since none of us have international phones, and talk to the police. They moved our room so that they could fingerprint, and told us to talk to the manager in the morning, who would be in a little before 9.

We got down to the lobby around 8:30. The manager arrived around 10:15. Unfortunately, the most we are probably going to be compensated would be around £125, and my friend had to spend today and will spend tomorrow talking to the United States embassy to try to get a temporary passport before we leave on Tuesday afternoon. We also had planned to take a 12 hour tour of the countryside today (Sunday), but were thankfully able to move the trip to tomorrow (Monday) since it leaves at 8am. So all in all, last night and this morning were not the best after very, very little sleep. 

BUT that being said, today was truly a lovely day in Dublin. Two of my friends and I grabbed brunch and pastries at an adorable store/cafe with two adorable old men singing jazz music. We walked through trinity college and went shopping so my friend could replace her stolen backpack and clothes, and I could replace my charger and adaptor. We checked into our hostel, which is incredibly nice and I actually get to sleep in a bed (I took the floor in the hotel)! We rounded out the night with a tapas bar, where we sampled 6 different tapas between 4 of us and enjoyed every bite. We were back at the hostel before 9:30, just the way I like it. With our alarm set for 6:15am and a full day of bus and gorgeous mountainside ahead of us, Ireland is definitely looking up for 18 hours ago!

Day #64

We got to sleep in a tiny bit today (on the floor, but still!), and we started off by making our way to the Guinness Factory, which is a must-see attraction in Ireland. We got to learn how it's made, and have a pint on the 7th floor with a 360 degree view of Dublin! 

From there we went to Dublin's Museum of Modern Art, which was good because it was free (my favorite price). We tried out Dublin's metro, but as luck would have it, it broke down right after we bought tickets so we walked the rest of the way but got to see more of Dublin!

From there, we met up with one of my friend's relatives who graciously showed us around Dublin for dinner, where I actually met someone else from western Massachusetts! He knew about Longmeadow because of our lacross team, which was disappointing, but it was nice to hear a familiar accent, at least.

12 hour bus tour tomorrow, fingers crossed I get to bed soon!

Day #63

I have arrived in Dublin safe and sound! Today has been a very, very, very long day. We woke up at 5 to get the bus at 5:50 to Canterbury, the 7 bus to London, 10:30 bus to Luton airport, 2:15 flight to Dublin, then bus to our hotel, which has one less bed than we thought and no extra blankets and wifi only in the lobby and 5 people in the room with one double bed. But we're so tired that the ground feels very comfortable!

Time for bed. More tomorrow hopefully. Goodnight everyone I need lots of sleep.

Day #62

I've been in the habit of getting up pretty early the last week or so, but tomorrow is going to be killer- 5:20am. That's right folks, our bus leaves from Canterbury at a whopping 7am and then we are on our way to Dublin! I am all packed and ready to go. More impressively, I have a midterm due at noon the day after we get back, and I just finished it today. Not to brag, but go Kimberly. Ya done good.

I also made pumpkin pie for my English class. I offhandedly told one of my classmates that if he brought in a pie pan, I would make a pie for the class. Lo and behold, he brought it in! I've never made pumpkin pie before, but it was easy and delicious. Except for opening the cans of pumpkin. Because we no longer have a can opener. Which brings me to my next point...

Remember my house mate who we called the Manchild Werewolf? And the story went that he was supposed to marry the Norwegian princess because he's a baron but he fell in love with her maid so his parents sent him to join the army? And he got bitten by a werewolf in the Norwegian wilderness and became a werewolf himself? And the princess let the maid go? So they met up again but he kept his distance because he was a werewolf but she thought it was another woman? And one night he accidentally attacked her? So then he was alone and decided to join university to start a new life?

Well, friends, that house mate just left to join the army. I might just be psychic.

But unfortunately he brought all of his cooking appliances home, so we are without a can opener, toaster, water heater, and other various helpful things. On the bright side, though, our new house mate is from Finland and she seems very sweet!

Also everyone loved my pie.

Time for bed. DUBLIN TOMORROW, YEAH!

Day #61

Today my dad and I said goodbye to our new friends at the Miller's Arms in Canterbury, but I promised to come back for quiz night soon. We had about an hour to walk around and take a picture with a lamb before it was time to say goodbye :( it was absolutely wonderful to have my dad here, and to be able to show him around the place where I feel so at home. He's on the plane back to the states now (hopefully sleeping- that was his plan), but here's that lamb picture I was talking about from earlier. There really is no one like my dad, which is one of the many reasons I love him.

I stayed in Canterbury for a bit to work on my midterm, since it's due at noon the day after I get back from Dublin. I have officially finished about half of it, and the other half is done but in rough draft mode. 

I did another round of laundry today, which was pleasantly uneventful. All of my clothes are hanging in my room, hopefully drying in time for me to pack them tomorrow!

Speaking of tomorrow, I have a very eventful day that involves pumpkin pie, printing tickets, paving... All the fun stuff. Goodnight everyone, and Dad, let me know when you get back safe!

Day #60

A complimentary full English breakfast at our hotel? I'll take it! The day started off mighty strong, Internet friends. Stomachs full and happy, we walked to the ruins of Canterbury Castle. On the way, we met a guy who grew up in Smithtown, Lond Island on the border of King's Park (hey Aunt Beth, Kelsey, Jack, and Emily!) who does anthropology lectures at the university of kent. Not only is it a small world, but I also got to pet his dog. Big thumbs up. 

Afterwards, we made our way to the cathedral. There were roughly ten billion school tours going on (I said roughly, but that's a pretty accurate estimate). The architecture was beautiful, as always, and the grounds around the cathedral were gorgeously green from all the rain. 

We explored Canterbury a little more, including a cute farmer's market near the West train station, were we indulged ourselves in the fresh bread and cheese. YUM.

We came back to the hotel for a tea and hot chocolate break to get out of the rain. I did a little homework, we watched a little One Direction on tv, all very british. Later, we are dinner at our hotel. I really should stop being surprised by how good the food is. English food really is good. Pinky promise. Dad thinks so too!

I got to meet some of the friends in the pub my dad made when I was in class, and we found out that one of them plays on the Gillingham football team, the same one I went to see in October! The world just keeps getting smaller, but just you wait- I got to pet another dog in the pub who belongs to a guy who lived in the same house as me when he went to the university. What are the odds!?

Finally, my dad and I rejoiced in the warmth and comfort of our respective authentic English jumpers. Have a ice picture of us posing together:

More pictures to follow- we just downloaded the pictures from my dad's camera, so there are roughly 400 more. But, as it's well after midnight here, bed comes first. Cheers!

Day #59

Because I've gotten used to it over the past few days, I got up early again today and did some homework before class. I sat through my lecture and seminar from 12-3, then headed downtown to see my dad and got there around 3:30. We walked around town for a bit before grabbing dinner at another pub called The Shakespeare! Just look at this dish:

Bread topped with chili chicken, salad, and (most importantly) CHEESE. My dad and I shared a delicious dessert with brownie, fudge, peanut butter, vanilla ice cream, marshmallows, whipped cream, and crunchies. The ultimate yum. And our first official dessert since my dad got here!

We went back to campus and I showed my dad around to see the beautiful view of Canterbury from atop the hill. We're now in the hotel enjoying a bathroom that's bigger than a coat closet and another view out the window that can't be beat. Goodnight, world!

Day #58

Our day started bright and early again! Because our hotel check out was at 10am, we had to bring all of our bags with us today. We began our pilgrimage to White Hart Stadium via the tube, but then got some bad advice that took us on a half hour train ride out of our way. Fortunately we were able to get back, and then (possibly because of our newfound distrust of public transportation) we proceeded to walk the 40 minutes to the stadium. Now remember, readers, we still have our bags. And it's drizzling. But we were determined and we saw our journey through to the end! Chaucer, there's a tale for you to add to your book. Tired but happy, we finally made it to our destination.

After another long walk back (during which we stopped for pasties (different from pastries) and coffee), we ventured off to Big Ben and the House of Parliament to complete our tourist locations. We walked out of Westminster station, apparently did not look directly to our left, and proceeded to walk in the opposite direction of Big Ben while grumbling about how hard it was to find. Needless to say, when we realized the error of our ways we took pictures making fun of our own mistake.

Caption: where's Big Ben?

We walked across the bridge and saw the sights from the other side of the Thames before heading to our last destination: Shakespeare's Globe. We found it just in time for a tour and got to touch were they filmed the Shakespeare episode of Doctoe Who in season 3. Friends, I can now saw with certainh that I have been in the same place as David Tennant.

Clearly my selfie game is getting weaker and weaker as I get less and less of my face in these pictures.

Before catching our bus back to Canterbury, we grabbed dinner at a pub called The Shakespeare (appropriately named) where my dad had his first authentic fish and chips of the trip! He was very excited.

I am glad to report that you can comfortably stand in the bathroom at the hotel in Canterbury, unlike the hotel in London. Also, the shower does not overlap the space where your legs should be while sitting on the toilet. These are both good things. Very good things.

Although London is wonderful and we had a great time (the joints in my legs don't necessarily agree after carrying my bag around all day, but that's just because I guess I am actually a 75 year old woman), I am happy to be back in Canterbury. I'm glad to be studying in a quaint little town with such an authentic English feeling rather than such a bustling city. Also, you really can't beat the sight of the cathedral at night.

Day #57

What a jam-packed day! We got breakfast at the hotel at a whopping 7:45am, and an adventure with a temperamental shower head followed soon afterwards. I escaped with my life, after which we set out to Buckingham Palace to watch the changing of the guard! 

From there, we headed to Tragalgar Square and had lunch in a cute place called Café in the Crypt. We spotted Yoda in Trafalgar Square and took some great pictures with him (on Dad's camera, to be seen when he gets sends them to me). We also saw a giant rooster statue. Which was interesting.

Next, we went to the London Bridge and the Tower of London, where we caught the tail end of a tour and walked many many stairs. Most of the poppies (from the WWI anniversary) were still surrounding the Tower of London, looking beautiful.

Last but definitely not least on our attraction list was the one, the only (seriously, it's the only one) TARDIS! We traveled all the way to Earl's Court tube station to poke our heads out and see the tardis on the street corner. The trip was completely worth it.

I'm trying to get better at this whole selfie-with-another-person thing, but for now at least this picture includes the 3 most important things.

We dinnered at a place called Garfunkle's, which was yummy again, and now we are happily back at the hotel and I am stealing the lobby's wifi again.

Tomorrow we get to lug all of our stuff with us after we check out of our hotel at 10am (YAY), and then we journey to Canterbury! 

Day #56

HE'S HERE!!!!! The Browns take london by storm.

Somehow, both of us managed to successfully navigate the tube and arrived safely at our hotel. By that time, the rain had stopped and we were ready to traverse the streets of London. Our first stop was the historically important 221b Baker Street, also known as Sherlock Holmes's house. 

From there, we walked to King's Cross Station and stopped by Regent's Park on the way where was saw lots of beautiful foliage and took many artsy pictures.

Then it was time for the finale. My Hogwarts letter finally came, and I'd like to let you all know that I got safely through platform 9 3/4 and to Hogwarts. This whole study abroad thing was just a hoax to get me to the wizarding school. See you when I can turn people into ferrets!

Dad and I then headed to a pub and I had some delicious bangers and mash (and found out what that actually means- it's sausages and mashed potatoes with a delectable sauce). We're currently planning go our trip for tomorrow- wish us luck!

Day #55

Firstly, happy birthday to this lovely specimen of human, doing our gene pool proud since 1995, entering his second year of legality, MATTHEW!

See? I told you he was a model.

More exciting news: MY DAD IS COMING AND I WILL SEE HIM TOMORROW!!!!!!!!!

While we may not do those exact things, I am still very excited. 

Today in my English class we meditated for one of the three hours. I also finished and submitted my Henry IV parts 1 and 2 review that is due Sunday, so now I don't have to worry about it over the weekend! Yay for productivity!

Time for bed and Dad in the morning! Have a safe flight!

Day #54

Yay I finally did something interesting today! My friends and I went to the Canterbury Tales, a part live-action, part video, part regular acting retelling of a few of the Canterbury Tales! Here's me posing with the lovely Wife of Bath. 

The gift shop was also super cool because we got to look up family heritage and the origins of our last names! The guy working there was very impressed with both the Brown and Reading crests. Not too shabby.

We stopped by Costa afterwards because of the seasonal drinks, and we were not disappointed. Costa is definitely the new favorite. Their festive holiday cups are also adorable and depending on what size you order, you can pretend to be a reindeer, snowman, or Santa!

The whipped cream even had edible little golden star sprinkles on top!

I then saw the Henry IV Part 2, which wasn't quite as good as the first part, but Falstaff was hilarious as always and there was an adorable little 8 year old boy who smiled really big at the end. Also, my new favorite british tradition is ice cream during intermission, which is a thing at every show I've seen so far. I finally indulged myself today, and it was everything I've ever wanted and more.

All was good and well today.

Day #53

Today began as any other normal day would- breakfast, shower, leaving the house to do work. I got a lot done, and was just beginning to reward myself with an episode of The Office, when the fire alarm rang. Very loudly.

So I was forced to pack up my things in the middle of my episode and trudge back to my house. WHERE MY HOUSE MATES AND I TOOK ADVANTAGE OF DOMINO'S TWO FOR TUESDAY PIZZA SPECIAL. What awful pizza that tastes like home <3

Tonight I saw Shakespeare's Henry IV Part 1 at te Marlowe in downtown Canterbury. I took a picture because the Marlowe always looks so darn beautiful all lit up and such.

Though it was a visual masterpiece between the costumes and the set and the lighting, it was too long for a Tuesday night, lasting about 3 1/4 hours including intermission. However, one tradition I think America should adopt is ice cream at intermission. I haven't gotten it yet, but I plan to. England, you have the right idea.

All was going well until I learned that the wifi at my house is out again. University of Kent, this is very inconvenient. I have no phone number, no service plan, no contact without wifi. All of my assignments are online. I'm paying for wifi. So, like, could you wifi, please?

Other than that, a very successful day! Henry IV Part 2 tomorrow night!

UPDATE: THE WIFI IS BACK. I REPEAT, THE WIFI IS BACK. THANK EVERYTHING UNDER THE SUN. 

Day #52

It's done. It's over. The day we've all been waiting for. I. Have handed in. My midterm.

I was talking to a few people in my theatre class today about midterms, and some of them were saying that they have to act for theirs. When I told them I had to write 2,500 words of a creative story and critical introduction, they were all, "right, aren't midterms the worst?"

If anyone wants to read it, just let me know, though do understand that it's disturbing and in no way shape or form resembles any part of my life at any point I am drawing on no experiences here it is all just made up.

To celebrate, Nolan and I watched an episode of Doctor Who! Since I hadn't eaten in about 5 hours, I watched in a cafe on campus. Surrounded by people. Who kept walking by. And looking at my screen. And hearing me laugh at the conversation Nolan and I were having about the episode.

^And that's the way I like it!

Also, I seem to have quite a few Polish viewers! Shout out to you. I'm not sure who you are, but comment or send me a message or something! Ya see like cool people. Let me know who you are! 

Day #51

After a very eventful 50th post, I FINALLY FINISHED MY ENGLISH MIDTERM!!! WOO-HOO!!

It's due Tuesday at noon, but let it be known that I finished early because we need to hand in both electronic and paper copies, and Kent sent out a nice little e-mail saying that every midterm in the English department is due Tuesday at noon, and there will be over 800 students trying to submit their paper copies to the same place, and if the line is too long and we don't get it in on time we get a zero. Even if we've already submitted the electronic copy. So... good. England, this doesn't seem like a very eco-friendly or effective system.

According to Nolan, who graciously read my story to make sure it makes sense, "That.... was startling...."

YAY THAT'S WHAT I WAS GOING FOR! Hopefully my professor likes it as much as my brother.

Also, ONLY 5 DAYS UNTIL MY DAD COMES!!!!

Day #50

Homework. Just homework.

And soup.

Happy Saturday!

Day #49

So much midterm to be done! I spent about 5 hours in the library today, but it is coming along quite nicely, if I do say so myself. Here's what happened:

My midterm is supposed to be 2,500 words long. Those 2,500 words include my creative piece and a critical introduction of at least 750 words. I typed up the parts of the story I've written so far... 2,257 words. Wowza. Many more than I thought. But the good news is I got it down to 1,957 (anyone keeping track of the math here?), so if I add nothing to the creative piece and keep my critical introduction at almost exactly 750 words, my final midterm will be about 2,750 words. Oof. I know all these numbers are riveting, so don't worry, I'll keep you posted! In the meantime, Beyoncé is helping me get through all this work.

I was able to skype with a few of my friends from UMass today, and it was so nice to see their familiar faces! 

The other important part of my day was finishing off the cheese I bought from the Fone Cheese Company in Bath. Oh cheese, you will be missed. 

Day #48

I branched out today and tried a new study coffee shop. This one was called Costa, and alfhough still a British chain like Caffé Nero, the chains here are exceedingly adorable. Just look at this apple spiced drink!

Yes, viewers, that's a spice shaped like a flower in my drink. It warmed my soul.

I know my blog has been lacking in food info for the last one or two days, but it was probably just in preparation for today. My friends and I decided to try a local Mexican restaurant called Café des Amis. A French name for Mexican food in England? We were confused too. But it was nom-tastic. Like fantastic, but specifically for food. Also it played wonderful throwback American oldies, very Stevie Wonder style. 6 out of 5 stars. Just look at this plate...

I did not know love till I looked upon this plate. I think Shakespeare said that once. If he didn't, he definitely meant to.

Since lots of other languages have masculine or feminine nouns, my friend played a fun game called "I'll say an English word and you guess if it's male or female in French." I wasn't very good. But I did learn that computer is masculine, but door is feminine. You're welcome, people reading this, you just learned something today! (Unless you already know French, in which case you should disregard my previous comment.)

Look, proof that I have friends! Even if two of them look like ghosts in the back because they timed their jumps poorly!

Day #47

Today, As Told By Gifs from "The Office" 

(because we watched an episode today and I'm going to be honest, these posts have gotten a little bland as of late)

I was feeling pretty good this morning- sent a lot of e-mails, looked up some important information, productivity and whatnot.

But then it was laundry time. Why is laundry never simple?

I lugged basically all of the clothing I own down to the laundromat in the rain (I waited until the hail subsided), only to find it roped off with caution tape. There were a few policemen and fire fighters standing around, so I asked what was going on. Apparently, the laundromat had caught on fire. The policeman used the word "explosion".

Thankfully no one was hurt, but they gave me directions to another laundromat, which was far away. Where I had to lug my clothes. In the rain. 

After I loaded in my clothes and detergent, I found out that it only accepts 2 kinds of coins because the machines are partially broken. Guess which coins I didn't have?

I walked back to my house to get the right change (don't forget the rain), and eventually the washing machine worked. My clothes are now clean and hanging all over my room, as per usual.

Then it was time to work on that psycho-thriller/horror piece of creative writing I'm doing for my midterm. Although it's coming along, all the research I'm doing to make it realistic is very depressing, so the progress I made was a double edged sword. I'm writing (what I hope is) a pretty good story, but sometimes at the expense of my happiness. And sanity.

BUT IT'S ALL OKAY because I got an email back saying that the final step of my application process to Heidelberg is going to be A LOT easier than I thought! 

We ended the day by watching, you guessed it, an episode of The Office. After that, your day can't really be anything but a success, can it?

Goodnight, beautiful people of the world.