The Christmas/New Year/Term Paper Installment

HELLO!

Oh man. I have so much to include. I am pretty much bursting as I sit here. 

We last left off with Thanksgiving Cubed. Which was, again, amazing. That led me to an amazing end of term. 

I went to a friend's slam literary event at a local performance pub/room. It was really cool! So cool that I may do it this semester. :) Great job to all involved! Off The Page was hilarious and touching at the same time. 

I explored Soho! It was definitely an experience. HAHA. We had a fantastic time for Allyson's birthday. Woo woo! I was offered drugs, and even after I declined, me and the two hilarious dealers had a great conversation on my British conversion and they wished me the best. 10/10, would go London gay clubbing again. Escape was great!

Also, as a birthday present for Allyson we got makeovers!!! I got a contest winner deal (EXTREME discount) on a few glamour shots. It was amazing! Makeup and hair. We had a really good experience at the place. Thanks ENVY London!

The end of the semester was punctuated with a bunch of different things. Cold weather(32 degrees, brrr). Fog that lasted for three days. 

We sang in a Christmas concert the last week of classes, as well as a Choral Service where we did a collection of hymns and Christmas stuffs. It was great! I really like singing with the Twist choir. Unfortunately, I was assigned to a different module block that puts my Structure and Style Course directly on top of the rehearsal time for them. So, for the foreseeable future I won't get the chance to sing with them. Sigh.

The last classes were interesting. They gave us the chance to ask questions about the term papers before break. We also did this bad ass game where we embodied our characters and answered questions. It was GREAT. I was really good at it. And it really gave me a grasp of my semi-bad guy. He's definitely interesting, that one. A sociopath that dreams of calm things. It's gonna be soooo AMAZING to portray him. 

We discussed the building blocks of story in my Critical Challenges module. It was really cool to see the way that the essentials can all be broken down. The best thing that I took away from it all was that the stakes, no matter what, have to continue to be higher. Writing yourself into a corner is a good way of upping the stakes for your characters and keeping them on their feet. Also, the value of throwing crazy stuff at them to see how they react was amazing. 

So, that led up to Break. The first week of break we decided to do one last dinner before everyone scattered to the wind. It was an ugly sweater party at The Swan. We got drunk. And enjoyed ourselves. It was also the first time I have ever been paid for singing. It was Kelly Clarkson, "Since You Been Gone" and I totally got a free cider for it. Best deal ever.

After than it was catch up with tv shows, and mostly just relaxing. I was taking a break because I knew that Christmas away from home was going to be hard. So I gorged on holiday movies and decorated my flat. i even made a Christmas plant.

It was hard being away from home on Christmas, but dinner with my flatmates and amazing company kept me from being really really sad about it. The food wasn't as good, but we make due. 

Boxing Day I went into Camden and had drinks at the World's End, the world's largest pub, with Meredith (an old high school friend). It was definitely a great time! Taking a bus and a slow train meant my usual 45 minute journey became over two hours long (Thanks for shutting down the Overground, TFL) but it was well worth it to get to hang around that said of town and gab with a friend. :)

New Years Eve was amazing and filled with very distant fireworks, Hootenanny and amazingly perfect company. 

But, by then, I was already hard at work on term papers and RiPPLE edits. My break pretty much ended after I came back from Camden. I was writing, revising, and spreadsheeting for RiPPLE so that I could get the final draft in before the start of term. I also had to get together a plan of exactly what I needed from my new team so that was definitely an interesting experience. 

After that I was onto editing my Workshop piece for my fantasy novel. I wrote the final 1,500 words I needed fairly quickly after a bit of pushing and prodding to get it done. It came out really really well. I definitely think I kicked that term paper's ass.

Next came Finalizing RiPPLE edits. That was pretty easy. The hard part, though, cam from my genius idea of sorting them all into a flowing storyline. I felt that alphabetical was too easy so I reread each piece and found a way to make them all flow in a coherent and easy fashion. It was amazing. And hard. And time consuming. but I finally got it right. Then went through and stripped each piece of formatting (that took hours!) and made it all fit nice and snug. 

After that was my experimental piece. That didn't take too long, but it also came out really really well. I definitely enjoyed that bit. I ended up calling it Blue.

The essay was hard, mostly because I had so much I wanted to say but not a ton of space to really say it in. But, soon that became a notch in my writing post and I was done!

I briefed the RiPPLE team and wrapped at some loose ends, went off to my new classes and started my new term!

But, that isn't it! I got visitors!!!!

The three of us, together, wandered through the city. I played tour guide since I've been wandering here for so long. And, I'm proud to announce, I didn't get us lost ONCE. Activate "Amazing Mode" in 3-2-1 AMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAZING! 

We then had dinner and drinks at a pub near the Tower Bridge. It was fantastic. 

Pretty soon, though, it was all over and the girls were off to adventure elsewhere. My papers were proofed and finalized and submitted. And I was back to my same routine. 

Between all this crazy stuff life has been kind of fantastic. I went to a live taping of BBC Radio 4 how, Chain Reaction. It was two amazing comedians. Graham Linehan (the creator of the IT Crowd and Father Ted) and Adam Buxton (comedian and host of BUG) were amazing! And hilarious! They just sort of sat there and shot the shit and as a writer, it was so amazing to hear the way that they approached their craft. The universal agreed upon fact of being a writer is you absolutely hate your first draft. Then you rewrite and the hate lessens until you get it to a point where you fall in love with it again. Plus, there was a lot of ridiculous R-rated internet jokes that will never make it into the actual show that I got to experience first hand so that was good. 

I got to experience the birth of Sherlock series 3 live as well as the birth of the 12th Doctor. I was slightly bummed that the started filming in Cardiff the day of my first day of term. I wanted to go, just to give Capaldi a warm welcome, but I had a ton of class stuff and RiPPLE stuff. So, I had to see the updates on the BBC site. I don't like being an adult. Sigh.

In retrospect, though, I'm really really glad that I took this course. That I chose to come here. That I met so many amazing people. I can't even believe that I did it. And I can't imagine having done this any other way.

I go outside everyday and realize that I'm in a different country. It's cold and windy and sometimes noisy but it's amazing. I love it here. I mean, I don't even have the words to describe what I feel whenever I see the Big Ben or the Eye when I go into town.

I do have these moments, though. It sounds corny as shit, but bear with me. I'll look up at the sky and see a plane drifting through the sky towards Heathrow, the telltale wing sign of Virgin Atlantic glinting in the more-bright-than-you-would-think sun. I remember being up there. Scared. Excited. But mostly, hopeful.

And then I look around me. And I'm really excited. My heart is light and my chest gets all warm and fuzzy. I can honestly say that I am in love with London. The shit weather and being Bridgett Jones splashed on the way to Pret A Manger doesn't diminish that.

It's like I am in the right place for once. I'm exactly where I'm supposed to be in life. To be honest, I think this is the happiest I have ever been in my entire life. I get to wander a smallish-medium town that's been around for a thousand years and then I can take a train for 45 minutes and visit a town that is so full of amazing and unique blends of people and history and art and culture. 

I never realized what I was missing in life. Sitting in the cafe and laughing with new friends from all over the world and I know this is it. I'm sorry I haven't been updating you all as quickly as I'd hoped but London has been carrying me away and making me deliriously happy. 

Even though I miss you all, I would be lying if I said that my life at this exact moment isn't insanely perfect.

I could see myself staying here for a long time. But, for right now, let's just aim for getting schooling done. We can talk living arrangements after this degree. Or the next. :)

See you in a month! 

Hello Rain! Glad We Could Finally Reunite.

Hello faithful readers!

I have been so busy that I haven't had a spare moment to write to you all! Since we last spoke I've become an old fart (well, 24 isn't technically old fart status but it's inching closer), I went to an Indie film festival, wandered around the West End and Trafalgar Square, gotten soaked because I forgot my new trusty pocket size umbrella, sat on the the river and came up with a fantastic new story, found a new live for Bulmer ciders, cooked my nommmy chili for friends and have been having a blast of a time.

Pictures have of course been updated because you know me and my love of photography.

Gotta keep this short since I have a ton of reading to do for Tuesday and it's all theory so I'll need all the time I can muster.

I'm officially on the short list of people in the running for the position of Managing Editor of the literary magazine Ripple. Yay yay yay! No I haven't forgotten how hard running a lit mag is but I love it so that's what I like to focus on. It's like being in a production. You have absolutely miserable days but once you set foot in front of your opening night audience all of that simply melts away. *I just got an email saying I'm in the final 2 and she would like to interview me. Say whaaaaaaaaattttttttttttttttttttttttttt?*

I have also deciphered why the British go to pubs so often: it's because all the bloody shops close before 7. I see the need to get drunk and have dinner at the pub when most places, save a few, are are Rarely open past 5:30.

Except on Thursdays. This is a late night shopping day and some shops stay open til 9, most til about 7:30. Why? Because of some weird tradition no one really knows knows the origin of hahaha.

In even better news I got a giant care package from my parents. Everything was covered in Disney stickers and every single item was really thoughtful. I now have plenty of m&ms, Oreos and kitchen towels and potholders to last me for a while. I also got really great present from friends including a Tigger stuffed animal, who now has a home next to Garfield and Curious George, a Beauty and the Beast mug (did you know that the Beast was a Ginger!? I think that's how my obsession started), silly straws, beautiful birthday cards, and of course an unbelievably fabulous night. Sushi and a pub. Good, good times.

I've got an awesome set of 1,000 piece puzzles for 10 pounds. It really helps when I need to unwind and just listen to some Ray Lamontagne and make my brain calm down.

Writing is coming along and I have my first legitimate workshop on Wednesday so that will be cool.

Did you KNOW:

-All swans are the Queen's personal property. There is a dude in jail for life for cooking one of the Queen's swans. Okay, maybe they don't get life but they get 6 months and a 5,000 pound fine! Carazy.
-Irish Car Bombs is an offensive name. It refers to the Baileys exploding in the Guinness, yes, but it is also a reference to the IRA and all of the explosions that took place in the 70's, killing hundreds of innocent people. Super rude. And the drink was invented by some dude from Connecticut . It's not even IRISH!  

Other than that, everything is going really really well. Thanks for all the well wishes and for reading, of course. I didn't realize how many of you were keeping up with my tale across the sea and that makes me feel really happy. And warm and fuzzy. Warm and fuzzy is good because it's been really cold and rainy for the past three days...

Until next time, guys. <3

** Don't worry about the Pictures page formatting. I'll come up with something different for it. For now, the Pg Dn button should be your friend. **

London Is Calling And I Liiiiiiiiiiiiiiive By The River!

Heya!

I chose this title because I do live by the river!!! See, that's my window! Right there. 

Hahaha. 

Obviously, this isn't my picture below but I'll get some soon. I went out for one and went to Bushy Park instead.

Okay so, shockingly enough, the weather had been amazing here. The last few days we've gotten a lot of sun and it hasn't really rained for about a week. Sprinkles a bit on Saturday but that doesn't count. I do feel like this winter is going to be freezing though since the weather has been so not-London.

I had my first course yesterday! Critical Challenges, which is just a super polite way of saying Literary Theory, is geared more towards using the models and principles of theory to discover more about our own work. Of course we have to analyze other peoples work first. Super boo.

I've taken the course before and I struggled. Like really struggled. But to be honest it was during a horrible period in my life. So I'm not too worried about this go around. I keep saying it's going to be really hard but to be honest I remember a lot from the last time so I think I can survive, and maybe thrive this time around.

My seminar leader for the course is, dun dun duhhhhhhn, the course director. He seems super helpful and really nice so I'm sure I'll be fine.

I have my first workshop class tomorrow and that means I'm going to be writing and getting down to business. So, I made sure I got some sightseeing out of the way before I have to get down with the get down.

This weekend, even though I was battling a cold, I wanted to be sure that I went out and enjoyed the town because the weather was so great and I had no idea when it was going to go bad again.

I traveled around on the Tube a bit and went to a couple of different stations and attractions. Here's a few photos, more can be found to the right under the PHOTOS link. Or HERE for the lazy.

Jubilee Gardens

A beautiful photo bought from a vendor on the Westminister Bridge

Badass Collection of items lost in London spanning hundreds of years.

I also did a ton of exploring today of Hampton Park Palace and Bushy Park (which is the area around, or really leading up to the Palace).

The park is literally across the street from my place and is massive. I took a lot of photos, seeing deer and geese and lots of green everywhere.

For those who love history -> WIKI.

Here's a quick list of a few people who lived in this MASSIVE palace:
-Cardinal Woolsey
-Anne Boleyn
-King Henry VIII
-Catherine Howard
-Jane Seymour (died there after giving birth to Edward VI, the younger brother of Bloody Mary I and only male heir to Henry VIII)
-James I (he commissioned the King James version of the bible within the palace)

I had a ton of fun wandering around and seeing all of this stuff. I still can't believe that I walked across the same grounds as a lot of really popular figures in history.

And to add to that, the size of this place is unreal. The diameter of the park, which is what I walked among wiggling in and around is seven miles. Wow!

Now it's time for my fun facts!!!

Fun Fact #1

• Did you know that UK spiders are fucking GIANT. I was walking along my merry way to school following the river and BAM huge spider right in front of my face. Natrually, I freaked out and almost lost my shit in front of women walking their babies. But I kept my cool and siddled towards the road. I could feel the cars zooming past me but I kept seeing spider after spider, bigger and bigger until I saw a MASSIVE three inch one outside of school. I'm definitely never leaving my window open at night

Fun Fact #2

• No jaywalking rules here! Which means there's a whole different type of pedestrian here in the UK. They walk when the coast seems clear and are oblivious to the horns of cars that had to stop on a dime so these fools didn't become a part of the pavement. They cross horizontally, vertically, and diagonally. It's a mess. 

Fun Fact #3

• And speaking of horns, I don't think I have ever met a group of people who use their horns more than Brits. And I've spent an exorbitant amount of time in Los Angeles traffic. These driver have LA beat by miles. Even though the lanes here are REALLY narrow (one on each side) they have no problem swerving into the opposite lane to get around a stopped car or a bicycle. It makes me cringe, it really does. Overall, it's definitely going to take some getting used to but I haven't seen anybody having an accident so i guess it may be crazy but it works.

Shopping!!

I've been shopping a few times now and I still have to get used to the way that Brits shop. They get things as they need them, weekly or sometimes daily. I'm so used to living in the boonies and barely going to the store that I still find myself going for canned or dry food versus fresh. I'm getting used to it since I literally pass like ten supermarkets on the way home every day.

A List of Things I Can't Find:

I'll probably add this to the right side as well when it gets bigger but here's a list of the scarcities here:

Oreos

Skippy Peanut Butter

Rubbing Alcohol

Capn Crunch

Chocolate Chip Cookies

Garnier Fructis Leave In

Tapatio

Ranch Dressing

Most American Chips (minus Nacho Cheese Doritos)

They do eat some pretty weird things but something that I thoroughly disapprove of? Vinegar.

Vinegar on fish and chips and not just that put EVERYTHING is pickled here (which means everything is soaked in vinegar). Blech. Double blech. I can't even. No. Hahaha. I don't even put vinegar on my collard greens haha.

None of this has stopped me from making delicious food for me and Urbain. I throw down in the kitchen regardless of strange ingredients and Oreo withdrawals.

But besides all of this I've settled in very well and I'm excited to see what the term holds for me. I hope you all are doing well. As you can see on my wall I have photos of lots of you on my wall as a reminder of all the great times I've had. I know lots of you would love to be here with me but you're here in spirit.

Until Next Time.
ciao.

Landed and Other Misadventures

Let us begin the blog with a very American saying:

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!
WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!
WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!

Okay, finished? I'm not. Anyways, let us dish! So, so, soooooo much to talk about! Okay, first.

Saying goodbye sucks.

Even if it's a see you soon it still takes a piece of your heart and stomps all over it. As I was standing in the TSA line it really hit me that that last sight of my parents and my sister as I was going up the escalator would be the last I'd have in a while. Not a great feeling, but I pulled it together quickly. Especially since the TSA guys wanted me to get my laptop out of my way overweight carry on.

Plane Tip #1

• Put your laptop in a super accessible place. As as a matter of fact just hold it as you go through security and check in. If you don't they have to completely pull apart your bag and take it out. Then they have to go back and rescan your stuff leaving you to wait behind a line of about fifteen other people in your socks while you hold the boots there is no way you're putting back on. Then you have to completely rearrange your bag because Mr. TSA messed it up. 

Went to the duty free store, it was meh. Got a sandwich and skyped my parents while I waited at the airport. Plenty of folks around so use headphones. Otherwise it's just awkward.

Plane Tipe #2

• LAX has free wifi for forty five minutes. You're welcome. 

Virgin Atlantic is amazing. What more could you ask for? Free booze, a small little pillow, a blanket, eyemask, toothbrush, and did I mention free booze? The seats were a bit small but I managed fine. 

I sat next to a lovely woman who let me switch seats with her so I could look out of the windows. I also got this great aisle space to pull down my bag so I could dive in whenever I needed to. Fully recommend sitting in the back aisles where there's two seats a row. 

When we began to pull off from LAX the only thought that occupied my head was "the is the craziest fucking thing I have ever done. What am I doing?" Then we were in the air. The pilot did this low flying loop of LA and I looked out over the Pacific Ocean and the beautiful California coast. 

Then we were ascending. Inside the clouds. A bit more pressure and we were coasting above them. Tips of mountains were there, crests above a luminous cloud covering as we evened out. As the plane balanced I felt all of my worries and fears disappear. Vanish as though they were never even there to begin with. There was nothing left after that but this tranquil sense of serenity.

Hangover 3, Star Trek 2, and some Melody Gardot and Puccini later we were landing and I got my first sense of London. The pilot did this beautiful slow sweep over London letting all of us see the sights before landing at Heathrow. The Home Office line was super slow but once I got through I was treated with a beautiful, beautiful sight. 

Two cops wandering around the Arrivals area. How is this different than at LAX? Well these cops had three guns on them. A standard issue strapped  to the outer thigh. One pistol on a clip on the waistband. And, last but certainly not least, a HUGE AK-47 slung across the chest, palm resting against the handles as they meandered around. Wait, what?

By this time I was highly sleep deprived and had almost been up 24 hours but when the girl next to me uttered, "What the hell?" I knew I wasn't dreaming. They really had AK-47s draped casually over their chests. Wow.

So after that me and the girl started talking and during the three hour wait for the coach bus we all kept each other busy. 

By the time I finally made it to my dorm it was almost 7pm. 

I was STARVING, CRANKY, and really really TIRED but I made it. I grabbed food and knocked out for almost 14 hours straight. It was NICE.

Tuesday was full of mundane things like paperwork and wandering to the store. I won ten pounds on a game and also talked with a ton of folks while getting stuff done. I'll come back to the shopping a bit, but let's  move to Wednesday. 

Orientation at 9:30. I know, eww, right? Got there on time. Didn't start until around 11. Noticing the pattern here? Regardless of the speeches and boring bits the highlight was definitely the super cool icebreaker where they were trying to call out people's home countries. It was super cool to see how many different places all have people here. From Jordan to Canada to the Islands to Chile to Sierra Lione, There were tons. 

Though there was a great moment when there were tons of folks still standing and the coordinator waved towards these ethnic girls and said "I hope this isn't a small Afircan country, here." Me and this girl from Portland just looked at each other like, Oh no she didn't. hahahaha. They were from Jamaica, by the way. 

I opted for no Kingston tour because I'd already given myself a tour while I was lost and shopping the day before. I just went to the IT guy to get my laptop looked at. He told me the port was broken and he couldn't do anything. 

He recommends a local guy down the street who then charged me 35 pounds ($55 for my American friends) to update my drivers. MY FREAKING DRIVERS. That's a ten minute, maximum, job you freaking jerk! He had already fixed it even though he said we'd talk price BEFORE he did so so I gave him the money and walked away fuming mad.

You would never, in a million years, guess what happened next. 

Nope, your guess is wrong. 

I ran across two American Mormon missionaries. 

They stopped me and we just sat there talking for about ten minutes. I told them how I have friends doing their missions now as well and they were super nice and really down to earth. Then they prayed with me. Yes, I don't like organized religion but if someone is willing to pray for you then it's great to take whatever good will they're offering. You may not believe in their religion but positive energy is positive energy. 

After I walked away from them I felt so much better. I wasn't angry anymore and as much as I hated that little rat-faced jerkoff I was fine. I then went to the pub and had two pints of Stella with my flatmate, Urbain (super adorable, blonde Swiss guy who is unbelievable awesome and has the cutest boyfriend that I get to meet next week).

Okay, no we're getting to this weeks lessons. Each week I will hopefully have new lessons and stuff I've learned since I've been here to share with you all.

Lesson #1

• Temporary debit card? Yeah. Right. They don't do that here. They also don't do Debit/Credit cards so always come with extra cash and be ready to wait a while before you get your cell and and bank account set up.

Lesson #2

• VAT Tax. It's a 20% mark up on products. It's stakced into the prices so it makes it seem like you're spending a done of cash when really it's about the same amount as in the States, you just have a higher tax rate.

Lesson #3

• American Pizza Hut and Dominos. The catch? It's a bit more expensive buuuut they're huge classy restaurants. I wandered in after my two pints of Stella and I thought I was lost. I was a bit drunk and obviously entertaining because the manager gave me some free soda and was totally chatting me up. NICE. Guess he like girls that giggle to themselves and look like loons. 

Lesson #4

• No free water of free condiments with your food? You mean I just spent 6 pounds on Haddock and you won't even give me free tartar suace? How. Dare. You.

Lesson #5

• The @ key is in the place of ; and the £ key is above the 2. I screwed up my email every time I had to type it.

Lesson #6

• Walking? Sure. It's only a mile to campus. That's fine. Umm, I didn't factor in the fact that I would have to often walk back and forth, back and forth for things in town, things I needed from my room... My poor little feeties. Hahaha. It's just something I have to get used to. I could take the bus but walking is the best way of getting used to the town. Plus, I get to look out at the Thames as I cross the bridge every day. Worth it. 

In blue is how I try to walk down and yellow is how, no matter what, I always end up getting back hahaha.

Lesson#7

• Bruises. Brusies everywhere. If you're carrying twenty pound bags in each hand for a mile you're gonna have a bad time. You'll also get some guy who's twenty years older than you insisting on helping you carry your bags and being really really friendly. Let him carry some bags but make sure he knows his charm isn't going to get him anywhere.

All in all I'm having a great time. It's rained every day since I've been here and I've literally only seen the sun for 10 minutes in the past 5 days but what can you do. I feel like I'm forgetting some things, but that's to be expected. I've experienced so much in such a short time. And I haven't even gone into central London yet! 

Horsies every morning!

The Bridge from my room.

My View!

I'm almost sorted, I've got my bank done, the shopping is almost done as well. I just need to get some pans and my mobile and i'll be free! Haha. Still weirded out that they don't do wifi here as much as we do in America but it's cool.

Anyways, I'm off to mingle at the halls BBQ down stairs. 

Cheers!


edit:

 MY ADDRESS (if you're interested)

Amanda McWhorter

Kingston Bridge House - 4C4

Church Grove

Hampton wick

Kingston Upon Thames (London)

Surrey

KT1 4AG

United Kingdom