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.

Funding Woes

This blog is going to be a bit different than the last two.

Since I've been accepted I've been on the hunt for scholarships and grants, but have yet to receive any. Time is starting to dwindle down and I'm still actively on the hunt.

But even with a hefty savings and loans from the Department of Ed I'm still running a bit short on cash. [it doesn't help that the the current exchange rate between dollars and pounds means that every dollar is only 66 pence (cents)].

So I came up with a brilliant idea and I need your help! Below you'll find a GoGetFunding*** for my trip.

If you can afford to donate to me I would really appreciate it.

I do have some clever rewards for those that are helping!

Anything helps! I really do mean that!

http://gogetfunding.com/project/fund-amanda-s-ma-in-creative-writing-in-london


Thanks :) So much.

*** The GoGetFunding is now closed. Donations are still being accepted via paypal at the email address amanda.mj.mcwhorter@gmail.com***

A Leap Is All It Takes

One of the first things that I hear from people when I tell them about my plans for Grad School is "wow, that's so far away, are you scared?"

I'm nervous, yes. Anyone flying halfway around the world to be in a new place would be nervous, but I've been there before.

When I graduated high school I chose a school almost a hundred miles away from Long Beach. I didn't have a car and I didn't know a soul. Not one person. I was 17 and scared out of my mind, but I succeeded, some would say I overdid it.

Four years later I couldn't walk around campus without stopping and saying HI to several people and having an animated conversation, much to the chagrin of anyone who walked with me anywhere (sorry friends!).

I would even leave for class fifteen or twenty minutes early so I wouldn't have to rush through conversations with friends. Even then I would still be late for class on occasion (sorry professors!).

College is a phase of life, and so is high school. It was hard to leave those both behind but we have to remember: life is full of people entering and exiting. 

Very rarely does someone stick to you through it all. Everyone has their own lives to lead.

I think the hardest part about moving to a new phase of life is accepting that. Accepting that people change, their priorities change, and that you change.

It's scary.

Really. Fucking. Scary. But it's the truth.

But, another truth for you: Do not let that fear hold you back. 

What I'm saying is all it takes is one leap of faith.

Don't ever say you can't do something or get frustrated when something isn't working out exactly the way that you've planned.

It's up to you to change your circumstances in life. Successful people take chances and risks to hit the top.

Nothing is going to ever be perfect. Perfection is only in movies (and those movies are never the really great ones).

And you know what is also hard to accept: being wrong. You're going to be wrong sometimes. You'll make mistakes and get bumped and bruised on the path of life but you have to keep moving forward.

If this all ends up being a mistake do you think I'm going to go cry in the corner and wallow in pity. Hell fucking no I will not. I'll brush the blood off my knees, stand up, and find a new and better path to go down.

Don't be afraid to conquer life. 

Make life afraid of your blinding determination.

101 Days To Go

Well, here I am. 

I decided that I need to chronicle my journey across the pond. But what good is writing from there without writing from home first? 

So for the next 3 months you'll be reading my desperate attempts to speed the clock up and see firsthand accounts of how extensive this process is. 

In order to fully immerse you in how this all came about we have to turn back the clocks a bit. 

My original plan for grad school was to get my MFA in Creative Writing from San Jose State University. I loved that they had a dual program between Screenwriting and Fiction. After applying to three different schools in 2012 I came up empty. Turns out these schools only really accept about 7 or 8 students each. In my limited research I had no clue the competition  was that intense!

So I came home. I had been living in Camarillo for 3 years by this point. I rarely ever came home so I figured it was good that I was back. Me being the balance for these crazy folks. I took a few classes at the local Community College (so I didn't have to begin paying back my loans) and focused on reading and writing whenever I could. 

Before I knew it I was applying again. My list had been started and it contained twelve schools, mostly state schools since they would be cheapest. I was now fully into research mode, both with the MFA Draft groups on Facebook and just reading school websites. 

I sent in my first application in December. That's when I realized it. The CSU system stopped giving application waivers to graduate school applications. I was floored. Funds had been dwindling after 6 months of being home. I couldn't afford to pay $60 per application so I dwindle by list down to the schools I really wanted to go to. 4 schools.

The night I emailed out my last application I was up and looking at the MFA Draft '13 page again. I saw that most people were applying to tons of schools and I got mad at myself for not being able to do more. That's when I realized some schools were international. After a quick, and I mean super quick, Google search I found a lot of great programs. When I clicked the application page I saw that the applications were free. FREE. So I picked out 4 schools and applied to some more. 

Acceptances floated in from Kingston University, a university 10 minutes outside of London that sits on the Thames, Seton Hill, a small private university in Pennsylvania, and Kent, a smallish university 2 hours outside of London in Canterbury. 

As cool as Seton was there was no way that I was going to pay the same amount there that I would in the UK. That left Kent and Kingston. After being warmly received by the staff at Kingston on facebook and via email I decided on them. It's a bigger school and it's only a 20 minute tube ride to get to London just in case, you know, I want to stalk them as they film Doctor Who or Sherlock (did you know they let fans be EXTRAS?).

So I chose Kingston and I've been preparing myself to go for the past 3 months. 

The plan, as of this moment, is to get my MA in Creative Writing. From there I can move to an MFA or straight into a PhD program. 

Hopefully I get one of the scholarships I applied for. Otherwise I'll be working my ass off while accomplishing all of this. 

So that's the story. 

Am I ready? 

The question should really be, are you? Cause this is gonna happen. And you'll be right beside me. :)

-Amanda MJ