Home Sweet Home

Now that I’m on my home turf for a few weeks, I can say definitively that England is an alternate universe. Being back in the States is strange, but comforting. Like when you wear an old pair of jeans after a long time of only wearing dress pants or skirts. Anyway, this past week or so has been crazy busy. Interviewing people is a new experience for me, and most of the times I feel like I’m just winging it as I go. But nobody has noticed yet, so that’s a plus. Yesterday I interviewed a participant, watched an apartment burn to the ground and picked and ate some raspberries. Random, but cool.

Today, has been another one of those random days. First I had a dentist appointment, next was the casino (where I promptly lost $70), then I dropped an insane amount on explosives for this Saturday and finished gathering presents for Mom. I also arranged more interview appointments for my last week.

I really hope everything works out for me. Right now, all I see are looming mounds of work to be done and distractions everywhere. But I always seem to pull it off in the end, so I doubt this will be an exception.

A Good Day

Today was one of the best days I've had since coming to England. The first reason for this is that I was notified I have passed all of my courses from the second semester. All that stress and hard work has paid off and now I can just concentrate on my last project and a few loose ends.

The second reason for this wonderful day was my project's ethics proposal has finally been approved. This means I can go home, conduct interviews, and begin to write my analysis.

Two very good reason that this is a wonderful day.

New Voices

I've come to the conclusion today that I'm altogether too bored for my own good. There is only so much internet surfing, reading, and research one can do while waiting for a long-awaited decsision from a slow-moving committee before the mind begins to atrophy. Although, I did discover a new voice that got me through this mind-numbing day.

Pixie Lott. (Love the name, by the way)


I hope your day went faster than mine.

Ta!

Weekend Plans

This weekend I've felt like little pixies have beaten my body. Throat is sore. Arms are sore (from archery) and all I want to do is this...

And maybe some of this...

But here is my to-do list:

1. Get train tickets from Birmingham Airport to Nottingham

2. Book a hostel room in Salzburg, Austria

3. Buy a plane ticket to the States.

4 Buy train ticket to the Airport for flight back to the States.

5. Buy train ticket from the Airport for getting back to Nottingham.

Here's the rub. I can't do any of this until Monday when the exchange rate lowers a bit. And I am on pins and needles waiting for my ethics proposal to go through successfully.

Wish Me Luck! And have a Great Weekend.

Pudding Crawl!!

This last Wednesday (June 10th) I was invited to a Pudding Crawl. What’s a Pudding Crawl you may ask? It’s a sober version of a Pub Crawl. Instead of hopping pub to pub getting a drink in each, a Pudding Crawl consists of hopping restaurant to restaurant getting a dessert (aka pudding) in each. Understandably, I didn’t eat any dinner that night.

The first stop was a Japanese restaurant, Wagamama. It had the best coconut ice cream on God’s green earth. It had mango sauce and toasted coconut flakes. So lovely I didn’t want the dish to end. Granted, my love of this ice cream probably had something to do with my hunger and I have never tasted coconut ice cream before. So I may even go back to test the dish, just to see if it tastes the same. For experimental purposes of course. I live to ensure quality control.


Adds, Ray, and Nicola waiting for their first dessert of the night.

Add's in Deep Thought.

The next stop I wasn’t as enthused to visit. TGI Friday’s. It had the most gaudy American décor that I almost had a culture shock. The best part was my friend Amy asking whether all American restaurants were like this? God, I hope not. Otherwise, I may never want to set foot in another American restaurant ever. The most popular dessert was something called “Dirt Cake”. But knowing eating heavy desserts on a marathon of eating was not a wise move, I opted for Mini’s Mousses of Mint and Oreo.

James, Nicola and Ray.

On the crawl to the last stop. This is Amy trying to expalain something chemistry related.

The last place, our little group had swelled to nine people. We went to a little Italian place, Frankie & Benny’s. Some were wussies and couldn’t down another dessert. Such a shame I party with such lightweights. I decided on a heavier dessert of Apple & Rhubarb Crumble with vanilla ice cream since I could see this would be the last place. I could have had a fourth, but from the looks of my crawl mates that was unlikely.

The Whole Gang.