Fake Christmas in Americaland!

Sorry guys! I know there's an incredible backlog to this blog. I've been falling waaay behind in my responsibilities! But, if you saw the amount of work I've had, you'd understand. Anyway, I'll post some of my missing things hopefully over the Christmas holidays: (the North Carolina State Fair, Halloween, NaNo in Chapel Hill, Thanksgiving...)


But for now, let's settle for talking about, uh, Christmas. Yes, Christmas. Well... okay, not real Christmas. What I want to talk about it Fake Christmas. =D Rachel was the instigator of this madness, but I have to say that I fell for it completely, 100%. I mean, who doesn't want to celebrate Christmas as much as possible? (Especially with the threat of looming exams, essays, projects and presentations. Yuck!) So, with dreaded Finals on the horizon, we threw a party. It was EPIC.

 The wreath Hayley and I made. 

We sewed those leaves and berries on, you know!

Aside from a small incident in which we (*cough*I*cough*) lost the key to the room we booked out in Cobb (my residence halls) and now owe $50 for its replacement, everything went swimmingly. That morning (Friday 2nd December) Rachel, Allison and I went to the mall. There we spent too much time shopping and not enough time actually being sensible. We spent a good chunk of time in Urban Outfitters finding presents for our Secret Santa/White Elephant (I bought a pack of glow in the dark playing cards as mine!) and then we headed to Target and bought $100 worth of good and Christmas decorations. Ohme.

The party started at 5:30, but we were still hanging the lights up at that point. I'd bought a Christmas tree and decorated my room, so we took those things down into the room we'd hired and hung up some tinsel as well. We also had crisps, biscuits, a make-your-own ginger bread house, and a MYO gingerbread train. Those went down well! We made paper snowflakes, listened to Christmas music and generally just messed around. Most of us wore red. I bought a new sweater for the occasion, and a Christmas hat. It was wonderful.

The party, full swing. With lights and hats and everything.

 The tree, with presents! Looks like Santa came early... :P

 My present!

 A Christmas CD, mug and candy cane - thanks Cortney!

We finished the evening by playing a game which I don't know the name of. Everybody writes down a simple sentence on their piece of paper. The next person looks at the sentence and draws a picture to represent the sentence, and then folds the paper over. The next person only sees the picture, and has to write a sentence that they think the picture demonstrates. The next person only sees the sentence and draws the picture. Etcetc. This goes on around a circle until everybody has their own paper back (or we run out of space on the paper) - and then, hilarity ensues. Some of the sentences were fantastic.

This was the progession of one of my sentences (though I can't show you the pictures):
- A young boy lost his pet unicorn
- Saskia hates unicorns but loves to play games with gnomes on gameboys
- The girl is on Santa's naughty list so can't have a pony. The boy is on the good list so he can have a gameboy.
- Santa knows who has been naughty and who has been nice.
- An elf holds a big penis in his hand. He helps an old guy crossing the road. Somebody wants to shoot them in the back.

... So, Lucie (final sentence) and Alex (final picture) have an obsession with penises apparently... XD

We also had a good game of Pin The Nose on the Reindeer. Alice won.

Me, not failing so hard.

Emily... failing hard. Sorry Emily!

Anyhow. Since then, finals have been eating my life. A 10 page paper every two days is not food for the soul, it is killing me. -___- Maybe you'll see me again after they're done. Maybe.

And maybe I'll finally get around to posting about Thanksgiving goodness (my only proper, sleeping break this semester - if it was even that), Halloween and the deep-fried crazy that was the state fair. :3

In other news (actually, same news): 7 days until I fly to NY to be with Vanessa and Natalie (AAAAAH!) and 10 days until I'm in Toronto with the wonderful Jordana. <3 The countdown begins!

I wish I was a Mermaid

.... although, not in Jordan Lake. The sea might be better if I honestly did fancy sprouting a tail and becoming aquatic.

 Jordan Lake

Hey guys and gals! Today we went on an awesome road trip to Jordan Lake/Durham! (Yes, Danni, Durham! It's not as good as the English one though, I'm sure.) We'd been planning to do something as an international group for a while, but our trip to the mountains was postponed, so we decided to take a trip to the lake instead. The beach (Wilmington) is about 3 hours away, and the lake is only half an hour away heading towards Durham from Chapel Hill. It's a man-made thing, but much nicer than your average reservoir or whatever. It's beautiful.

Anyway, we woke up nice and early this morning, and rented a car. Rachel was afraid that we might get into some trouble, since although she was renting (and she CAN drive), Alex would be the one driving, since he is more confident in the cars here. But despite these fears, nothing bad happened! We didn't die, that's for certain, and I don't even think we scratched it. XD We stopped at Target on the way to buy picnic supplies (most of which were actually quite terrible, stupid Target...) and reached the lake at about 11am. The sun was really starting to shine by that point, and it was probably somewhere in the 20s all day.

Ignore the bad picture = sunbathing

And we went swimming!! The water wasn't super clean, but it was better than most English east coast water, so we were happy. Alice, Rachel, Lucie and me were happy, anyway. Saskia doesn't like sand, and Alex doesn't like the sun (what kind of crazy Australian...? haha) and Rory is suseptible to cold (although he came swimming with us anyway). It was amazing day. We just lay in the sun in swimwear and CHILLED. It's so pleasant to use that word and mean it after 6 or so solid weeks of just workworkworking. I mean, it's been so hectic around here, it was lovely to take a little bit of peace and quiet away from the campus.

It was like being on holiday!

Myself and the lovely Saskia

Tonight we ate at a place in Durham. The food (or, at least the hotdogs) were pretty dire. I couldn't finish mine, and that's when you know there's a real problem. >_> But I don't think any of us cared. We had such a good day none of that mattered!

The Hotdog Sausage of Doom

I'm conscious that this entry will be the shortest so far in the blog, but that's mostly because I'm really tired and I want a shower tonight - but this won't happen due to the large amount of work I now have to do, due to having neglected it all day. Tomorrow is Pet Spa day numero 2 at the shelter! So I need to get work done tonight. -__- UNC, you will be my death!

But, if you're interested in a brief bullet-point list like last time, these are the things I have been up to since my last entry (feel free to ask me to elaborate on any of them!):

- got an awesome package from Tom with some tea, chocolate, hot chocolate, a wonderful lolcats t-shirt, and some other bits and pieces from home.
- went to The Cheesecake Factory and ate delicious cheesecake
- also developed a penchant for warm apple cider with whipped cream
- and Starbucks' seasonal "Spiced Pumpkin Latte".
- painted my nails Halloween Orange, and decided what I'm wearing for the spooky occasion
- learned that Alice and Lucie are also doing NaNoWriMo this year (SCORE!)
- spent a lot of time with Allison from Helping Paws; she is wonderful and fun and I like her a lot. Plus, she likes dogs and nail polish. I mean, what's NOT to like? :D
- bought tickets to UNC's Drag Show (October 13th, baby! And Drag means people in clothes, not cars - I can't believe how many times I've had to clarify. Don't you people know me at all??)
- been to the gym & "biked for Uganda" (i.e. paid to use an outdoor bike exercise machine to raise money)
- bought some amazing perfume over the internet that smells like autumn, though it has yet to arrive...
- read some detective fiction for my class
- played Jenga in Carborro's The Looking Glass cafe with international peoples
- been to see The Lion King in 3D

Yeah. I think you get the gist. A lot of little thing. The lake trip being the most awesome big thing on there. I won't blog for all of them, because otherwise I'd just never get anywhere. I'd never make it to class. I like class. I think I'll keep going, thanks.

 The apple cider

The caramel CHEESECAKE 

(I was so sick after eating half of this...)

By the way, I also found out today that PETEY GOT ADOPTED! I have mixed feelings about this. Obviously I'm super super super happy. But, also, I'm sad. I love him. I want him. Oh, America, why aren't you England? Why can't I take him home?? I hope Petey is very happy, and that his new owner loves him as much as I do. :)

Petey, chillin'. Much love, Doggie!

So, guys, any questions? I'm going to pass out. I need to work. It's 11pm - and I think I can safely say that today has been my best day in Americaland so far. <3

Peace.

A Dedication to Star, Magic and Shadow (why does he always bring up the rear?)

Okay, so lately things have been slowing down a little. By that I do not mean that I have been doing any less; I mean that work has been so crazy that doing the same amount of things takes more time, and I don't think you need to hear too much about my classes yet. If you're interested, though: In my detective fiction class we're reading The Body in the Library, and discussing the art of writing the antiseptic murder mystery; in Shakespeare we've moved onto Henry IV part 1, and we've been talking about how damn funny the fat guy is; in Creative Non-fiction we've been workshopping each others' pieces and reading an essay about how the "strawberry" flavour in food is artificially created; and, in American Lit 1900-2000, we looked at both The Love of the Last Tycoon (Fitzgerald, YAY BECKY!! - read it. It's good, though unfinished...) and East of Eden (Steinbeck), in which one of the main characters is a prostitute. Okay, good? Good.

Moving on.

So, what I wanted to focus on today is something that might bore a few of you to death. Many of you will be thinking, "For god's sake Fran, what is it with you and animals? ... If you love dogs so much, why don't you just go and KISS them??" (I have kissed dogs, it's sometimes disgusting - sometimes...) Anyway. Basically, this week I wanted to talk about something that I've been doing since I started here at UNC.

In one on my previous entries (I know there haven't been many of them) I talked about the campus group called Helping Paws. They are the only animal-related volunteer group on campus. Generally students help out at the shelter, walking dogs and socialising cats, trying to get them adopted to good homes, and we raise money for certain other animal charities (this semester we're raising for a group that do cheap spaying/neutering for pets to promote more sensible pet ownership - here it can cost $500 to neuter a dog!). The last time I mentioned Helping Paws I had only been to one meeting. Since then I have been to two more, been trained, oriented, been on my first "Outreach" session and helped out with an event called "Puppies in the Pit".

Training was really basic. We signed up on a google document, had to report to a room on campus at a certain time, and one of the women who runs the Orange County Animal Shelter ran through the shelter's history, some rules, and explained what, as volunteers, our jobs would entail. She also talked about euthanasia, which was heartbreaking, and rambled on about some other less relevant stuff. That was last Monday. On Friday, Allison (the person in charge of Outreach) took a group of us on a field trip to the shelter, so we could see how easy it was to catch the bus and so she could clarify on a bunch of things that the shelter woman had made unclear or just missed out entirely. We had a quick look at the cat room, but spent more time with the dogs. There are perhaps 25 glass/plastic cages in the "front" of the shelter (the part volunteers are allowed in). There is one dog per cage unless the dogs are small/puppies or they were brought into the shelter together. So there are often about 30 dogs getting regular interaction with the volunteers. In the back of the shelter there are apparently perhaps another 50 cages, or dogs (I'm not sure which) - but these dogs are usually either on a wait-period after illness, or undergoing behavioural analysis. Sadly, these are the dogs most at risk of being put down, and we are not allowed to go near them.

Not to dwell on the sadness, though, we picked out one of the dogs to practice a "shelter harness", which basically involved using two dog leashes to prevent them from being able to run away easily, and took her for a walk. Her name was Heidi and she was a beautiful mix of German Shepherd and something else. Sadly, I didn't take pictures because I was busy melting into a pile of happy goo.

On Saturday, then, was Outreach. What this basically involves is a group of volunteers getting together, taking "adoptable" dogs from the shelter and taking them to public places, such as cafes, pet stores etc., in an attempt to raise awareness about adoption. This Saturday we went to the Looking Glass Cafe in Carborro.

The Looking Glass Cafe
This picture is not mine, but thanks to Google I can show you what the place looks like.

The weather dipped quite drastically over night, so we were sitting outside for the whole day in about 15C degrees with the threat of rain. Having said that, I felt right at home! And the dogs kept us warm with all their energy.

We took four dogs with us on Saturday. I managed to snap photos of all of them in varying states of perfection (purrrr-fection?) and I thought I'd tell you a bit about each of them. So if you're not interested in the dogs, I suggest you scroll away NOW. :)

Lydia

Firstly, this is Lydia. Everybody that has met her as said that she is the sweetest dog, ever. She's about 2 years old, and a Corgi mix. There's probably some husky in there too, if you look at those eyes! Lydia sat on my lap in the car, so we got some pretty sweet bonding time as she tried to lick my face to death and stand on my head. She's ever so friendly, though, and such a sweetheart. I hope she gets adopted soon.

Fun fact: Lydia is a "mommy". She gave birth something like two months ago. Sadly, people are put off by - Allison's wording, here - "her enormous tits". I do hope she finds a home soon, though, because she's wonderful - and surprisingly strong for such a tiny dog!

Petey

This, then, is Petey. He is a 1 year and 7 month old pitbull mix, and the most loving thing I think I've ever seen. He's so well-behaved there's no way somebody could not want him! We tied neckerchiefs around the dogs' necks, and Petey looked so handsome in his blue one that I wish I could have taken a picture of him then and there! Petey likes to chew things, but not as much as Magic did when she was let loose in the kitchen. He loves being the centre of attention, sitting on people's laps and just generally being stroked.

Fun fact: Petey was what they call an "owner surrender", meaning that his owner gave him up. But he is the most well-trained shelter dog that I've ever met, and will sit and lie down on command. Also, he loves sleeping on tables/walls/anything he can jump on. Basically, Petey loves to be King Petey.

Farrah

Next is Farrah. I don't know how old she is, but maybe 2 years? She's a pitbull mix, like Petey, but I think there's some Staffy in there because of her stance and her face. She also lives to chew things, and is incredibly energetic. At first I was put off by the size of her, but the more time I spent with her during the day, the more I fell in love with her. She's just so quirky! At once point she was trying to secretly gnaw on the leg of the wooden chairs we were sitting on, until I caught her when she stopped trying to keep it a secret and just started to blatantly do it in front of me! Several times during the day she made me laugh.

Fun fact: One of the main reasons I found Farrah so funny/quirky was because she sounds like a pig! Actually! When she breathes, it sounds like she's snorting and snuffling, and she does it a lot when she gets excited. It's hilarious.

 Savannah

And, last but not least, Savannah. Savannah is also probably 2 or 3 years old, and has at some point been a mother. She is a golden retriever mix, and I think she is one of the most beautiful and placid dogs I have ever met. Especially for a retriever, who are normally pretty energetic/overly-friendly. Savannah is what they call a "night-drop", which means that her owner surrendered her, but was too ashamed to do it during the day. Savannah is really timid, but warms up to you pretty quickly if you give her plenty of attention. And, she's such a poser!!

Fun fact: During Outreach on Saturday a woman came by who was thoroughly taken with Savannah. She wanted to adopt, but was unsure how her other (rescue) dog would deal with it. She went home, got her other dog, and brought her back for a test. They seemed to get on okay. And, this makes me very happy, we found out on Monday that SAVANNAH GOT ADOPTED! I just hope that everything works out and that she never has to come back to the shelter. :) So, thank you Helping Paws!

Anyway, I've rambled enough about that. On Monday we did an event called "Puppies in the Pit" which involves bringing the dogs to campus on an outreach session rather than going elsewhere with them. Volunteers take turns to look after the dogs in between classes, and the aim is to attempt to promote dog adoption and the shelter on campus. We had both Lydia and Petey out there with us, and I think they were both eager to see me! I got lots of love from both of them. Petey had a few people interested in him, but whether any of them will follow through and adopt the charmer is another thing entirely.

ANNND THAT'S ENOUGH about dogs.

For those of you not so interested in the dogs, these are a few other things I did this week:
- wrote a paper (errrm, well, I'm writing one as we speak, anyway)
- read lots of very interesting things for my classes.
- got a feather put in my hair (pictures are on Facebook, and more will come to the blog eventually, when my hair is washed and presentable).
- went to a Japanese restaurant for Saskia's birthday. The Miso Ramen was amazing. <3
- went to a Mediterranean Deli for Saskia's birthday (yes she was greedy and had 2 parties! -- Nah, the second one was the only party, followed by alcohol and five hours sleep before Outreach... hmm, no wonder I was tired).
- had heatsroke/migraines/felt very ill and missed a couple of classes...
- made up for said classes by attending extra seminars.
- bought a Carolina hoodie (I have so much merch, it's not even funny - I'm going to make a post on that soon, too)
- got a letter from Tom.
- eaten more pancakes.

So, you see, it's not bee UNeventful, it's just been very dog-centred and just basic classes.

Having said that, I hope you guys have enjoyed reading. :)

(I think that the cafe being titled The Looking Glass is more than enough fantasy for you guys, isn't it?? I mean, come on, Wonderland has EVERYTHING. And sometimes, I don't need to mention dragons - no, wait, I just did. On that note, Becky, how is Jasper doing?)

More pictures:

 The Moriarty picture I promised

 The letter from Tom, being guarded by Old Bear

The hoodie, with a beautiful face pulled by Yours Truly 

Okay folks - That's a wrap!

It's homework, y'all!

Okay. You know there is beginning to be a problem when the thoughts in your head often come out in a totally different accent to the way you actually speak. I'm starting to hear things in "Southern" - and I've only been here for three weeks.

Three weeks to the day, actually. Isn't that exciting?

Anyway, I know I've been pretty inactive with this blog, but there's just been an awful lot going on. I'm going to try and keep this short (but that probably won't happen), talking about what I've been up to - and then I'll post a few interesting factoid blogs later in the week.

So firstly, let's pick up where I left off in my last entry. The first few days of classes were pretty introductory, with professors just trying to get to know their students and giving a brief overview of the class. And then things got really intense, really quickly. By the second of each of my classes we were being assigned huge chunks of reading and even papers in the case of my creative writing class! Yet somehow, I managed to keep up with all of that enough to feel within my depth.

The work itself is not particularly difficult, it's just that for a lazy English student like me the workload is totally different! At home I'll spend 6 hours a week in class and then spend the rest of my time reading, marking up texts and doing otherwise ungraded work that serves only to spark discussion in class. Here, the homework is handed in almost daily, like being back at school, and pretty much everything is graded. And then there's the reading on top of that. It's all a bit of a shock! Though, at least I feel like I'm keeping busy. (And I'll tell you, walking into class and sitting in those crazy tables-and-chairs-joined-together contraptions is like walking onto some kind of American High School movie set! Wacky, man.)

Speaking of assignments, I turned my first "proper" paper in on Thursday (1st September) and got it back this week. I don't think a B+ is so bad at all! I've decided I'm going to aim to pass, and not try to over-achieve this year. I'm usually guilty of this, and often it just makes me stressed. I'm going to enjoy this at all costs!

Anyway, aside from school work there has been little else going on. This weekend was a day longer than normal due to Labo(u)r Day. A group of us went to an American Football game on Saturday, which was good fun but rather long and hot (don't worry, I'll dedicate a post to this on it's own at some point). We dressed up in UNC colours (a certain shade of Carolina Blue) and even got facepaint and free transfer tattoos for our faces! It was great.

 

Melissa (Rachel's mentor), me, and Rachel (with whom I have had many a tea party since arriving. Rachel studies at Nottingham Uni, although originally comes from Luxembourg!)

I also had my first real American pancakes - and they were delicious.

Bluberry, yum!

 Myself and the wonderful Nnedi (Rachel's roommate)

Oh-so-tasty, but very incredibly impossibly sweet!

On Tuesday (last week) I also went to my first Aikido session. Saskia and I decided to give one of the martial arts a shot, and aikido won out (partially because it was cheaper than the rest, and partially because it sounded awesome). Aikido is a Japanese martial art with a main focus on defense. A lot of the moves we have learnt so far have involved basic footwork and how to fall without doing damage to yourself when attacked. We have also learnt a couple of "release motions" - so if I ever get attacked, provided that my attack is the same height as me and gives me time to get into position, I'll be able to get away... Ha. Okay, so we're just starting out. It's a pretty good workout though! After the first session I was in so much pain -- many of you probably saw me moaning on Facebook. Last night's session was more mellow, so I'm not feeling it too badly today, which is pleasant! I really enjoy being part of some kind of club, because it gives more structure to my week. The only problem so far is how different it is to Tae Kwon Do, which I practiced for a few years. Many of the things I was taught to do in TKD is, well, basically it's wrong in aikido. The footwork is taking some time to correct. But it's all good fun, anyhow!

I'm also getting ready to do some volunteering for a group on campus called Helping Paws. It's basically an animal volunteer group, and the volunteers go to shelters to spend time with all sorts of animals. It's mainly dog based, but that doesn't mean anything. Apparently they've worked with chickens, sheep, pigs and even goats before! I have my training for that next Monday, so I'll give y'all more of an update on that when I come to it.

But here is an adorable picture of one of the volunteers' dogs. Nala is 2 months old, and a black labrador mix. She'll be at every meeting, loving people to death.

I'm incredibly conscious about how long this post is getting -- but you guys totally asked for it!

Anyway. For now I'm going to leave you to digest all of this rubbish. I'll be back in the next couple of days to talk about things like UNC sporting events; living with a roommate; the wonderful time I had at Hayley's birthday celebration (Sunday 28th August) despite only having known her for a week; Schooling here at UNC; Food -- and many other lovely American things.

I hope you aren't bored yet! I know Becky and Sarah (and Danni?) will be expecting some kind of mythical beast mention, or for me to ramble about dragons, but I'm going to veer off track a little bit and talk about Sherlock Holmes instead (it totally counts):


Interesting Fact: There is a teacher here at UNC whose name is (I kid you not) Professor Moriarty! My life is now complete. <3 (Or at least as complete as it can be without my bestest English friends and the actual ability to own/become a dragon/unicorn/mermaid/witch...)

Okay. Now it's time for my nap. :)

It's Been Centuries...

I know, I know! I'm very, very sorry. I've just been incredibly busy. This week has been perhaps the most hectic week of my life, so when I say that I haven't had the time (or the energy) to write this thing for you guys, be rest assured that I'm not lying. I didn't want it to come out all garbled and senseless - although given that it's only 10pm here and I'm already tired I think I'm fighting a losing battle.

Yes, I know, it's been a week. A whole week here in the U S of A. Let me tell you, I have more to write about than I could probably even fit into a notebook, but I will try to make sense of things. Firstly: travel. The trip went about as smoothly as I could have asked for, and although my second flight out from Atlanta into Raleigh-Durham was delayed there were no major problems. Saskia, a girl who I had been speaking to online before arrival and whom I have had much contact with since getting here (University of Glasgow), was not quite so fortunate and her inital flight from the U.K. was delayed. At RDU airport I was greeted with a brightly coloured banner with my name on it. Saskia's mentor, Deborah, kindly offered to drive us (me, Saskia, and two French girls who arrived at the same time as us) to the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, and even helped us to move into our dorm rooms (pictures to come, I promise).

 Atlanta airport.

By the time I was unpacked, it was midnight in America and I hadn't slept in a full 24 hours, so I went straight to sleep despite my lack of any bedding. I'll tell you now, a dressing gown, cuddly toy and a towel will do wonders if you're too tired to care!

The following day Deborah and her parents were kind enough to drive us to the local Target (yes Target!!) where I bought myself some bedding, a lamp and a 'cell' phone, all for about $130. I didn't think that was too bad! After making my room look all pretty, and putting up my pictures from home, Saskia and I ate on Franklin Street, which is the main street in Chapel Hill. The food was great, and the Southern special, Sweet Tea, was fantastic! I've had more tea since, from different places, but so far my verdict is that McAlister's do it best.

 Franklin Street

 Saskia and the Tea

McAlister's

Following that we had a boring orientation session on Friday, followed by a hot and sweaty campus tour (the weather was hitting at least 33 degrees every day!) and Friday night the EASE mentor who had given us the tour invited a bunch of international students to a party that his friend was having. There I had my first experience of American beer. No more, thank you. =/

Saturday was really more of the same, with another party and some general exploration. Those first few days without cell or internet contact with people were very hard, and I was making the most of any access I had to update people. Hayley moved in, and she is perhaps one of the loveliest people I have met. It's so exciting having a roommate!! Although it does come with challenges of its own (perhaps I'll make a blog about it...)

Sunday it was all about Fall Fest, which is essentially a giant Fresher's Fair outside on South Street. All of the student groups get together to give out free stuff and get people to sign up to their groups. I witnessed my first real-life corndog, although I didn't taste one, and was treated to a free snow cone - how exciting?? They weren't as tasty as I expected, but they were still super refreshing.

 

The snow cones

Fall fest was almost cancelled due to the threat of heavy rain, but the rain held off and we experienced only some awesome sepia-toned sky, thunder and lightning far off. I was excited for a real storm, but kind of glad when it just passed over. The idea of getting wet wasn't particularly appealing, as you can imagine...

Stormy clouds over The Pit (central campus square)

Since then the weather has been a bit cooler, which boded well for the start of classes. Yesterday was our first day of class, and whilst scary it was very fun and I'm looking forward to learning here. I think I'll do very well if I can keep up the motivation that I've experienced so far, haha. =D

For now, it's about 10pm and I'm still very tired from a hectic week. Naps every day just don't quite do the trick when you still feel like you're on a constant sugar low. (Sugar, eh. Food is another thing I'll have to make a post about once I get around to it).

I'm missing you guys back home, especially Jasper the dragon who I hope has a nice new home with the lovely Becky Clarke. Skyping with Tom at least once a day is proving to be a lifeline. As is Hayley, who is very wonderful and forgiving of my strange British ways. :)

Giant Silver Birds (and Mythical Beasts!)

Okay, here we go! Well, not really, since I've not yet left the house, but I thought it would be appropriate to make a pre-departure post. Tonight - or in the morning, really - at 3am I'll be leaving for London Gatwick airport. From there I will fly to Atlanta, GA, and then to Raleigh-Durham airport, North Carolina. And there I will spend the next 9 months, studying and meeting awesome new people. (*hinthint*) 

How am I feeling now: Nervous? Scared? Excited? Well, all of those. It's been a really hectic last couple of days, with packing and saying goodbye to the people I won't be seeing for at least the next 10 months, I've not had the time to really think about what's going on. There have been moments over the last two weeks or so when I've been sitting watching TV, or listening to music in the car, when I've had little flashes of panic - but nothing recently. I actually feel quite calm, if a little upset.

But tonight, I'll have a lot of time to think. At the moment, it feels surreal. I'm beginning to wonder when it will truly feel like I'm leaving. Will it be when I wake up at 2:30am and make my final preparations? Will it be at 7am when I (fingers crossed) check in at the airport? Perhaps it will be at Atlanta, when I finally hit American soil. Or maybe it won't be until tomorrow night, when I'm tucked away in my new dorm room awaiting my roommate's arrival at the weekend. It doesn't really matter, but I am hoping that this surreal feeling will at least make it easier to leave my family and Tom at the airport in the morning.

Family! At the airport! That'll be a definite first. Both parents in the car for the whole journey, along with my sister too! I'm sure the journey down will be uneventful, but the journey back? I don't envy any of them, cooped up in that car, running on very little sleep. At least once I'm through check-in and security I won't have much to worry about for the next 9 and a half hours. Having said that, I'm terrified about what will happen at Atlanta. I've flown between countries a hundred times before, but I've never had to change planes before. And somehow, I'm more scared about flying than I thought I would be; even more scared than I am about the America thing. You know, that little thing...

For now, though, it's bed time. I'm hoping to get as much sleep as possible tonight so that I can stay awake on the plane to get some class reading done. Shakespeare, hurr! 

To everybody reading this: Thanks for all the support guys. I'll be back on Facebook as soon as I have internet, and blogging here a few times a week (if there's anything to say!)

So, basically, SEE YOU ON THE OTHER SIDE. :D

12 hours and 17 minutes until take-off!

(P.S. Sarah, Becky: see what I did with the title there? ^0^ )