Buggin.

I have actually a thousand things I have to do. A thousand.

McAvoy safari was unsuccessful, though I looked all day. Bummer.

This morning I organically gardened again - planted some seeds and picked some apples and talked to some jolly old British folk. It was nice, but then I had to come home and work forever, until essentially now (after I made a delicious raw food dinner - day 3 going strong

Made a kidney bean spread with spicy dried chiles, olive oil, salt and pepper with a salad. YUM.)

I'm glad to be back in Bath, though Oxford was fun, especially our last night there. Friends were made, good times were had, dancing was danced?

We visited a big ol' palace, Blenheim Palace - where Winston Churchill was born. It was really beautiful, and reminded me very much of the Vanderbilt Mansion in Poughkeepsie where I spent a big chunck of my childhood visiting Grandma. This isn't surprising since the Churchill family married into the Vanderbilts. I felt very at home there, just because it reminded me of the Hudson. 

Creepy, right?

So, I'll definitely be in the library forever tonight, reading Frankenstein and defining Gothic according to different perspectives. And figuring out two papers and reading for terrorism. COOL. 

ALSO: freshers are here. SEE YOU THURSDAY PO NA NA.

(one more:)

Morning.

I've got Shakespeare today, which I am underprepared for, which I also don't really care that I'm underprepared for. I promised myself I would not worry this semester. I am in England. My grades don't count toward my GPA.

Xmen 5 is filming at Christ Church today, which means that JAMES MCAVOY will be there / here, somewhere, doing something. We are going on a hunt, a McAvoy safari, if you will - going try to catch him drinking some tea or what have you.

Also, I am going to pierce my nose as soon as I find somewhere I trust. I'm feeling I have to add something or change something. I miss my long hair, and I don't recognize me when I see myself. It's unnerving. Katie and I are going to do a very modified raw food diet, more like an unprocessed food diet, just because I have set no rules for myself and I do not feel like Grace.

Eyes peeled. 

Oxford Comma

Hey there kids, didn't think anyone read this but apparently some uh ya'll do (actually follow me so I can see that you do read this!).

So I'm in Oxford, at University College. Contrary to popular belief Oxford is not a University in and of itself, but a place where a bunch of colleges are. Its beautiful (duh), but I do miss Bath.

I've gone on some tours, went to an Anglican sung mass at Christ's Church Cathedral, which was very nice. I felt very at home after my previous experience, where I quasy-accidentally went to a born again evangelical mass. Scary, to say the least. Never again. I'm writing a fiction piece on it for my tutorial and it's coming a long nicely, so I guess I'm glad I went. But really, guys. Not for me. To each his own as long as I never have to go again in my life.

But I am a great punter. I am tops, when it comes to punting. Pictures to follow when people get internet again.

Went on a tour of Christ's Church College, where the Hogwarts dining hall is / was filmed, and the entrance way, I guess. But I don't do Harry Potter so honestly I wasn't really as impressed as some others were

My single room is really cute during the day, but at nighttime after reading about incestual rapist monks who sell their soul to the devil for my Gothic Lit class, it's not too fun. I get scared pretty easily. Also I miss my flatmates and eating meals with them and seeing people and things. But take a gander:

Window seat!

The quad. DO NOT STEP ON THE GRASS. really. 

So there's that. Missing Skid and Accents, but I am at Oxford. What the fuck?

Dear Blog,

You were kind of a good idea, but in the end, not really. 

-Grace

Classes, London, etc.

Let me say that I am SO VERY HAPPY that I'm in Bath instead of in London. London is scary! Bath is not. This is what I learned while staying with some SkidKids in "Little Lebanon." We did go to the Tate, though, and saw some modern art, which was nice, and also saw a play, which was alright. The Acting was great, and I thought it was funny, but it was just long and extremely predictable. The sets were also amazing. Design for Living, is the name.

Classes have gone well so far, except Ghosts and the Gothic tutor scared the shit out of all of us. Maybe he was just trying to be intimidating, but it will definitely still be a lot of work. A book a week plus extra stuff. I ignored everything I was supposed to do this weekend. Oops.

The Jack the Ripper tour and the cemetery were both really interesting to me. The cemetery was extremely overgrown, and the whole serial killer thing is just fascinating to me. I don't know, I guess I blame Dexter.

No pictures: no camera.

Correction- What I REALLY Miss Most:

This hot mess. Duh.

Haaaaaa. Really though, miss ya Addie!

(In real life she's actually an extremely cultured and refined human being. )

Oxford: a whirlwind fo a morning if there ever was one.

Whaaaaaaaat a day. Woke up, got ready, headed over to Nelson House to print up an essay for my tutor that I had emailed to myself, only to find out that the Skidmore e-mail was down, ran back and sent it via gmail, which thought there was fraudulent activity because I'm in England, or something, ran back to my house for a second time to grab my computer so I would at least have the document, (I might have accidentally flashed my street this time) and finally got on the train. 

WHICH Katie and I were stuck on for an hour longer than we were supposed to be, and we got there late but it was alright because it's only us two. The whole two hours were pend analyzing my essay "On Sleep," (or at least after he basically said my diagnostic was boring which I was really, incredibly upset about) and I have to revise it for next week. I feel like he just doesn't like the way I write as much as Martha Wiseman, Linda Hall, and Boschoff do? I don't know. I'm hoping his dislike for my style will just help me expand? Perhaps? Maybe? I'm worried I'll just come off as stupid. I'll also be very upset if I don't do as well here as I do at home. 

My camera charger is not actually for my camera, so no pictures of Oxford. But here's what I'm missing most about America:

Looking fine, as always.

Moral of this story: I'm nervous and anxious and all I want is Pillars and 30 Rock to turn my brain off for a minute.

Stonehenge, Salisbury, Lacock

First day trip with ASE, we went to see some sights in the early morning. I didn't get to brush my teeth because the bus decided to show up before I got to, but I'd say that was probably the worst part of the day, because the rest was pretty nice. 

SKIDHENGE.

Stonehenge was cool, but you couldn't get close enough (at least for me) to really get into it. I mean, don't get me wrong, I know it's amazing, but eh. You know?

Then off to Salisbury, where we saw the cathedral there. Again, blown away by how amazing it was, legit.  Thank you once again to Pillars of the Earth for helping me understand how utterly incredible those buildings are. 

My favorite window.

The fountain, I don't remember what it's actually called? It was really nice though

And finally Lacock, where we ate at a pub and team American Pie came in last again. But before the defeat we checked out an abbey where parts of Harry Potter were filmed and also The Other Boleyn Girl (which Eddie Redmayne is in?!) were filmed. 

Creepin.

Also, swans are everywhere.

BFO.

Yesterday I picked up my books - nine for ghosts and gothic and 5 for shakespeare. Which is a LOT of reading. Plus handouts and library reading for them and for terrorism, and my tutorial. (AT OXFORD. EVERY MONDAY.)

And then we all dressed up and went to an art gallery to drink wine and meet our tutors. I'm so excited to take classes with them. My writing tutor seems really great in particular. Jut a goofy guy. My terrorism tutor is also a nice guy but a very close talker. Like really, uncomfortably close. Also: I want Barbara White, one of the ladies running the program, to be my best friend. And Andrew Butterworth, who is everything you would think a quirky old english guy would be.

What I learned last night: English boys don't like it when I wear headbands "in the wrong way," among other things.  We talked to a boy who was at the pub with this father. They were just hanging out together, and both chilling with us. The father bought us drinks. Weird, right? Now I'm pooped after a mostly not-remembered, probably embarassing evening (hence, BFO), and woke up this morning to a Katie sleeping on our dining room floor. Most of us went to the market afterwards, and I'm pretty sure I was still drunk, but I did buy some bread.

Us with our new friend, who later was not our friend anymore.  Whatever, he didn't like my headband. 

Tonight a lot of us are going to see Spring Awakening, and then maybe have a slightly less crazy night. Stonehenge tomorrow.

Vodka Revolution, The Abbey.

Last night, a few of us went to a place called Vodka Revolution, and I got lost somewhere in Bath at three o'clock in the morning after climbing down from a rooftop with a new friend, who is unfortunately leaving for Toronto. Very sad day. But I asked some fine young lads how to get home, and after trying to explain it to me for a while I just made them walk me there. They were very nice, and after thanking them very graciously I creeped into my room and felt incredibly bad for coming in so late and not telling anyone where I was. I may have gotten carried away but how do you say no when a boy buys you drinks?  (You don't, is the correct answer.)

Nice, Katie. 

Today we had a tour of the Abbey, a huge church. After watching pillars of the earth I really appreciate it more. Like a lot. It's beautiful. Actually, in my creative writing diagnostic essay I used things I learned about cathedrals from Pillars, too. I love good television. Also: NETFLIX DOES NOT WORK IN ENGLAND. What the fuck? 

                                

Hey there, little guy. 

So, welcome to Bath, Grace. English boys are nice. Just try not to wander off to rooftops and get lost again. 

Day Three.

So this is my longest bath ever. A semester in England. Cool, right? 

This is the third day I've ben here - the second day of orientation. My roommate, Leah, has a blog about her time in Bath, and I decided that I would hop on the bandwagon, add one more bookmark to my toolbar that will take up my time as well as property in cyberspace, and keep track of what goes on in English-town. 

(A very hastily-taken photo of my view in my room. The Avon River!)

I really dig it here! Everyone seems really great so far - tutors, staff and students alike. I'm really happy with my roommate, given previous random roommate assignment experience (candy underwear and whipped cream and creepy boyfriends... that's all I'm going to say). I'm actually really happy I'm not in a single, because that can get lonely (ah!). 

We've all been exploring and trying to figure out where we are. It'll take me a long time for sure, but Nunes House, where I'm living, is pretty much in the center of everything so I don't have to go very far for the important things. I'll explore more when I have the time. 

There's a lot of places to buy cheap sandwiches for lunch, and yesterday I asked a very nice old English lady what a polw-ga-man's sandwich meant, to which she responded "Oh! You mean ploughman (plow-man)! It just means lettuce an tomato!" I felt very American - though even as an American I should be able to figure out how to pronounce that. But whatever. Live and learn, now I know, etc. etc. 

Then we cooked some pasta and veggies in our flat with the girls upstairs, including Laura from Skidmore with legally bought wine and cheese and crackers. It was great. And it's also great getting to know Laura and Katie from Skidmore better - both people I kind of knew before but not really. Afterwards we went out to Belushi's Pub, where our team, "American Pie," lost miserably at quiz night. We had a good time though. The baristas were Australian and chatty, and suggested the cider ale. delicious. 

Today were diagnostic exams and academic orientations - meaning we got out syllabi and wrote some essays. All of my classes look SO VERY interesting and exciting. I can't wait. At all. I really really can't wait. I get to spend each Monday in Oxford... what?? I know. 

The gears in my brain are starting to turn again, and it feels good. It also feels good to be walking around, and to be talking to and seeing people again. Not a lot of that was going on in Guilford when i was there. Needless to say, I am a very happy camper right now. Maybe a little nervous, but in general, a very happy camper.