IT'S THE FINAL BLOG POST!

Da da da da...da da da da da.....da da da da...da da da da da da da....
IT'S THE FINAL BLOG POST!
Soooooooo, I know I've been really bad at updating this blog for the past week or so. This is due to 2 things:
1. Working on my EPIC RESEARCH PAPER. 4,975 words of AWESOME. It was due on Wednesday and consumed my life.
2. Spending every possible moment with my wonderful boyfriend, Oliver, before I leave. By the way, today it's been officially a month since our first date. Awwwww, how bittersweet.
Where do I begin? These 3 months have been absolutely amazing for me in every possible way. I can't believe that I'm already sitting here in Heathrow using the slow WiFi to write this last blog entry. I'm also really proud of myself for keeping this blog up for the entirety of my journey- it's always hard for me to finish what I start. I always have these grand plans for things like this and never finish them because I get too busy or something like that, so I'm glad that I've kept on with this blog. Hopefully it'll serve as a nice memory several years from now.
I honestly can't believe half the things that happened this semester, mainly with Oliver...never in a million years did I think I would get the cute British boyfriend with a wonderful accent that every girl dreams of. I guess good things come to those who wait...I know I'm not that experienced with relationships, but I'd rather have just this one month I've had with Oliver so far than 10 so-so relationships in the US.
Oh, speaking of Oliver and I....we've decided to stay together (if you couldn't tell by the altogether cheery attitude of this post)! On Wednesday we had a long talk about everything, and we decided that we didn't want to end something this great, as long as we make an effort to see each other whenever possible. (Completely unrelated: the PLEASE SEND MIRANDA BACK TO LONDON fund is currently accepting donations. Thank you.) I was THRILLED about this! Also, he got me the CUTEST PRESENT EVER- a PERSONALIZED MUG with our pictures on it and little inside jokes about us on it! I was going to take a picture of it, but I forgot. Meh. Ah well, it's still ADORABLE! I don't know how I ended up with this guy...
Ok, enough gushing. Onto the important stuff! I'll be back in Rochester at midnight tonight! Wow! My plane gets into JFK at 8 (US time) and leaves for Rochester at 10:35. Tomorrow we're getting our Christmas tree! Nice!


For everyone reading this blog (whether you've chosen to officially "follow" it or not...) THANK YOU SO MUCH for keeping up with it! Every time I here someone say "I read your blog!" I get so happy inside. For those who did, thanks for commenting, too!
I can't believe I'm leaving! :(

- Miranda

*insert Oliver's birthday weekend here*

I just had a GREAT weekend celebrating Oliver's 21st birthday! On Saturday, we had an AMAZING Christmas lunch cooked mostly by Tom, one of Oliver's housemates. But first, of course, we had to put up some Christmas decorations!

After making the living room look Christmas-y, we sat down to an epic lunch! We didn't eat until around 2, but it was SO worth it. The food was great- just look at this!

And Oliver got an amazing cake, too!

I didn't take a picture of it, but Rebecca and Alisdair made whipped cream to go with the cake, too! That was sooooooo good! (I guess I was too busy eating it to take a picture, lol.)
We had to leave the lunch midway through the dessert course to meet Oliver's parents for tea at a local cafe! Like dinner with my parents, it in NO WAY resembled the trailer for the movie "Meet the Parents" so that was good! They were also kind enough to give both of us a ride to the restaurant for dinner! Thanks!
I neglected to take any pictures at dinner (I am a shame to the Rycenga part of me) but that was also really nice! I also gave Oliver his present from me at dinner- a really cute hat!
Then it was time for Oliver's PARTY! George made him an epic FLAMING DRINK! This is what it looked like after it was on fire:

Notice the stylish hat Oliver's wearing!
All in all, I had a great weekend :) (It would be even better if the Vikings weren't killing the Bills, though).
- Miranda

Good and bad

I have some good news, and I have some bad news. I'll break the bad news to you guys first.
I'm not going to be secretary of Wandering Minds this year. I'm confident that Becky will do a good job, but I'm still a little upset about it, I guess. I really pour my heart and soul out to that group when I'm at BU, so I'm upset that I can't be on the E-board. Oh well. Life goes on. The other bad news is that I only have 8 days left here. :(
The good news is that tomorrow is Oliver's 21st birthday! I'm so happy! This weekend is going to be great! Tomorrow we're having an early Christmas lunch with everyone in his house and later I'm taking him out to dinner. Then it's time for the PARTY! Yay! :)

I know my entries have been super short as of late- I've just been busy writing papers, etc. Yesterday Stephanie and I went Christmas shopping, which was fun.
Adios!
- Miranda

Happy December!

So yesterday it snowed in London! How epic is that? Hahaha the headlines in the paper said it was a SNOWSTORM and everyone was freaking out, but it really wasn't at all. Yesterday Oliver and I went to Winter Wonderland (carnival at Hyde Park) and had a lot of fun! We basically only went on 1 ride (the funhouse) but it was still a good time! The cold kind of turned us off from doing anything else there, though. After that, I went over to his place and, in loving memory of the late Leslie Nielsen (RIP) we watched The Naked Gun.
Today I had my final for EN 340. I think I did pretty well. Most of today has been kind of bla though because of this cold that I have. I REALLY want to get better by this weekend, but so far it hasn't. Mehhh. I hate colds.
- Miranda

Cold Monday!

So the frigid temperatures from this weekend have sadly continued into today. Come on, this is London, not Rochester! PLEASE WARM UP! Thanks.
So our trip to the Globe didn't get cancelled today, as we *were* able to make it by tube! It was a nice, informative tour, and I learned a lot, but I'm glad that I already went there to see a play because I think I learned more from experiencing the Globe than actually having a tour of it.
Today Oliver and I went out for some quick food at the Union for a little bit. Both of us have work to do, so we couldn't hang out for that long, but it was still nice.
Yeah, sorry for the length of this entry, but nothing else really happened today. I wish the weather would improve.
- Miranda

British Museum (Part 3!)

Hey guys!
So today was reallllllly cold, yet again. Wowwww. Fortunately, Oliver and I planned a nice, inside date today- going to the British museum! It's actually the 3rd time I've been there, and I STILL don't think I've seen everything! The museum is seriously that huge. We did see a lot that I didn't see last time, though, including a whole exhibit on clocks! (Oliver, being an engineer, really liked that one hahaha). I also bought some Christmas presents at the gift shop (but I won't say for who!).
Since a tube strike is starting this evening, I didn't go to his place afterward, but I still have fun. The tube strike is continuing until tomorrow, though, so I have absolutely no idea how I'm going to get to the Globe Theatre tomorrow for my Shakespeare class field trip. I'd love to go again, but I'm kind of hoping that it will be cancelled because I don't want to have to take multiple buses etc. to get there. Plus, I've already been there.
I'm really tired today. Mehhh. Also, the Bills are currently losing, but they just need a field goal to try and tie the game! LET'S GO BUFFALO! 3 IN A ROW BABY!
- Miranda

Hmmm, maybe I should update every TWO days now?

....because clearly updating every day isn't working for me.
Anyway, on Friday I uploaded all of my Christmas music onto my iTunes, which made me really happy! I'm currently listening to my playlist, it's really nice.
Also, on Friday I did a very British thing: watching Monty Python and the Holy Grail with my British boyfriend! If only we were eating fish and chips as we were watching it...hahahaha. It was a really great Friday night.
Today, Oliver and I went to the King's College school Christmas fair! It was REALLY cold but we had a great time! We got some nice French-type lunches (I think mine was called a Racqulette and his was a Tartiflette?) and he bought me a really nice hot chocolate and some FUDGE! Any guy who buys me fudge is tops in my book. After getting out of the freezing cold, we went back to his place for some Chinese food. We watched Planes, Trains, and Automobiles because I feel like I need to see that movie every Thanksgiving break, even if I'm not in America. All in all, another great day :)
Tomorrow we're going to the British Museum (and hopefully getting some Belgian waffles with Nutella at the stand outside the Russell Square tube station....NOMNOMNOMNOMNOM). I'll be sure to tell you guys all about it!
- Miranda

Not a Thanksgiving post!

I had lots of time to update yesterday, I really did. I even told Oliver when we were chatting last night that I had to update this thing at some point, but I guess it just slipped my mind somehow. Meh.
ANYWAY, yesterday Oliver and I went to the "adults night" at the Science Museum, which is basically the Science Museum plus added talks and stuff and added alcohol. It makes for a really fun night! It was fun to be a bunch of adults playing with all the children's exhibits, hahaha.
Today I went over part of my research paper with my tutor and got some GREAT feedback on it! I was really happy. It's hard to believe that the whole thing is due in 2 weeks....ahhhhhhhhh! I'll be able to get it done, though. I'm confident about that.
Today I am NOT doing anything for Thanksgiving, as that would make me really homesick. Instead, Oliver and I are going to do something. Exactly what, I don't know. Hopefully it doesn't involve being outside a lot- it's SO COLD today. Brrrrrrr.
Happy Thanksgiving, everyone in America!
- Miranda

Monday and Tuesday!

Hey, readers of my blog!
You may have noticed that I neglected to update yesterday. This was because I spent another incredibly busy (and awesome) day with my family, who had to leave this morning :(.
Anyway, yesterday was a very awesome day indeed. First of all, Oliver and I are official now (according to Facebook, at least)!!!!! This is the first time I've ever had to change my relationship status on Facebook (Dawson and I went out in the Myspace years....oh, Myspace), so I was really excited about it. :)
My family went to the Tower of London while I was in class, and after that we had a great Italian dinner and saw Oliver! (the musical). (yes, this was just a coincidence). The little kid playing Oliver was so adorable! He was only 10 years old, but he had a really good voice and looked so cute onstage! Awwwwww.
Today I've just been working on my research paper, basically. I need to write a good portion of it by Thursday to show my tutor. I'm not that worried about getting it done, though. I'm going to grab a quick late dinner with Oliver and then get back to work.
I have a headache today. Mehhh. I legit think it's because I ate really good food all weekend and then today I had to go back to eating what I usually do. Wowwww. Ah well, I'll be home in 3 weeks, so I'll have plenty of good food then. I don't want to leave, though. They're going to have to forcibly drag me from Heathrow onto the plane to JFK.
- Miranda

Sisters, sisters, never were there such devoted sisters...

Yes, I just used the same title for my blog post and my photo album on Facebook. Ah well, I like it.
And I still haven't heard about the secretary position yet. Meh. I guess they're *keeping us in suspense* or something like that. Tomorrow's Monday, though, so I might hear something then. *crosses fingers*
Anyway, today Kid and I had a great time in London! First, we went to Platform 9 3/4, which actually took FOREVER to find. Seriously, there are no signs pointing to it. You'd think that tourists would be stupid like us and need signs to find things, but there weren't any. We found it eventually, though, so we had to do the stereotypical "trying to get to Hogwarts" pose:


We also took a video, but that would take forever to upload here.
After that, we had lunch and looked at the exhibits at the British library, since we were at King's Cross anyway. Then we went (mostly window) shopping on High Street. Kid actually bought something, though- this stylish hat!

After that, we saw the 7th Harry Potter movie! It was a good thing that I bought my tickets in advance, because I'm pretty sure it was sold out! The movie was great. I can't believe they're onto the 7th one already- I was in 5th-6th grade when the first one came out. I can't believe that.
Then we went back to Picadilly Circus for some epic Chinese food and celebrated the Bills win with my parents! Overall, another great day. Tomorrow we see Oliver! (the musical).
- Miranda

Still waiting...

...about whether I'm the secretary of Wandering Minds, at least. Yeah, I've STILL received no word about that. If I do become secretary, I'll promise that I'll send timely emails about stuff like this! Keeping people waiting is never good! Ah well, you guys will hear about it as soon as I find out!
So! I realized after I wrote yesterday's entry that I told you guys absolutely NOTHING about the AMS gig on Thursday! Wowwww, what a fail. The gig we went to was called "Come Get Felt Up" and it was really cool! Basically, it was like a giant arts and crafts night with a band playing. People compete to make the best arts-and-crafts project that fits the theme, and the winners receive some awesome prizes! Thursday's theme was PERFECT for AMS- animals/celebrities crossed with musical instruments.
Charlotte, Liam, and I worked on Tyrannosaurus Sax:

While Peter and Tom made Piano Reeves:

GUESS WHICH ONE WON THIRD PLACE?
OF COURSE, IT WAS THE TYRANNOSAURUS SAX! We won a Benny Hill record and a "chamele-horn" (chameleon strapped to a play instrument).
THE WINNERS!:

I'm such a good chamele-horn player, hahahaa.
OK! Onto what happened today!
Today Mom, Dad, Lydia, and I went to the British Museum! It was SO COOL! We saw lots of really cool things, including the Rosetta stone! Of course, we got lots of pictures, but they're all on the family camera. We spent so long there, but we barely scratched the surface of the museum. They even had an exhibit containing the BOOK OF THE DEAD, but it cost 12 pounds a person and was also sold out, so we didn't go. I loved the rest of the museum, though- they had another special exhibit that contained original Picasso drawings, which was really cool to see.
After that, we went to the Cheshire Cheese pub for dinner (where I went with the literature program in September! It seems so long ago now). Oliver joined us for dinner, so my parents and Lydia got to meet him for the first time. Luckily for us, it did NOT go like this:

(I tried to find the "I have nipples, Greg. Could you milk me?" scene on Youtube, but I couldn't. It's probably there, I'm just lazy tonight. Meh.)
It went VERY WELL! We were both SO HAPPY about this. We walked back past St. Paul's cathedral, which was really pretty at night. I had a really nice night :).
Tomorrow LYDIA AND I WILL TAKE OVER LONDON TOGETHER! MWAHAHAHAHAHA! Don't worry, we're not planning anything evil- just a day of EPIC FUN! Let's see what's on our itinerary...HARRY POTTER 7, Platform 9 3/4 at King's Cross, Chinatown, Notting Hill, frozen yogurt, possibly some shopping....man, we're going to have a packed day! I'm really looking forward to it, though. Yay!
- Miranda

Playing the waiting game...

So, I meant to update my blog once I found out whether I've been elected as secretary of Wandering Minds. But I haven't found out yet (I think they're going to send an email out with the voting results for both the secretary position and the shows that were pitched at the meeting...hopefully). So, I'm going to update this blog before the day is over (in my time zone, anyway).
Today was fun because MY FAMILY HAS FINALLY ARRIVED IN LONDON! AND THERE WAS MUCH REJOICING! I spent a good part of my day with them and had a great time! They explored Kensington Gardens, and we had crepes for lunch at this nice little place by the South Kensington station. After they had a nice nap for a couple hours, we had dinner at this Italian place by my dorm. The food there was GREAT- I had this wonderful pasta with spinach, pine nuts, basil, parmesan, and garlic in a cream sauce. NOMNOMNOMNOMNOMNOM. After that they went back to their hotel and I prepared my speech.
I don't know if I mentioned this in my blog before, but I this evening I ran for secretary of my theater group at BU, Wandering Minds. Our current secretary, Sylvia, is going abroad next semester, so we obviously need a new secretary. I've loved being a part of the group during my time at BU, so I was excited to have the opportunity to run for a leadership position there. Send me good vibes!
Tomorrow I'm hanging out with the family again. We're probably going to just do some touristy things- Buckingham Palace, Notting Hill, maybe a movie tour, etc. Should be fun! Mom's taking most of the pictures so you'll have to wait a while before they're posted anywhere.
- Miranda

That's the plan, rule the world, you and me, any day...

So! No blog post yesterday because I was sooooo tired after coming back from the AMS gig. The gig went really well, by the way! I had a great time and the bands that we heard were really good. Tomorrow I'm going to another gig with them, so I'm excited about that.
Tonight I went over to Oliver's place to watch some movies. We watched Dr. Strangelove, Dr. Horrible's Sing-a-long Blog (I had to stop myself from singing along to every song, hahaha) and an episode of The Simpsons. I had a really great time! It was really nice and relaxing :)
Tomorrow I'm going to another gig with AMS (like I said before) and I also have a field trip with one of my classes- we're going on a Mrs. Dalloway walk around London, which should be nice.
But the big news is that THE FAMILY IS ARRIVING ON FRIDAY MORNING! HOORAY! I'm sooooo happy to see them all! I can't wait!
It's kind of late, so I'll cut this entry short.
- Miranda

Skating!

Hey everyone!
So Oliver had the idea of going ice skating ever since our very first date, but today we actually did it! Now, basically everyone who reads this blog knows that I about the most unathletic person on this planet. So it follows that I'm pretty bad at ice skating. Luckily, Oliver is also bad at ice skating, so we were pretty evenly matched, hahaha. We actually did quite well for ourselves- we only really fell over once, and even then it wasn't too bad of a fall. We then got some ice cream at the skating rink. Now, you would normally think that we'd want to get hot chocolate or something like that rather than something cold like ice cream. However, we were actually quite warm once we exited the rink, and there was a gelato shop right in the skating place (it was actually an ice rink/bowling alley/arcade/snack bar place). So we had some wonderful ice cream- mixed berry and teramisu! NOMNOMNOMNOMNOMNOM. All in all, another wonderful day :)
This is going slightly out of order, but this morning I had a really great croissant for breakfast. When I went to the cafe, they had JUST COME OUT OF THE OVEN, so the one I got was STILL WARM and sooooo good. Hahaha, that was such a typical Miranda tangent.
Tomorrow I'm going to a gig with AMS at Madame Jojo's, where we went earlier last month. I really liked that venue, so I'm glad that we're going again!
- Miranda

Natural History Museum etc. with Oliver

Before I properly start this entry, I want to state that, at the time I'm writing this, the Bills are beating Detroit! If they win, I will probably do a victory dance of epic proportions. I know we're playing DETROIT of all teams, but still. That is all.
ANYWAY, today was really fun, like the rest of the weekend! It was raining this morning, so Oliver and I went to the Natural History museum, which was free, like most museums in London. I was glad that he suggested that because I actually haven't been to any museums AT ALL while I've been here. Everyone keeps telling me to go to them because all of them are free, but I guess I've just never gotten around to it, really. I've been to a lot of author's houses, though, which I find more fun than most museums anyway.
The museum did allow photography, so I probably should've taken some pictures, but I figured I took enough at the parade yesterday, haha. It was pretty standard stuff that you'd see at a natural history museum- dinosaurs, animals, different kinds of rocks and gemstones, etc. It was a lot like the one in New York City, although of course this one was better because it's free :).
After walking around the museum for a couple hours, we got lunch at a pub (the same pub that I went to on MY VERY FIRST DAY HERE, in fact). It was good and it got us out of the rain for a while, hahaha. By the time we were done eating lunch, though, the rain had stopped. Then we walked for a bit in Hyde Park until it got dark. Overall, it was a really good day :) My feet are practically KILLING ME from walking so much this weekend, but I don't really care.
Tomorrow we might actually go ice-skating, so that should be cool.
- Miranda

Lord Mayor's Show!

Hey guys! Today I went to the Lord Mayor's Show with Oliver for our 2nd date (which is basically a parade/fireworks thing). It went really well and I had a great time.
So, let me show you some pictures! First, I'll show you some of the parade:

EVERYONE READING THIS POST: Shut up, Miranda! We want to see pics of you and Oliver!
Ok, fine. Calm down, here they are- one at the parade, and one after the fireworks:


There ya go. Happy now?
ANYWAY, the rest of the day went wonderfully. We had lunch at Pizza Express and ended up walking for a long time in order to get to the river....getting lost...and then taking the Tube back to the river, hahaha. Then we watched the sun set:

(This is one of my favorite pictures I've taken on the entire trip- it ranks up there with the rose one from Hampstead).
Then it was time for FIREWORKS!

Yeah, I'm a happy girl :)

You probably expect this right now...

...yeah, no update yesterday, but as I said in the subject line, you guys probably expected it because it was Thursday and I almost never have time for updates then. So this will be a combined Thursday/Friday entry, like they usually are.
So, on Thursday I had a field trip to Samuel Johnson's house, like I told you guys in the Wednesday entry. We hadn't read a lot of Johnson's work this year, so I wasn't really sure what to expect, but it was actually really fun and informative! We had a really good tour guide, too, which helped. The house was right near the Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese pub that I reallt liked, where we went in the beginning of the year with the Literature Program. It was really weird to go to basically the same place with the same people and see how much we've changed in two months...
Speaking of months...I officially only have 1 month left here :(. Actually, a little less than that, as I leave on December 11th. :( I guess I better take advantage of every opportunity I have, then. I'm of course going to be thrilled to go back to the US but the people here are just absolutely wonderful. I'm definitely going to miss some of them.
....but I'll save all of that gushy stuff for the day before I leave. No use getting all sad now. There are exciting things happening!
....which is a perfect segue into the rest of my Thursday! (Sorry...about the...love affair...with the...ellipses...in this...entry, hahahaha). Last night, I had a wonderful date with Oliver, who I met at the AMS Halloween party! I know lots of you probably feel INCREDIBLY out of the loop about this, but I didn't want to make it a huge deal before anything significant happened. That happens so many times with me- I build something up to be bigger than it is, and when it actually happens it isn't nearly as exciting. ANYWAY, Oliver and I saw Due Date, which was hilarious (even though it was basically a remake of Planes, Trains, and Automobiles). I had a really great time! Tomorrow we're going to the Lord Mayor's Show (which is referred to on the website as "the world's oldest civic procession", so I guess it's kind of like a parade). I'm really excited for that too!
Today I haven't really done much...it's been really cold and rainy all day. I did my laundry, though, so that was good, and did some shopping. That's about it, really.
- Miranda

IT'S COLD

I couldn't think of a subject for my entry today, so I decided to just go with the weather, hahaha. I'm going to have to break out my gloves soon. There hasn't been any snow yet, though, which is good.
The ukelele cabaret was really fun yesterday! I had a great time. It was just full of lots of happy people playing the ukelele. They did ukelele covers of "Back in the USSR" and "You are My Sunshine". Overall, it was a great time. Next Tuesday Charlotte said that we're going back to Madame Jojo's for a gig, so I'm super excited about that because I really liked the gig there. It was a fun venue, and the drinks were really cheap.
Today I have to type up an outline for my research paper, which shouldn't take too long but I'm procrastinating so it still isn't done yet. Meh. It'll get done, though, don't worry.
Tomorrow the literature program is going on a field trip to Samuel Johnson's house. Unfortunately, it's predicted to rain, so I don't know how well that's going to go. Hopefully, the rain will stay away and I can take some good pictures.
- Miranda

Forgetfulness, etc.

Why didn't I update yesterday? Was I on some incredibly wonderful London adventure all day that kept me away from my computer?
Sadly, no. I just plain forgot. Yesterday was a typical Monday- I slept through my alarm and woke up with only 10 minutes to get ready for my Shakespeare class (but I made it there ON TIME, thank God). So I had to walk there IN THE RAIN, holding my umbrella in one time and drinking my Coke in the other. Meh.
Other than my class, I didn't really do much of note yesterday. Like I said before, I had plenty of time to update, I just forgot. Stephanie FINALLY uploaded pictures from Halloween/the AMS party, so those are on Facebook now if y'all want to see them.
Today I'm going to another gig with AMS, and a very unique one at that- a ukelele gig! This should be quite interesting. I'm looking forward to it.
That's all for now.
- Miranda

Schedule!

First off: wowwww Bills, wowwww. The only way I can keep myself sane about this is if I convice myself that the only reason you're not winning is because I'm not on US soil to root for you. Mehhh.
Second off: I've officially registered for my Spring 2011 classes! I got EVERYTHING that I wanted! One of my classes had 3 classes as I approached my registration time, so I was getting kind of nervous, but I was able to register in the end.
HERE'S A PICTURE OF IT:
EDIT: You can click on the picture to make it bigger! Yay!

EN 468: Time and Literature: 1800-1930
EN 534: American Literature: 1855 to 1918
EN 536: Twentieth-Century American Poetry
WS 305: Middle Eastern Women Write
WS 340: Women, Race, and Gender in Mass Media

ISN'T IT PRETTY? I think so. I'm really excited for next semester! The books for EN 534 are already up (which means that the professor is prepared, so I already like her! We're reading Pudd'nhead Wilson by Twain, Daisy Miller by James, The Virginian by Wister, House of Mirth by Wharton, Maggie: A Girl of the Streets by Crane, Contending Forces by Hopkins, McTeague by Norris, and Ragged Dick by Alger. Sounds like a cool class!

I know this entry was mostly about my life when I come back and not my life here, but my schedule was the only cool thing I did all day, lol.
- Miranda

The Saturday where I don't do anything

As the title said, I didn't really do anything today. Mainly because my cold from last week seems to have returned WITH A VENGEANCE....seriously, now I have a sore throat/cough thing along with the cold. Why is this happening to me? Is this real life? Is this gonna be forever? (If you didn't get the reference...you clearly haven't seen David After Dentist, lol).
It's annoying, but hopefully it'll pass. I'm taking Tylenol.
I'm registering for my Spring 2011 classes tomorrow! I'm super excited about this. I planned out my schedule a couple weeks ago, but the time for one of my classes changed so I had to switch some things around. This was kind of annoying, because now I won't get to take the Charles Dickens class I wanted to take (unless I want to go from 12-5 without a break on Wednesdays...DO NOT WANT.) I'll post a pretty picture of my schedule tomorrow when I'm done officially registering (which'll be at around 10:00 PM my time).
Other than that, I don't have much planned for this weekend. Meh.
- Miranda

Remember, remember, the 5th of November...

And not just because of Guy Fawkes day!

Because today my cousin, John, and his wife, Cela, became the proud parents of SOFIA DIANA SHUKIE, the cutest baby on the planet!

JUST LOOK AT HER.
Anyway, onto more serious stuff, like what I did today! Today, my roomate Chelsea and I went to see a play on the West End- The 39 Steps! The play was sooo funny and good! The actors were also VERY talented- it's written for a 4-person cast that plays hundreds of roles within the show, which calls for impeccable timing, which the cast certainly had. It was a very good time!
Still no plans for tomorrow. Maybe researching?
- Miranda

For once, I didn't do anything on a Thursday...

This is kind of a first for me! A weekend with absolutely NOTHING planned! This means that I'm actually updating now, on a Thursday, and not on Friday saying "sorry I didn't update on Thursday, I went out on Thursday night and bla bla bla bla bla". You know the drill. Anyway, AMS isn't doing anything this weekend, so I don't have anything to do on that front. I thought I had nothing planned at all, but I realized I bought tickets to go to club Egg tomorrow night. The last time I went to Egg, though, it was pretty disastrous: we ended up not getting our free drinks/free entry, etc...so I don't know if I want to go again. Plus, I don't really know anyone else that's going this time. Last time Egg happened, they really heavily promoted it, but considering what happened last time, I don't think they are this time around. Meh.
I *do* want to go out at some point this week, though, because I don't want to just sit around and do nothing this weekend. I went to the Pub Quiz on Monday, and that was pretty fun, but I need some fun things to do this weekend...Stephanie's going to be in Paris for her birthday, so she won't be here. Mehhh. I might go and research my paper on Saturday- that would be pretty productive.
Sorry for being such a downer in this entry- I just like being more productive/having plans, I guess.
- Miranda

Wacky Wednesday! Actually, not.

So the only reason that this Wednesday was wacky was because of the Tube strike (which didn't affect me at all, thank God) and the fact that the weather was pretty nice (60's all day!). Other than that, not too wacky. The only reason that this entry is called "Wacky Wednesday" is because I needed a subject line and I remember reading that book in kindergarten.
Didn't do much today, just had class. I finally submitted my final research paper proposal, so that's done. Hopefully my tutor will like it!
Not doing too much tomorrow, either...no class, though, which is good. Yay sleeping in! I might go down to the library to research if I'm in a productive mood.
- Miranda

This entry has pictures!

So I totally could've updated yesterday, but I just got lazy, I guess. Yesterday was pretty fun- I went to a music-themed pub quiz with AMS. We didn't win (because most of the questions were about pop music that we didn't know about) but we didn't do terribly either. We also didn't have a creative enough team name to win in that category (the winner was "Halal, is it meat you're looking for" which I think is quite clever). Overall, though, it was a great time.
Today, I finally got to go to Hampstead again! As readers of this blog will remember, I went to Hampstead about a month ago with my "Meeting the Writer" class, but it was pouring rain, so I didn't get a huge change to take lots of pictures. Today, though, it was nice out (if a little chilly) so I was able to finally show you guys how gorgeous Hampstead is!
I went to Hampstead with the literature program to see the Keats house, which was really interesting! Keats hasn't been my main area of study during this trip, but going to his house was still really cool. We weren't allowed to take pictures on the inside (this has been true of basically every museum I've been to here) but the outside was still really pretty:

There were also some lovely gardens around the house. Not much was blooming, but I was able to get some good pictures, including this one of a rosebud. This is also probably my favorite picture I've taken my entire time here- I love the simplicity of it:

After we toured the Keats House, we walked up the Heath, where there were some AMAZING views:

Once we reached the top of the Heath (where I took the above picture), we read Keats's "Ode on a Grecian Urn" out loud. It was a really cool experience.
While we were on the Heath, we saw lots of people hiking/running etc. that had the same idea as we did. To my delight, we also saw lots of DOGS! This REALLY made me miss Dylan, but I loved seeing the dogs- all of them seemed so happy to be running through the Heath. Three of them were so excited that they decided to go swimming in the lake!

I'm going to end the entry with the swimming dogs. Bye everyone!
- Miranda

Halloweekend: Part 2!

Hahahahaha I almost made the subject of this entry "Halloweekend: Part 12!" I only wish my Halloweekend was epic enough to merit 12 entries. Hahaha.
Anyway! Onto part 2!
So yesterday was INCREDIBLY FUN, but it didn't originally start that way. The gig was all right, but Veronica wasn't able to go, which was sad. Actually, not a lot of people went to the gig in general: it was just me, Tom, Charlotte, Stephanie, Brian, Drew, and a new guy (didn't get his name). Most of them left early, too, so it was just going to be me, Tom, Charlotte, and Stephanie going to Charlotte's party. Luckily, Simon (who went with us on the record store crawl) met up with us towards the end of the gig, so it was less awkward.
However, once we got to the party, it became awkward again because there weren't many people there, so for the first hour or so we just sat around and ate a fail pumpkin pie that Charlotte made. Luckily, someone got the idea to start a game of Poker, and later a game of Kings (which they referred to as "Ring of Fire" which confused me at first) so the party picked up again. Charlotte's housemates were all very cool and friendly- I hope I get to hang out with them again soon. It ended up being an awesome time overall :) :) :
Today I haven't been doing much. Had a nice Skype date with Dad and Kid, which was awesome. Aaaaaaaaand it looks like the Bills are going to lose again. Wowwwww.
- Miranda

Halloweekend: Part 1!

No post yesterday because it was the start of my epic HALLOWEEKEND! (I love portmentaus). As one may expect, this weekend is full of shenanigans that keep me very busy, so I'll cover Thursday and Friday in today's update. I doubt I'll update tomorrow, so expect another update on Sunday.
Anyway, yesterday was BU's Halloween party! I went with Stephanie and Anakaren, and we had a great time! Stephanie took a bunch of pictures, which I'll post in this entry when they're on Facebook. They also took some pictures for the BU London newsletter, so I might be feauted on there too. Yay! The party was really cool for a bunch of reasons. First, it was extremely close by (the cab ride home was only 6 pounds!) so I didn't end up spending lots of money. Also, even though they made such a huge deal about it selling out, there weren't as many people there as there were at the Start of Semester party. Usually, this is a bad thing, but the start of semester party was so darn PACKED that it was hard to even move/hang out with people. This party was a much more manageable size. Also, we were given 2 drink vouchers with our tickets, but I got 2 extra because Chelsea didn't end up going! Huzzah! This made for a very fun night.
Today, I didn't do much- just watched "The Office", "The Apprentice", etc. The musical theater-themed plot on "The Apprentice" made me very happy.
Tomorrow Stephanie, Veronica, and I are going to another FREE GIG with the AMS- I believe it's this psychedelic music festival thing. Then we're all going to Charlotte's flat for another Halloween party! Should be very fun. I'm excited to be going to a legit house party instead of one at a club- mainly because I don't like dancing, lol.
Anyway, that's about it. Have a great Halloweekend, Internet!
- Miranda

*sniffles*

Hey guys!
So yesterday and today I've had this epicly terrible cold. Mehhh. I'm 90% sure it's just a cold and not anything else, because I know how my body works. I also think that it should be better tomorrow, because I usually have 1-2 days where it's terrible and then it get better. This morning I had a sinus headache thing as well, but I took some medicine and now it's gone, but the cold part isn't.
A bit of sad news: I haven't written about this in my blog before because I didn't want to gossip/publicize it, but today my one roommate, Brittany, went home. She was having some issues with her internship and with adjusting to life here in general. We were all sad to see her go.
Yesterday (despite my cold) I went to a free gig with the AMS, which was really cool! The bands that played were pretty psychedelic and awesome. I had a good time, but would've enjoyed it more if I was healthier.
Today I have to hand in my draft of my research proposal, but since I thought it was due earlier I already have most of it written up, so I'm not too worried.
BU's having a Halloween party tomorrow, and I'm really excited about it! Hopefully I'll be better by then.
- Miranda

I don't like Mondays

Mehhh...I've had a headache today, and it's not the most terrible headache in the world but it's just mad annoying, especially because I haven't had one in a while.
Had my Shakespeare class today, which was fun, and after that I finished Henry IV Part 2.
Tomorrow looks like it's going to be more productive...I'm actually going to GO TO THE LONDON LIBRARY, for one thing! I'm excited to legit start my research. I don't have class tomorrow so I'm looking to spend a couple hours there. After that, I'm going to a free gig with the AMS, which should be really fun also. I'm especially glad that it's FREE! Yay!
Also, I bought my ticket for the Halloween party on Thursday! Yay! There's going to be a costume contest and the winner will get 50 pounds! I honestly never win those things due to my lack of creativity and lack of funds, though, so I'm probably just going to go with my earlier "black cat" plan. At home, I have this really long white skirt and I wish I had it here so I could wear it with my white sparkly tank top and be an angel. Ah well. Black cat is better- I just need to buy cat ears, and those should hopefully be cheap and easy to find somewhere. OOH, I just remembered that my gloves are leopard print! I'm totally wearing those too! Unfortunately, I don't own any other leopard print things, but that's not necessary.
- Miranda

Still reeling over the Bills loss...

URGH, BUFFALO! WHY MUST YOU DO THIS TO US?! SERIOUSLY!?

Ok, better now. It's just because I'm not in the US right now. That's what I keep telling myself.
Anyway, today I did my launrdy, which was nice. I ended up not going to the library to do researc because they're closed on Sundays and I was stupid and forgot this fact. It was a nice day anyhow though, apart from that heartbreaking loss.
I have a fun week ahead of me! Free gig with the AMS on Tuesday, BU's Halloween party on Thursday, and another gig with AMS on Saturday! Woohoo!
Entry cut short so I can brood more on how I am going to kill some referees...
- Miranda

A Shakespeare Saturday!

Hola comrades!
So today it seems like my cough/cold thing has improved (yay) but I kinda just wanted to stay in anyway because I went out on Tuesday and Thursday night. This has made for a very quiet Saturday, as basically everyone else went out and did stuff today. Sometimes I think I should've gone out tonight, but I really don't have the money to be going out 3 nights a week. 2 is pushing it already, really.
Anyway! I plowed my way through Henry IV Part 2 today (hence the title of this entry) and I've basically read all that I need to for Monday! So that's a huge relief. This has allowed me to start doing research for my paper! Tomorrow I am going to go down to the London Library and look at some books that will hopefully aid me in their research (it looks like they have a facsimile of a manual for governesses at the time- OH MY GOD SO COOL!). Other than that, I don't really have any other plans.
I need to figure out a Halloween costume. Now, I know the Brits aren't big on Halloween, but BU's having a Halloween party on Thursday so I need a (cheap) costume for that. Ideas?
I might just be something stupid like "a black cat" and buy cat ears and draw whiskers on with eyeliner pencil and then wear all black. Then all I have to buy is cat ears, really. Hmm, interesting.
- Miranda

The entry filled with clips from Oliver!

Hey guys!
So Thursday was basically a go-go-go type of day, so I didn't really have any time to update! Here's what happened:
After my class, we all took a field trip to the Charles Dickens house/museum, where he lived for part of his life. It was really cool! (I have some pictures of the outside of the house, which I'll probably add to this entry later). It's a smaller museum but REALLY nice and informative! They also had a special exhibit on Oliver! which thrilled me, of course! They had Nancy's original dress from the musical, original sketches of the set design, prop strawberries from "Who Will Buy", etc. Made me so happy! I'll embed a youtube clip from the movie:

SINGING UNCHANGED BOYS! GAH! They were playing "As Long as He Needs Me" in the exhibit- I'm guessing this one would've made everyone hungry, though I wished they played different songs from the musical instead of the same one the entire time.
Gah, now I'm going to have Oliver! songs in my head the rest of the day. Let's have another clip!

Anyway, then I went to a meeting of the Tea Club at Imperial with Stephanie, which was really nice. Unlimited tea and pastries for 50p! After that, I was just going to relax/not go out because I went out on Tuesday, but Veronica (who I met when I went to the gig with AMS last Tuesday) invited me to a karaoke night, so I did that for the rest of the night. Such fun!
Today I relaxed and didn't go out, as I think I'm developing some sort of cough/cold thing. Meh. Hopefully I'll be better by tomorrow.
- Miranda

Surprisingly, her productivity continued...

Hey all!
So I ended up completely FINISHING "Great Expectations" on Monday, which was great! I was able to spend all of Tuesday preparing my presentation, then. I technically could've updated yesterday, but between doing work and hanging out with AMS, I didn't have much time. Meh.
But yesterday was really fun! The Imperial Bar was finally finished with the renovations, so now it's a lot bigger and they serve legit food there. They also serve CURLY FRIES, which I hadn't had since I've been here. I was really excited to order them, but by the time I did they said they had ran out. So I ordered some regular fries instead, no big deal. But THEN they bring a plate of curly fries to our table! And I'm like "Sweet! They actually had curly fries after all and gave them to me!" But that was not the case. After looking at my receipt, the waiter was like "oh no, these are for another table" and TOOK THEM AWAY FROM ME. I was upset, lol.
Today I'm being productive again. I'll probably finish "Henry IV" today- I only have 1 act left!
- Miranda

Just another manic Monday...

Hey everyone!
My productivity blast from yesterday continued into today. Yay! I've now just finished reading part 2 of "Great Expectations", which was an even faster read than part 1! Like I said yesterday, the fact that I'm really loving this reading is making me excited for my Dickens class next semester.
Just had my Shakespeare class today from 10-2. It went well, though I hate that my Mondays start at 10 instead of 1:15 like they used to -_-. Ah well, it's a good class anyway.
The time of my flight back to Rochester got changed FOR THE THIRD TIME! Wowww. First it was leaving at 10:35, then 11:10, and now it's leaving at 10:30. So my layover is back to 2.5 hours. That should be enough time, I think, unless I take forever to get through customs or something like that. If the flight time gets pushed to something like 9, THEN I'll be super worried. But for now it's just annoying to keep getting emails from Travelocity. MAKE UP YOUR MIND, JETBLUE!
Tomorrow I'm going to hang out with the AMS again at the Imperial Bar, because apparently it's finally done getting renovated. That should be fun. Also, NO CLASS TOMORROW! YAY TUESDAYS!
- Miranda

PRODUCTIVITY!!!

So today has been extremely productive! Yay! First of all, I FINALLY finished the "Henry IV" reading for tomorrow, so I was able to start "Great Expectations" for Wednesday. I'm greatly preferring the latter to the former. I haven't read any Dickens since I did "A Tale of Two Cities" freshman year (for the second time) so this is really fun!
Also, a trip is in the works! I'm tentatively going to Dublin with some friends on the weekend of November 12! Nothing's solid/booked yet (we just discussed this yesterday, lol) but I'm still SUPER EXCITED!
Had a nice Skype date with my immediate family as well as Aunt Mary, Uncle John, and Grandma Dolores! Yay for the magic of Skype!
This entry is short because I've got more of "Great Expectations" to read! I guess I just feel like being succinct today, lol.
- Miranda

We're here because of the music

Brrrr! I'm cold again. *puts on cardigan* Ahhh, that's better.
ANYWAY, my feet really hurt because of the record store crawl today! It was more of a record store crawl than a pub crawl because we went to 4 or 5 record stores and only 2 pubs, lol. Shows what's on OUR minds...also, we totally bypassed the chocolate week events, apparently. But I got my chocolate fix anyway with an EPICLY AMAZING Nutella and strawberry crepe at Portobello Market! Nomnomnomnomnomnom.
So yeah. Short entry today because I have some Henry IV to read. Also, I've been really tired all day for some reason (hmm, maybe it's because you walked all over London?) so I want to get as much Shakespeare reading done today before I fall asleep. So I'm not going out tonight, because even if I didn't have work to do I spent a fair amount of money anyway topping up my Oyster card -_-. On the plus side, if you want to buy music in London, I can tell you where to go! Yay!
- Miranda

Cold London days...

So it became really cold in London again. I know it's fall and this is how it's supposed to be, but it's still annoying. This annoyance is ramped up because of our basement room that retains no heat at all. Chelsea is in Barcelona right now- I'm sooooo jealous.

So, I *did* end up seeing the RCM orchestra perform last night, and it was EPIC. (The Family Guy clip does not reflect my thoughts on the piece, lol). They performed Stravinsky's "Symphony in Three Movements" as well as Beethoven's 9th symphony, and they were AMAZING at both of them! Seeing the last movement of Beethoven's 9th performed live is an amazing thing.
Today I've basically just relaxed, bought groceries, etc. I don't think I'm going out tonight because I went out on Tuesday night this week and to the concert yesterday. Also, tomorrow is going to be AMAZINGLY EPIC because I am going to go on a pub/record store crawl with the AMS! This would be an epic event in and of itself, but it's made EVEN MORE EPIC by the fact that it's apparently CHOCOLATE WEEK! and we're going to get some FREE CHOCOLATE SAMPLES or something like that! This is almost a perfect Miranda event, lol.
- Miranda

Tutor meeting, etc.

So today I had my first meeting with my tutor about my research paper! It went really well! Also, our draft proposal wasn't due today, so that made me feel a lot better- it's not due until the 28th, so I have time to revise it, etc. He really likes my idea a lot, which is good. Over the weekend (probably tomorrow or Sunday) I'm going to try to head over to the London library to see what they have regarding actual accounts from 19th-century governesses (god, I'm getting so excited already!).
Today's Thursday, so I'm probably going to out tonight. What I'll *probably* do is go to a karaoke night with Veronica that she told me about on Tuesday. If that falls through, I might see if people here want to go out OR go see the orchestra at the Royal College of Music, who's performing Beethoven's 9th today and tomorrow! Two BU kids in the RCM program made the orchestra (which is a HUGE accomplishment). And one of them is a viola player! VIOLA POWER!
Other than that, I'm just going to do more homework. Yay Shakespeare!
- Miranda

This post is more than just a title!

The title is a reference to the fact that I originally typed in the title and just pressed "enter" by mistake, causing the post to just consist of the title. Fail.
So I totally should've updated yesterday because it was Tuesday and I had no class, but I guess I just got lazy or something like that. The homework's starting to pile up again, though, so I can't be lazy from break anymore. I have to read acts 2-3 and part of 4 of "Henry IV" by Monday and all of "Great Expectations" by Wednesday. Also, my research proposal is due tomorrow, but I've been strategically working on it a little bit each day, so I only have about ~200 words left to write for it.
Yesterday was really fun! I went to another gig with the AMS. Fortunately, lots more people came this time, and I made lots of good friends! I'm also doing something with them on Saturday, too.
Today I discovered that Sainsbury's has a Coinstar machine! I totally thought that was just a US thing, so I was really happy to discover one, as I had SO MUCH extra change- about 6 pounds, in fact! YAY MONEY!
I'm going to make dinner now because there aren't a lot of people in the kitchen, and then I'll start on my proposal writing/reading.
- Miranda

Non-day off

Anyway, I don't have a day off today like the rest of y'all because they don't celebrate this in the UK:

Instead, I had a Shakespeare class at 10 in the morning! Not at 9, like I thought, which is good, because 10 is a LOT more manageable than 9, in my opinion. The class was good- we discussed "Henry IV". It's with the same professor that teaches my other 2 classes, so I already knew that I liked his teaching style.
Speaking of professors, my tutor for my research paper officially approves of my topic! I don't know if I told this blog what I've finally chosen. I'll copy and paste what I told him, because I'm too lazy to type it all out again.

My research paper will focus on how being a governess is portrayed in the works of the Bronte sisters, specifically in Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre and Anne Bronte’s Agnes Grey. I will contrast how being a governess is portrayed in their works to actual accounts of being a governess at that time in history, and see where the similarities and differences lie. I might just focus on either Jane Eyre or Agnes Grey if discussing both of them proves too daunting, but I’d like to do both of them.

Sounds good, no? Anyway, for Thursday I have to type up a much longer version of this going more in-depth into what I want to do, but he's approved my idea, at least.
One thing that I like about this 10-2 Shakespeare class is the fact that, well, we're out at 2 rather than 3 or 5:15, which gives me much more time to work (since I rarely get anything substantial done in the morning). I think I'd still rather sleep in, though, heh.
Tomorrow I HAVE NO CLASS! So I guess that can count as my day off for now, lol. I'm going to get more work done then and at 5 I'm going to another concert with the AMS. Fun!
- Miranda

Epic concert makes up for not updating yesterday

^ See the title.
So! Yesterday I went with the Alterative Music Society (AMS) at Imperial to WORLD INTERNATIONAL JOHN PEEL DAY 2010. A blurb from the Facebook event that explain it much better than I can:

The Short:
A collective of 20 Promoters, Labels, Zines and Radio DJs will be presenting over 30 acts & DJs on 3 stages in celebration of the man who gave us all good taste!

The Blurb:
John Peel was the greatest DJ the world has known and over the course of his 40-year career he rode on the crest of a wave bringing the best groundbreaking acts to the public. From T Rex, David Bowie, Elton, Captain Beefheart, The Slits, The Fall, Louden Wainwright, The Damned, PJ Harvey, Pulp, Laurie Anderson, Extreme Noise Terror to Nirvana, The White Stripes and many many more acts owed their lucky break/careers to John Peel. We will celebrate his legacy with red wine, loud music and a lot of dancing and laughter!

The day was incredibly epic. We were basically at the concert from 2:30-11, with a quick dinner break at Subway in between. Some of my favorites of the bands that I saw there:
Superman Revenge Squad (http://www.myspace.com/supermanrevengesquad)
Lail Arad (http://www.myspace.com/lailarad)
No Cars (http://www.myspace.com/nocars)
Bearsuit (http://www.myspace.com/bearsuit)

The people of AMS were REALLY cool, also! I had a great time meeting all of them. They seem like a really cool, friendly group of people. The concert was really fun last night because it was one of the first times that I've ever felt like a native and not a tourist. It wasn't a huge arena show- it was in this bowling alley/diner/bar/concert venue thing- so it wasn't something that everyone goes to, so that was cool. The whole thing reminded me of Almost Famous- just being someplace just for the music, with your friends. I'm going to use this opportunity to embed my favorite scene from Almost Famous, which has nothing to do with this post, but I love it anyway:

I'm going to another event with AMS on Tuesday night (and probably on Saturday, too) so that'll be lots of fun too!
Today I'm basically just doing work, lol. I have to read the first act of Henry IV for my Shakespeare class that starts tomorrow and is at 9 IN THE MORNING. DO NOT WANT. I mean, I want the Shakespeare class, but not that early, heh. I know lots of people who are taking it, though, so it should be fun. I also have to do a pretty big grocery shop today. The theater groups at Imperial are doing a techie thing today that I really should go to. Technically, it runs from 10-6 and you can go anytime you want, but I think by the time I get everything done it'll be too late to do anything worthwhile.
- Miranda

My Bath excursion!

So I forgot to update yesterday (that seems to be a running theme...) even though I totally had lots of opportunities to, lol. Anyway, this entry will be about my trip to Bath, which technically isn't over yet as I'm still here, lol. If anything other awesome things happen after I'm done writing this entry, I'll write about it tomorrow.
So, as Sarah pointed out in the comments of my entry, I actually didn't end up going to the pub crawl on Wednesday night, because it was actually on Thursday and I read the date wrong. WHAT A FAIL. That actually worked out a lot better for me in the long run, though, because I got more time to relax and pack.
I safely got onto the train to Bath on Saturday morning. Bath is SUCH a cute town! The scenery here is BEAUTIFUL, I keep forgetting to take pictures but I totally have to because I want to show them to everyone here. And, of course, it was really nice to see Becca again! It's been a pretty chill time here so far, which is REALLY nice. Even though I haven't been doing lots of stuff, it's really nice to just relax and enjoy the scenery. Becca went to a yoga class last night and somehow persuaded me to come along (!!!). As everyone knows, I'm probably the least flexible person on the planet, but I made it work.
There's also a legit scale in the bathroom here, and when I weighed myself (just out of curiosity) I found out that I had lost about 10 pounds since I've been here! I'm SO STOKED! That definitely made me feel a lot better.
Becca and I spent last night watching TV and just catching up with each other, it was really nice. I don't get to see her at all during the school year, obviously, so it was nice to finally be remotely close to one of my friends!
Today Becca and I went to a really cute little market, where I bought a DELICIOUS chocolate raspberry ripple. It was soooo good! I don't know what we're doing tonight, but the weather's really nice so I hope we're able to walk outside for a bit.
Tomorrow I get into London at 12:39. The Imperial Alternative Music Society is going to a concert at 1 (well, they're having a drink at 1 and then going to the concert). I really want to go (so I have something to do on Saturday) but I think I might be cutting it a bit close time-wise. In typical Miranda fashion, I am going to buy tickets (they're pretty cheap) and see if I can make it there. Let's hope this all works.
- Miranda

Tuesday and Wednesday

Hi everybody!
So this blog post is going to cover 2 days, because I forgot to update yesterday and today I'm going to bed really busy so I don't have a lot of time to update.
My final yesterday went really well! The only bad part was that it was so early in the morning -_-. After my final, I went to the club fair at Imperial College, which was really cool! I signed up for a bunch of clubs (including the CHEESE CLUB, CHOCOLATE CLUB, AND TEA CLUB!) and got a bunch of free stuff! It was really fun. I'm really happy to be like a college student again and start going to clubs and things like that. In fact, I have my first outing with the people from Imperial tonight! (More on that later)
After dinner, I went to the afterparty for the club fair with some guys in the literature program. The only good thing about the party was the INCREDIBLY CHEAP DRINKS! The cider was 1.70 and the beer was 2 pounds, which was epic. The bands they had playing were all right- there was one that did a lot of Pink Floyd covers ("In the Flesh", "Comfortably Numb") which was cool. It ended at 11, and some people were going to clubs and stuff afterward but I went back home.
Today, I'm prepping for my TRIP TO BATH TO SEE BECCA! After my laundry is done, I'm going to pack, which shouldn't take me too long (I'm a pretty fast packer). I also have to print out my train ticket at some point, but I can do that at any time.
Tonight, I am going to a pub crawl with the rock 'n' roll society at Imperial! I know you're all jealous. The guys there sounded really chill when I met them yesterday at the club fair. It's going to be great!
- Miranda

Tea with Dean Elmore! Nothing else mattered.

Hey!
So today I had my final for EN340. I was kind of nervous about it, but it ended up being pretty easy! The prof is really nice but kind of intimidating when you first meet him, so I wasn't sure if he was going to give us a really hard final or not. But as soon as I looked at the questions, I was pretty confident in what I was doing.
After the final, I got to have TEA WITH DEAN ELMORE! which I was pretty excited about. I talked to him for a bit, which was cool. They had free cake, scones, and of course TEA! It was pretty epic.
I also officially booked my tickets to Bath to see Becca! But it looks like I'm not going to do anything for the rest of the break. I'm kind of upset about this, but I'm telling myself that as long as I go somewhere in Europe at least once this semester, I'll be fine. My demands are as such:
1. Go somewhere in Europe (if I had my way it would be Italy, but this probably won't happen).
2. SEE ROCKY HORROR IN A THEATER FOR HALLOWEEN! I'm going to be a geek and get all excited because England is where it all started.
If those two things happen while I'm over here, I'll be a happy woman.
Also: I keep forgetting to write this in the blog, but I found a convenience store that sells "gum-flavored gum" (I know this is a weird way of referring to it...but what else would I say? Original gum?). And it's Bubblelicious at that, which gives you really big pieces, unlike Trident where I have to chew 2 pieces at a time. I know way too much about gum.
I'm excited because tomorrow is Imperial's little club fair thing, where I get to sign up for their clubs. YAY JOINING CLUBS! YAY MEETING BRITISH COLLEGE STUDENTS (ESPECIALLY THE GUYS)! Seriously, out of all the things I miss here, clubs are VERY high on the list. I like having lots of things to do, lol. And they're having an afterparty after the club fair, which should be good too.
My final tomorrow is at 9 IN THE MORNING. URGH. I'm going to love this so much. Mehhh.
- Miranda

Another late update...

It's past midnight here, but it's still October 3rd in the States, so this blog is technically not late, at least in my book.
The day was pretty uneventful. The most momentous event was that I FINISHED MY PAPER! It really didn't take me too long to write, which was good, and I was about 200 words over the word count, which was good- it's better than being under the word count:

So that was good. My first exam is tomorrow- wish me luck! Since I finished my paper that's technically due for Tuesday, I basically am free tomorrow after my exam, because I'm not too worried about my Tuesday exam at all. I believe there's some sort of comedy show for the Imperial kids tomorrow, so I'll see if people are going to that.
Oh- I AM OFFICIALLY GOING TO SEE BECCA IN BATH OVER BREAK! For part of the break anyway, lol. I have some tentative plans for what I'm going to do for the rest of the break, but I'm not going to reveal them here in case they don't work out.
- Miranda

Well, October's starting off well for this blog...

Yo, so I didn't update yesterday either, haha. It's hard for me to update on days that I'm going out because I don't want to say I'm going somewhere when I'm not sure whether I'm going or not. I don't like going on the Internet in general after I go out (because I usually get back pretty late and don't want to wake my roommates up...and my feet hurt/I'm tired, etc.). So that's why I didn't update yesterday.
So! Yesterday I went to Club Egg. It took me a while to find someone to go with but I ended up going with some people from the 5th floor, who were all really nice. I had a fun time, but it took us FOREVER to get there because apparently none of us are good with directions...and they still made us pay a 6 pound cover even though we had already paid online. They also wouldn't give us our free drink vouchers at first, but eventually we got them. I had a great time!
Going slightly out of order, yesterday Phyllida law spoke to my "Meeting the Writer" class! She's actually more famous for being an actress (she's Emma Thompson's mother!) than a writer, but it was still cool to hear her talk about her book. She was really funny and sweet- we talked about the most random things, lol. I had to do a presentation on her book beforehand, and I think that went really well.
So today, I don't really have any plans. Normally I'd be kind of upset about that, but it's actually my own doing because I have exams next week. Here's what I have to do for next week:
- Read Defoe's A Journal of the Plague Year (for Monday)
- Study for my exams (I have 2 of them)
- Write a 2,000 word paper (for Tuesday)
I also have work for the week after break which I'll start if I have time. I woke up late today, so I don't have as much time as I'd like to work. I probably should stop writing this entry then, haha.
- Miranda

Wow, Miranda remembered to update on a Thursday!

Hey guys! I have lots of work to do today (as I predicted) so I'll try to make this entry quick.
So today we went to the British Library! It was soooooooo cool! In addition to the Magna Carta, they have an ORIGINAL WRITTEN COPY OF JANE EYRE, ORIGINAL SHAKESPEARE FOLIOS, and ORIGINAL BEATLES LYRICS! SQUEE! I loved looking at all of the things on display and learning the history of the library. Unlike the London Library, the British Library doesn't allow open browsing in the stacks- you have to browse their online catalogue, find out what you need to see for research or whatever, and get a letter sponsoring you, etc. I don't really know if I'll need to do that at the moment, but I'll probably go back to view some of the exhibits.
We had about an hour and a half to ourselves to explore the library/go home or whatever and then we had class from 2-5. It was with my "Meeting the Writer" professor, so that was nice.
At 7:30, I went with members of the "Meeting the Writer" class to this comedy show in Kilburn, where Robbie Hudson, who we met earlier this week, was performing. It was really cool! "Comedy show" isn't really the right word- it was more of a storytelling/music show that was really funny, lol. If I *didn't* have class tomorrow, I'd probably be going out now, but I have a presentation due tomorrow for my class that is meeting. For most people, it was their last day of classes (before midterms) so they're going out, but I'm going to stay in for the rest of the night.
Tomorrow, I might go out to Club Egg because they're doing a promotional thing where you get free entry and a free drink! I need to find people to go with, though. All of the CGS kids are leaving this weekend because their break starts tomorrow, lucky ducks. Meh.
- Miranda

Rain, Package

The best news about today is that I GOT MY PACKAGE WOOT WOOT! I'm so happy to have my LEATHER JACKET, WHEAT THINS, an long-sleeved tops. THANK YOU MOM AND DAD! This made my day.
Today was good in theory. My "Meeting the Writer" class went on a walk through Hampstead, where many famous people lived (Keats, D.H. Lawrence, Katherine Mansfield, Robert Louis Stevenson, etc.) Sounds fun, right? (Well, fun if you're into literature like I am.)
Not that it wasn't fun, it just RAINED. THE ENTIRE TIME. And I TOTALLY wasn't dressed for it. I got the package AFTER I got back from the walk, so I didn't have a jacket or anything. That wasn't too much of a problem, though, because it wasn't that cold. The main issue was that I wore BALLET FLATS, which was a terrible idea. They are now SOAKED and I am trying to salvage them because I really like them. Also, my khaki pants are long on me (because I'm so short) so the bottom of my pants are soaked too. Meh. I had an umbrella, though. And if it was raining when I initially left for class, I wouldn't have worn that outfit, let me tell you. Because of the rain, I didn't take many pictures, but I plan on going up there one weekend when it's nice out and taking pictures, because it really was gorgeous.
Tomorrow I'm going to be mad busy. I have a field trip with my research class to the BRITISH LIBRARY! I'm excited to go because the MAGNA CARTA is on display there (and the Book of the Dead too, I think, but that might be at a random museum. I know it's on display SOMEWHERE in London...). The only thing I'm not excited about is leaving at 9:30 AM...I've been really, really spoiled here, as most of my classes start at 1:15 or noon. I haven't had to wake up early since I went to the Tower of London. I'm still excited, though. I don't know how long that'll take, but then I have class from 2-5. At 7:30, I'm leaving for Kilburn to go see Robbie Hudson (the author who talked to us yesterday) in a comedy show with the rest of my class. It'll be busy but good!
- Miranda

In which I find out about my package!

So today I FINALLY found out what happened to my package! Yay! So apparently I need to pay the Value Added Tax (VAT) before my package can be delivered to me. It was about 40 pounds :( but at least I know that it will be delivered to me TOMORROW! YAY I CAN HAS MY LEATHER JACKET! AND WHEAT THINS! (Although I later discovered that Partidge's sells Wheat Thins. But they're really expensive. Meh.)
So today in my "Meeting the Writer" class, we interviewed Robert Hudson, who wrote "The Kilburn Social Club". He was REALLY funny and nice! He's performing in some sort of comedy night thing on Thursday at a pub, and our class is going to go (I think) so I'm pretty excited about that!
Also, in the newsletter today we FINALLY got some information about when Imperial College starts, etc.! This also makes me really excited. Even though I've been attending classes, living in a dorm, etc., the environment around here isn't very collegiate (we really have no campus AT ALL, even less than BU, and the buildings are all about a 10-15 minute walk away from each other). But I don't mind that as much. What I've REALLY been missing are extracurricular activities. Well, I'll be able to get over that next Tuesday, when Imperial has their version of Splash and you can join all of their clubs. They even have a cheese club! Seriously! I'll have to bring that over to BU...
That's it, I think. Just doing homework for tonight.

NEW HEADPHONES....no package

So, today I GOT NEW HEADPHONES! They were only 5 pounds at Sainsbury's! (I was estimating them to be 10, so this was a little extra bonus). I also bought some gum, which I've been missing. For some reason, the Brits aren't really into gum-flavored gum: it took me forever to find a flavor that wasn't spearmint, peppermint, cinammon, etc. I wonder why this is- I guess gum-flavored gum is an American thing. The only non-minty gum they had was this Trident strawberry lime thing, which is ok. The pieces are mad small, though, so I have to chew 2 at once, which means I'm going to go through the pack really quickly. Meh.
Also "meh" about today is the fact that I DIDN'T GET MY PACKAGE YET. My parents mailed a package that was supposed to come by today at the latest, and apparently on Saturday they "attempted" to deliver it but it still hasn't come yet. I talked to the people behind the security desk who handle the mail and they were pretty ineffectual. They just were like "oh, all the packages that come will be on this counter". DUH, I KNOW THAT ALREADY! I want to know why my package hasn't come yet! I want my leather jacket already!
All right, enough ranting, lol. I have homework to do.
- Miranda

A more productive day than yesterday

As the title of this blog states, today was much more productive than yesterday! I only have ~100 pages left in the book I have to read for Tuesday, so I'll probably finish tonight, which is good. Then I can start on the other 2 books I have to read (one due Wednesday, one due Thursday). I really love all the reading I'm doing here, though. It's the first time I've taken all English classes, and I love it.
My headphones died today AND my cell phone ran out of money, so I have to take care of both of those things tomorrow. AND my Oyster Card (subway pass) ran out of money yesterday so I had to do that. Urgh I hate getting hit with these expenses all at once. I'm doing pretty good on food, though, so that's good. I'm really mad about my headphones (because when I'm on the computer I'm listening to music CONSTANTLY) but they've lasted me the longest out of any pair of headphones I've owned- I think I got them during my junior year of high school. Maybe, if I look at my Livejournal, I'll be able to pin down the exact date. Of course, this would also result in more time-wasting, lol.
Other than that, I don't really have much to say. Didn't get out much again today, but it was still pretty cold and rainy. Also, our room is in the basement and it gets sooooo cold at night (I don't know if I wrote about this in my last post or not). I didn't bring any hoodies here, but I might try to buy a cheap one just to sleep in.
- Miranda

Procrastination!

Didn't do much today! It was cold out, so I didn't feel like going for a huge walk. (Side note: I will be sooooo happy when my leather jacket comes in the mail!). I totally didn't pack as many long-sleeved things as I should for this trip, as it got cold here REALLY quickly. That's why I'm really happy that my parents have sent me some of my long-sleeved things from home. I would go shopping here but a) it's expensive and b) I don't really know how easy it would be to find clothes that fit me.
I meant to tackle a lot of my homework today, too, but I kept getting distracted. I know procrastinating is really bad for you, but sometimes it's hard for me to focus when I know that I don't need to have a particular book read until Tuesday, for example...so I just waste my time on the computer. Lol.
I keep going back and forth on whether I should join the gym here or not.
THE POSITIVES:
- It satisfies my need to have things to do every day, especially due to the fact that it's about a 15 minute walk away (probably even more than that, actually). The distance is also a negative, but we'll get to that. The positive side is that it gives me something to do every day, so I feel like I'm not just lazing around like I did all day today.
- I get to weigh myself at the gym. I know some people don't subscribe to this ideology, but I really, really like weighing myself every day. It REALLY helps to keep me in check.
- The obvious one: I'll lose weight and be able to continue the workout thing I did over the summer. Yay!
THE NEGATIVES:
- It costs money. I am a poor college student. Plus, I don't even really use all the things that the gym offers (I probably won't take any classes there, as they make me feel self-conscious) so I won't feel like I'm getting enough for my money. All I really do at the gym is the treadmill and bike, anyway. I don't like running outside as much and it's getting colder out anyway, so it's useful to have these things at the gym, but I don't like paying for them.
- The distance. Yes, a 15-minute walk is not far. However, if I spend about an hour at the gym, that's an hour and a half of my time, in total, spent for the day. And on days that I have class (ESPECIALLY Thursdays, which is when I usually go out) sometimes that's too much time to be taken up. It's nice for the weekends, but it might be hard to go every weekday.
- The irrational one: the last time I worked out at the gym, it started my EPIC 5 DAY SINUS HEADACHE. I now associate the gym with my EPIC 5 DAY SINUS HEADACHE, even though exercising is probably not what caused said headache. I'm paranoid that if I work out there again, I'll get another EPIC 5 DAY SINUS HEADACHE.
- At this gym in particular, I often get bored. At the gym I went to in Rochester, there was closed-captioning under the TV's, but at the gym here there isn't. So just listening to music and watching the people on TV doesn't do it for me, really. I don't want to buy a membership to a gym where I'll be bored. I can try other gyms and see what their facilities are like, but I don't know how I'll like them.

That ended up being way more in-depth than I wanted it to be. Oh well.

Thursday and Friday

So I was literally dancing at the club last night when I thought to myself "I haven't updated my blog yet for today!" But at that point, it was technically Friday (morning) and I try not to do much on the Internet after I go out. So today you'll get an entry about Thursday AND Friday!
Today is my roomie Andrea's 21st birthday! HAPPY BIRTHDAY ANDREA! (I don't know if you read my blog or not. I know Chelsea does, but I don't know about my other roomies. Hi, Chelsea!) She's in Paris for her birthday with her friends, so yesterday, when she actually *was* here, we celebrated her 21st and all went out to a club. It was great fun! No pictures as I don't like taking my camera with me when I go out (I don't know HOW everyone else is so comfortable taking their cameras...I'm such a klutz, I know for sure I'd drop it or spill something on it...).
And I technically had PLENTY of time to update yesterday, but I just forgot about it. Meh. Blame it on my excitement at going out for the week, because the "going out" in the Lake District consisted of playing Kings with the rest of the people in the Literature program. Which is still epic, but I wanted to get all dressed up for once. Heh.
Onto today! Today I did something that I can't do yet in the States- I went to a beer tasting! It was WONDERFUL! We also got a free lunch at a pub beforehand, which was nice. We toured the Fuller's Brewery in Chiswick (pronounced "Chissick", not "Chis-wick"). After the tour, we got to try the beer! We had half an hour to try 8 beers, but as we're all college students, this was not hard at all. And no, this was NOT like a wine tasting where you spit out the drink after you taste it. No, we all got about half a glass of each beer. My favorite beers were the London Pride and the Honeydew beer (which is organic! Cool!). It was a great time! I wish my family and friends could've been there- I know sooooo many people who would've enjoyed it just as much, if not more, than I did.
So for the rest of the day I haven't been doing much. I like to just go out once a week (less strain on my wallet) so I probably won't go out tonight unless I get invited somewhere. This is also the first weekend that I don't have any big trips planned. I don't know how I feel about that. On the one hand, I like having the free time to catch up on my work (I have 3 books I have to read by certain points this week). Free time also gives me time to explore different parts of the city, etc. But on the other hand, I sometimes have a tendency to get bored if I don't have any structured activity scheduled for the day (God, I sound like a little kid or something). If I have time, I might go down to the London Library and do some research there for my paper. I think now I've solidly decided that I *am* going to do something on Bronte, since I think we're doing Twelfth Night in my Shakespeare class but aren't doing the Bronte sisters in any of my other classes. Visiting the Parsonage just inspired me a lot, I guess. But having a definite topic for my paper will really put me more at ease.
That's all for now!
- Miranda

It's back!

YAY THE INTERNET IS BACK!!!!!!
We just got the Internet back, I don't know when exactly. Probably within the last half hour or so because I just got back from dinner. I'm really happy to have it back! God, I'm so technologically-addicted...just a child of Generation Y, I guess.
I got all worried because I got an email from Travelocity saying that the airline changed the time of my flight home on December 11th, but they just made it slightly later, which is fine. Just a slightly longer layover for me, which is probably better.
Don't have any other plans for today, really...just homework and stuff like that, I guess. And hopefully FINALLY finding a recording of the Apprentice premiere that I can actually watch over here, which is proving to be harder than I thought. Meh.
- Miranda

Let's take the Internet away from a bunch of college students!

See the title of this blog? Ok. Does that seem like a good idea to you? Well, that's what's happened this afternoon for the people in my dorm. Apparently, someone's computer has been sending out viruses, so the head of the program needed to get the "Mac Address" (some computer thing) from everyone's computer to determine who was sending the viruses. Since they didn't receive everyone's "Mac Address" by a certain time, they decided to cut off our Internet until they receive the remaining addresses/find out which computer is sending out the viruses. This is making everyone extremely mad, including me. The people in the other dorms are probably laughing at us now though, haha.
How am I updating, you may ask? The computer lab gets Internet still, so when I need my computer I update from there. I can also *sometimes* pick up another wireless stream from my room, but it goes in and out. That's what I'm doing now. I hope InternetGate is over soon!
- Miranda

In which Miranda interviews a playwright!

Today was quite exciting! As part of my "Meeting the Writer" class, everyone in our class has to interview one of the writers that come and talk to us. Today it was my turn! I interviewed the playwright Stephen Brown about his play that we read, Future Me. The play itself deals with quite controversial themes. Very briefly, it's about a lawyer, Peter, whose computer develops a virus that sends an email with an attached image to his entire address book. This image turns out to be some graphic child pornography, and he is sent to jail. The play deals with how Peter is able to come to terms with what he did, and how his family and friends cope with this. It's quite an interesting play.
ANYWAY, Stephen Brown was great to interview! He gave really interesting answers to my questions, which was really nice. The interview was actually supposed to run from 4-5:15 but we actually continued talking to him as a class until 5:30 because he was so interesting...this is the first time this has ever happened in the class. Cool!
After class, I went grocery shopping, talked to Mom on the phone for a bit, and ate dinner. Now I'm going to do some reading for my class tomorrow and finally watch the Apprentice premiere!

THE EPIC LAKE DISTRICT ENTRY

Hey everyone!
So the hostels that we stayed at did NOT, in fact, have wifi. Wowwww. So that's why I didn't update while I was there. Meh.
But anyway! This weekend was AMAZING! It's probably the best time I've had this whole trip. It was so nice to be out in the country for a while (and I'm saying this as a total city person) around such beautiful scenery.
Also: readers of this blog get to see some of the pictures first, as Facebook is being stupid and not letting me upload them!
So we left for Haworth (where the Bronte sisters lived) bright and early at 8:30 Friday morning. It took about 4 hours to get there. My headache (which is now basically gone, you'll find out about that later in the entry) was bugging me a LOT during the bus ride. I tried to read (we have to finish a 500 page novel for Tuesday's class) but that made it worse. I was still thrilled to be at Haworth, however, not in the least because of views like this:

Before our tour of the Bronte parsonage started, we had time to walk around Haworth for a little bit. To my delight, I discovered that there were lots of cats wandering around the town that didn't mind being photographed:



After that nice break, we had a very informative talk and tour through the Bronte Parsonage! I had such a geeky thrill as I walked through all the rooms that the Bronte family lived in. It made me want to do my research paper on Bronte. I have so many ideas! Here's the parsonage:

After the museum, we went for a walk along the moors. Having read Wuthering Heights twice already, I had always wanted to actually go to the moors and experience them for myself. Well on Friday, I got my wish. This is the beginning of the "breathtaking scenery" part of the program:




Also, there was lots of farmland around Haworth, so I took pictures of lots of farm animals (including a cow we attempted to feed:



After traipsing around the moors, we drove to our hostel and had a HUGE dinner there! I don't know if we were really hungry or if we were just taking advantage of the fact that it was an all-you-can-eat buffet, but we were soooo stuffed by the time we left the dining hall area. We all hung out as a group for the rest of the night because one of the girls in the program was celebrating her 21st birthday! So we all went to a bar together and then had an awesome time the rest of the night.

THE NEXT DAY:
On Saturday my headache was a lot worse (yes, yes, drinking is bad, I know, bla bla bla) but I was still excited for the Lake District! It took us another 3-hour bus ride to get there. First, we visited Wordsworth's grave:

The scenery around there was beautiful too and included A BUNNY RABBIT!



We then had a tour of Dove Cottage (where Wordsworth lived and wrote a majority of his poetry) and a talk about Wordsworth. This, too, was quite interesting to see. The cottage is quite small, considering that Wordsworth, his wife, their children, his sister, and several guests often stayed there. Here it is:

We also took a hike in the surrounding area, where Wordsworth would often work and be inspired. I can see why:



Then, we had some extra time (because our bus driver ALWAYS got to places early) so we walked along Langdale, this farm/valley thing which was REALLY pretty:




Then we went to our hostel and the surrounding town, where EVERYTHING closed really early. We got dinner at this Indian place, and then we got some tea (and in my case, chocolate cake!). Then it started raining, so we walked back to the hostel. My headache was really bad again, so I went to bed at 10 (!!!!) and had a nice, long sleep.

TODAY:
I finally showered! (I was feeling too bad on Saturday to shower). It was raining all day, so I had no chance to take any pictures :(. But we took a lovely boat ride across Lake Windemere (the largest lake in England) to the town of Bowness, where I FINALLY bought some decongestant! Over the weekend, Mom and I determined that my headache was probably caused by sinus pressure. My headache was basically gone after my epic sleep yesterday, but the decongestant has definitely helped too. I had a great chocolate ecalair in Bowness (SO.MUCH.CREAM.) and then we went back on the bus to London. We got back at around 5:30, where I've basically spent the rest of the day on the computer.

Love you all!
Miranda