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