Packed!

Okay, okay, not QUITE. But nearly! ... which means for the next four days, I'll be living out of suitcases ... in my own bedroom!

And although I only have four more days until the trip, it's only just now starting to sink in: I am going to England. I am going to spend three and a half months on the other side of the Atlantic. I am going to spend three and a half months away from home, away from family and friends, and away from life as I know it. I should be jittery with nervousness, but instead, my toes curl in enthusiastic anticipation!

I am very much looking forward to my classes: Medieval history, Medieval romances, Jane Austen, and Dante :D and I hope I have it in me to show the Brits that although we Americans might sound funny, so do they - and that accent has absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with academic ability, or writing skills, or creativity, or anything! Ha!

I am looking forward to the Bodleian Library and all its BOOKS ...

... and the Eagle and the Child pub, where the Inklings conspired with and inspired each other to create some of the most AMAZING literature ever ...

... and all the fabulous Oxford colleges, such as Trinity, Balliol, Magdalen, St. Catherine's ;), and of course, St. Peter's ...

... and red phone boxes (I believe they are called "call boxes"?) ...

... and driving on the wrong side of the road (even sober people do it!) ...

... and fish and chips ...

... and Bob's your uncle! And mine as well! ...

... oh! And the blusteriest weather ever! I've been sort of watching the weather on my desktop sidebar, and Oxford weather has uniformly shown itself some ten degrees or so below Michigan weather. In Fahrenheit. Yeah. That's cold! I think I'll leave the flip flops at home and pack that extra sweater!

I just found out the other day that England has switched to a cent-system of money, where everything is split up with 100 pennies in a pound, and so forth, which means no more shillings, or crowns, or half-crowns, or thruppence, or any cool old money like that, which is a slight let down for my romantic sensibilities. I was so hoping to walk into a tea shop and have the waitress tell me, "now, that will be two shillings and sixpence ..." - though I expect tea would cost rather more than that today. But it will be considerably easier now, without having to figure out exactly how much change I would be owed from a fiver for a three-and-sixpence purchase! There's the silver lining!

And so, on that happy note, I will leave you for the moment and return soon, hopefully with good news of completed packing and final preparations underway!

A bientot,
~ Catherine :)

Welcome!

One week from tomorrow and I will be leavin' on a jet plane for the blustery isle of Angleterre! I am already packing - I'd post a photo of my luggage and luggage-contents, but my room is something of a natural-disaster wreckage area, sans the water, with floatsam and jetsam spewed energetically across the floor in piles of unrecognizable form and matter. And so for a week I have the task of rearranging these components into their proper shapes and identities, stuffing them all into the luggage (which is, thankfully, bigger on the inside than on the out ...!) and bracing myself for a rigorous semester. Of amazing literature. And awesome accents.
Not to mention tea and cucumber sandwiches. :)

Until later,
~ Catherine :)