An American in Paris

Now for some adventures in Paris. Sunday we stayed in and relaxed, well I stayed in and relaxed. Naomi went with her sister to the hospital because they couldn't figure out why her cheeks had swollen. It's okay, she only had mumps and is still alive and I didn't catch the mumps. Also, my mother would be so proud of me, I went to church that night.

Monday we went for a bike ride around Croissy sur Seine (the surburb of Paris where Naomi lives). It was rather chilly and I hadn't really done too much physical exercise for about 3 weeks but it was a good way to see Croissy. Also there was a circus on our route and they had an adorable baby tiger. Then the reality that I have coursework due the day I get back set in and I spent all of Tuesday attempting to work on that, I didn't get too far.

Wednesday we went to La Defense and saw the Grande Arch, which looks like a big hallowed out square and if you look one way you see the Arch de Triumph and if you look the other way you see french things (most people don't bother to look the other way). We also did some shopping, window shopping. Oh, I almost forgot I took a French train, they aren't much different than any other train, they're just French. While at La Defense we went and saw Twilight: New Moon 1 1/2 times. We didn't have a clock on us so we weren't sure what time it was but we went to the cinema and ended up walking in on the last 45 minutes-1 hour of the movie before we realized that we had the time wrong. So we went to the actual showing we paid for as well.

Finally I made into Paris on Thursday. We were going to go to the Catacombs, which would have been amazingly cool, but when we got there (which took some time because we didn't think to look across the street) it was closed to due to vandalism. So we went to the Effiel Tower and yes I walked up the stairs. We didn't go clear to the top but I'm not so sure I could have made it. I'm not so good with heights, and I was fine walking up and I could walk clear to the edge, but taking the stairs down is SCARY! especially when a pigeon flys toward you. The we went to the Arch de Triumph and the famous shopping street of Paris (I cannot for the life of me remember what it's called, nor could I probably spell it).

Friday we went to Naomi's school (The Bristish School of Paris) to see her friends and watch a Talent show...of sorts. I met a few of her friends and then one of them came back to help us build a snowman because Anna and I were having a competition to see who could build the best snowman even though we were in different countries. Unfortunately the snow was all wrong for snowman and we just ended up throwing it at each other and drawing stick figures in the snow. Naomi, her friend Alex, her sister Bethany, and I then went to see a Christmas Carol at the cinema. Alex tried to convince us it was written by Jim Carrey because he didn't know who Charles Dickens was. What are they teach students at the British School of Paris? Anyway, we got on the train to go to the movie and met some nice Austrailian students who were touring Paris...and a little drunk.

Naomi's parents left Saturday morning for something or other and we decided to stay inside. Alex came back over and we played some games and talked and had a little sleepover in general. I went to sleep around 6 in the morning and was up quite early at 10:30. Stayed in most of the day on Sunday as well, but we did go out for dinner at a little Italian restaurant in Croissy. Monday, being typical girls, we went shopping and it was absolutely mad with the Christmas rush. And I got Hagen Daas ice cream, YUM! And we went to...get this McDonalds. I know I can get McDonalds in the States, but it some how tastes different and by different I really mean better and not nearly as greasy.

To be honest with you I'm not really missing Christmas in the States too much. I do however miss having an endless supply of Chex mix, cookies, and fudge at my disposal. As well as Sierra Mist Cranberry Splash. I'm almost sick of mince pies and Christmas puddings (which aren't that nice or pudding like). Anna had actually bought a box of mince pies for me to try when we were back at college, she ended up eating most of them before I even got 1. Mince pies are almost like a British holiday answer to Americans and apple pies.

Alright that's all for now, I promise that I'll try and be better at updating in the new year!

SHAG Week, The Christmas Ball, and Recovery Week

HELLO BLOG LOVERS! Welcome to the Dana can't seem to be bothered to update her blog show. Last time we meet I'd just been to London and now we're back at Uni (I'm not actually, I'm on Christmas break, but at this point in the blog we're at the RAC). The week after London was SHAG week at the RAC, which is about safe shagging! The condom fairy passed out free condoms and there free Chlamydia testing for anyone who hadn't being shagging safely.

To celebrate SHAG week the Student Union had arranged for a Ladies/Lads night on Monday. So the girls went to AV8 while the boys headed off to the Tunnel. Once at AV8 there were people selling sexy lingerie, a variety bedroom toys, and things of that sort. They also served girly cocktails such as Sex on the Beach, Peeping Toms, and something else that had to do with the male anatomy and being sparkly. But the highlight of the night for both sexes (at their own parties of course) was the..."exotic dancer." Not gonna lie, the "dancer" took forever to get ready and all he had to do was take his clothes, also I found it quite weird that he came out in an American Marine uniform and with a British flag.

After AV8 we all went to the Tunnel for a Christmas party. There were bucking reindeer and dancing and most importantly of all a bonfire. I miss standing around in the cold watching logs burn. And then some guys decided to try and walk through the fire, can you believe they were drunk? Well they are Ciren students, they're always drunk.

Tuesday was uneventful, but on Wednesday we went to the rock for Red, White, Short, and Tight night. Had a good time and get this I met some new people. I've also determined that if I were to update this blog more regularly I would remember more of what I did during the week and therefore make this blog longer because once again Thursday I did nothing.

Friday however, was the Christmas Ball which was awesome! Everyone looked so pretty in their formal wear and penguin suits and the Scots wore their kilts. They had a scrambler...which word to the wise is not probably the best ride to go on while drunk. There was also sumo santas and a live band which was much better than the one they had at the Freshers ball. And there was literally mistletoe everywhere! It was a late night and I got about two hours of sleep and then decided to get up and do some work.

Saturday I did my laundry and then went to Anna's room for a picnic lunch of chocolate, Goldfish (sent to me from the States), decorated a gingerbread snowman, and watched The Mighty Boosh (which is a great show by the way). Then Liana and her brother came over and we went to the Tunnel for dinner.

Sunday had another little picnic with Anna and went ice skating in Swindon. It was a really good time and it was cold at the skating rink. You might never believe this, because I've probably never mentioned it, but I miss the freezing, dry, and snowy winters I grew up with. This mild and rainy English winter weather is useless. Anyway, after ice skating it was time for Top Gear.

Monday there was a Christmas Carol service at the college. A traditional English Candle-lit Christmas Carol service. So everyone is in their formal dress with all these lit candles...I could see a disaster waiting to happen. The service was really good, everyone was in the Christmas spirit and even though some of the tunes were not the proper one (at least not for the American) I had a lot of fun. After the service we had a traditional English Christmas dinner in the dining center. Turkey, stuffing, roast potatoes, veggies, chicken liver patte, cranberry sauce, wine, and Christmas pudding in brandy sauce. They also had Christmas crackers and a bagpiper. Pretty much if everyone had a jolly good time. And then we went to the Tythe for some more socializing.

Tuesday I had a late lecture and got to miss dinner! But other than that and spending the evening socializing in the Tythe nothing much happened. And then Wednesday, Oh Wednesday. It was the last night at the Rock and lets just say I might not really remember to much of what happened. But I had a good time, or so I'm told.

We went to the Tunnel on Thursday as normal but it was quite sad as it was our last night before we left for Christmas break. And I wasn't in the best condition so I wasn't much good with the whole using words to form sentences thing. I might have fallen asleep on the table, but ya know, its whatever.

Finally Friday was here and Naomi's mother came and picked us up and took us to Paris. And that is where I am now. Didn't do much that night, but we went and got a real Christmas tree on Saturday. Quite an exciting time considering you're reading the blog of a 19 year old whose never had a real tree in her life, so it's not that exciting because we didn't go out and chop it down ourselves. It came pre-cut and wraped up in plastic netting.

That's all for now, if I put anymore in you'll be here forever reading it.

NOTE: Due to my internet failures I will be posting a new blog everyday until you are updated on the past...I think its about 5 weeks now.

Computer Troubles

I am not able to update as I am having computer trouble. Will do it as soon as I am able too!

xx DANA

The London Chronicles: Part 1

Alright, so I've been really bad about keeping this up-to-date lately, but that's all about to change. So when we last left our heroine she'd just returned from Suffolk and went as Jesus to the Rock. The rest of her week had passed on as normal, the tunnel on Thursday after going Scottish Reeling, nights out at the Tythe, the usual list of entertainment. And then Friday came...

I can't do my whole blog like that, its gonna drive me crazy. Anyway, on Friday Naomi and I went to Kemble to catch a train to London Paddington Station where we caught, get this...the TUBE! to get us closer to our hostel. And as your guide to everything typical and american touristy-like over here in Jolly Ol' England I cannot hide the excitement of my first ride on the London Underground. Once we were off the Tube and start our search for the magical Hostel we were to be staying in we managed to get lost. And I don't mean "we took a wrong turn lets turn around and go back" lost, I mean we got lost as in "Bejing...that's right next to London correct?" sort of way. We spent three hours trying to find our hostel in Kensington and spent two of those three hours walking every street in Notting Hill and the third hour was spent trying to figure out the bus system...which we failed at. But we did eventually find and it was just hostel a bed to lay my head on.

We called it a night pretty early as we were going to start our day by 9 AM and had to be up at 8. Although we were woken up in the middle of the night when someone staying on the top bunk fell to the floor, while this would seem to be rather amusing to anyone who it didn't happen to the fact that it was 3 am was not amusing...to anyone.

Now the first day we went to Starbucks to plan our route for the day and determine where we were going to start. We then headed off to the tube station...once again I was an excited American! We decided to go the to Musem of Brands first, which as its name implies was all about brand names and their development through history. It was actually quite interesting and we had a good laugh at the fact that we felt the need to whisper, even though the only people there was Naomi and myself.

We fought our way down Portobello market, which was packed, and went to Subway for lunch...and I was extremely sad to realize that the greatest Subway sauce is only available in my little corner of Iowa...not even just the world but it's not available in the whole of Iowa. Gosh I really miss dill spread. When I return home...after my Mexican buffet...because i miss real mexican food as well...I'm getting a Subway sub with extra dill spread.

Next stop was the Tower of London and it was really quite cool. I saw the crown jewels and the armour of Henry the VIII and I saw what I believe to be the worlds largest ravens. They were gigantic!

We ended our tours with a trip to Madame Tussauds. The queue to look at a bunch of wax statues is amazingly long, it took us 45 minutes and we went during the "slow" part of the day. It was good however. I got to see lots of famous people, have dinner with George Clooney, almost be run over by a giant disco ball with Indiana Jones, gave Steven Speilburg ( I know i can't spell and I can't be bothered to look it up right now) some advice on his movies, kissed Orlando Bloom...and several others as well, and I rocked out with Miley Cyrus.

Day 1 in London done and we headed to the hostel to try and find somewhere for dinner. We ended up going to this restaurant and ordered pizza. It was lovely except that the olives where not pitted...that was rather annoying. But I kept my leftover for dinner the next night when we would be on a train. We called it another early night and this time no one fell out of bed.

The next day we decided to just "look" at places, and of course it decided to rain and we had to carry all of our luggage with us once we left the hostel. It was probably not the most pleasant of days but I got to see all the London sights. We went to Buckingham Palace, Big Ben, the London Eye (although we didn't ride it), all the places you'd expect to see on one of those expensive tourist trap bus tours, but instead of 25 quid we paid 5 quid for an all day Underground ticket.

Soon it was time to return to campus and watch some Top Gear. Top Gear, for those who don't know, is not just an amazing show but also a major social event at the RAC.

I know there isn't much detail this week but I also told you I've been way behind at keeping it updated so I've forgetten some things.

Adventures in Suffolk

Okay, so I didn't post an entry last week. Sorry? Wait why am I apologizing? I've been to busy to post anything, and now that I need to do some coursework I can think of nothing better than to let you know about my weekend I spent in Suffolk with Anna.

So, to start off with, and to better explain the time it takes to travel across England, Suffolk is a county on the complete opposite side of the country from where I am. It only took about 3 hours to get from Cirencester to the village where Anna lives in her awesome beach house. The first night we went to a local pub and had some, then I received a tour of the house, watched some TV, and called it a night. Oh, I also met her family and her grandparents, who'd invited us to see a play with them on Saturdaay.

Saturday we woke up, had some breakfast and then Anna drove us (me, Anna, and Anna's sister Helen) to the train station to meet her Grandparents. I rode my first train, which was rather exciting and I found out some rather interesting things about where I was. For starters there was an old American air base not far from where Anna lives. Anyway, when we finally reached our destination, Lowestoft, we went to grab a tea and I had my first scone. We then proceeded to do what most girls do when set loose in area where there are these things called stores, we shopped.

While waiting for the play to start we also walked down by the sea. Apparently Lowestoft 1) is the furtherest most eastern point in the UK and 2) used to be a major port in its hayday, even though now it seems to be slowly dying. At the sea we did what any tourist would do and take lots of pictures of the brownish water of the North Sea, and then we went and played games in an arcade.

Finally, we met back up with the Grandparents for some lunch and then we were of the see "My Dog Has No Nose." It was meant to be a comedy, and the first half was very funny, but somewhere around the middle of the second half it took a very dark turn, down a very dark alley, in a very shady neighborhood. And I think most of the little old ladies who were there, which would be most of the audience, were a little shocked. Actually everyone was a little shocked, the little old ladies where very shocked!

When then went and grab another cup of tea from the restaurant where we went when we first arrived. Which maybe this is the nostalgia for the lost of department stores and the slow decay of shopping malls that my generation secretly keeps tucked away behind our xboxes, porn, and buried underneath our alcohol drenched party clothes we don't want our mother to find out about, but I was really excited that this restaurant was actually part of a real department store. Now, before you argue that Wal-mart had departments and restaurants and cafes and nail salon and photographers and hairdressers and opticians it's just not the same as a real department store or a mall. Maybe it's because I grew up shopping at places like Younkers, Sears (before Kmart took over and it was actually good), Von Maurs, and does anyone else remember Montgomery Wards? Don't get me wrong, I am a Wal-mart Shopper and a frequent one at that, but I still miss real department stores.

Sorry, I got really of track there. Back on the train we ate the remainder of our lunch because we are just that cool. We learned old school ways to remember things from a book Helen had bought, launched some sheep from Anna's iPhone, and then we were back. Watch some more TV, and an in depth conversation about the rise and fall of Girl Power and Boy Bands and Simon Cowell's global domination, ate some sausage plait (aka sausage braid), watch some more TV, and went to bed again for another busy day.

Now, Sunday was kinda a special day. We went to Aldeburgh, another seaside city. Aldeburgh is apparently the place to get fish and chips, so we got up early and drove there so I could have my first real fish and chips. OH YEAH! As were driving we past through at town called...Snape. I being a huge Harry Potter nerd 1) laugh in an insanely silly giggle and 2) started singing Snape Snape, Severus Snape, Snape, Snape, Severus Snape. Anna and Helen also joined in. The car ride was full of Wurzels and Old school music provided by Helen from the iPhone. And we brought Primrose (the neighbors dog) with us.

Once in Aldeburgh we checked to see when the fryer started and then went for a walk along the beach. There was some kinda of old military post there that we went to see, but road (because it was quite far away and we were lazy and drove) was so bumpy we were practically off-roading. We also went to an antique shop and saw some duck and some swans and the House in the Clouds. It's not really in the clouds, just really tall.

FINALLY it was time to get my fish and chips. And they were delicious and proper like. I even had a pineapple fritter, which is basically deep fried pineapple (I say basically, it is deep fried pineapple) but it's not true deep fried pineapple in my mind because it wasn't served on a stick.

It was then time to go back. We drove through Snape again and I of course had to sing the song, again. Anna and I packed, and then we played with her new Macbook and I went and saw her chickens. But my time in Suffolk was slowly drawing to a close, but not before I had a proper roast dinner. And it was delicious, the whole family had gotten together again and Anna's mom even attempted a pumpkin pie in honour of me being American and celebrating this weird holiday called Thanksgiving, and being away from Thanksgiving just made it seem like an even weirder thing to celebrate.

Finally we were back at college and back to normal. Well as normal as my life can get.

One last thing before I end this blog, mainly because I think it's sheer genius! I went to the Rock again Monday night with Anna. It was superhero themed. Anna was Wellie Woman and I...I went as Jesus. Someone asked if Jesus was a superhero, and being at the RAC and knowing that they like nothing better than drinking I responded with. "Yeah, his superpower is turning water into wine." The response I received "Did he really do that?" I had a good laugh.

Ostrich Farming and Racing

What an exciting weekend I had. I went out Friday and met up with some people. Came back to my room, no wait my roommate decided to have her boyfriend over for the weekend and kicked me out so she could...I'll let you finish that sentence. I'm not the only one who's got a crap roommate either. Sam hasn't had much luck with hers and has actually moved rooms, I don't think I'm quite that desperate yet. In fact, she removed almost all of her things from the room, so operation "GH2MO", also know as Get Her To Move Out, seems to be working well. AND now for a studying in England Tip

TIP #2: British student (this includes Welsh, Scots, and English) have a mindset that they will have their own room at university, it doesn't matter whether they sign up for a shared room or not. They do not tend to care about their scared, shy, foreign roommate nor have any respect for the possessions, personal space, and feeling of the person they are sharing with. If you are planning on studying in the UK I suggest trying a single room. While it maybe awkward at first you won't have to put up with horrible roommates like both Sam and I have.

Now before I go and offend the British in public they are generally warm and inviting, and if I'd gotten anyone else on my floor as a roommate we probably wouldn't have this problem. I think that they will agree with me, however, that single rooms are preferable at the RAC if you live in the dorms.

So, lets move on to something happy! Saturday I got up and went to breakfast at half 8, then I went and sat in the tythe and watch TV in my PJs until lunch. After lunch I got dressed, the returned to the TV until the England vs. Argentina rugby match was over at 5. In other words it was an extremely productive day.

Sunday Ondine and I went shopping in Cheltenham where she proceeded to convince me to buy a pair of new green shoes to go with the two tops I'd already bought (the tops cost a whole 6 pounds together). I also got new socks and some wrapping paper for Christmas.

Monday- Nothing

Tuesday- Tythe

Wednesday-Nothing (however my roommate decided to have a mate sleep over and when they came back from the Rock at 3 AM they had a boy with them and had a conversation in the hallway for an hour and a half before finally calling it quits. I went out and yelled at them around half 3 to shut the hell up. I was very happy considering I had an early lecture that morning, which ended up being canceled. I then proceeded to wake them up when I got up at half 7)

Now I bet you are wondering what the title of this blog is all about. Well I'll tell you. Anna (and no I don't mean you Miss Kreis although some of the conversations we have are very "you and I") and I had this amazing conversation over the weekend. She's going to buy her dad a peacock for Christmas and she happened to mention that the person she's getting this peacock from also has Ostriches. Well we then had lovely little discussion about Ostriches and some how the conversation came up that we should ride this ostriches. Which then led us to the realization of our new life long goal to own and operate an Ostrich farm where people will come and pay good money to ride our ostriches. Also as part of our farm enterprise we're going start up an Ostrich Racing League (ORL) and become world famous Ostrich Racers. Keep in mind it's like horse racing not dog racing, only you ride an ostrich. It's brilliant! How could we fail!

AND one last thing before I go. The latests Doctor Who special aired on Sunday. Don't worry I'm not going to tell you anything about it. Just thought there would be some people out there who'd like to know.

I Miss the Sun

Alright peeps, if you can't tell by the title there isn't much sun where I'm at. I do really want it to just be sunny and dry, none of this damn drizzle crap that seems to happen all the time. By the time I get back to Iowa in July I'll have forgotten what the sun even looks like.

Now I bet you're all wondering how my trip to Wales was, well I didn't go. Debbie Downer strikes again! I 1) had to much course work to do and 2) would have had to miss lecture and I'm paying quite a lot to attend them. It was also a lecture in which I have no clue whats going on. So I did nothing but coursework the whole week, but I got it turned in on time!

Thursday was apparently this almost holiday called bonfire night. There has been fireworks all weekend also in celebration of the almost holiday. Anyway, we went to the Tunnel House Inn (a local pub where lots of RAC students go) for a bonfire and some dancing and of course the favorite hobby of students, drinking. I also discovered that it is Red Bull, not alcohol that does me in. Yeah, its definitely the Red Bull. I came back from the Tunnel at about 3 in the morning and was up and ready for breakfast at 8 AM. And by ready I mean still in my PJs.

Friday someone (cough cough, Naomi, cough) thought it would be a good idea to go out again she also had this idea on Saturday after we'd spent the entire day at a horse show.

So, Saturday I went to a livery yard which was an experience in itself. I'm not afraid of horses, but I'm not a big fan and it was made very clear to me that I AM NOT and never will be a horse person. But I do enjoy watching the show jumping during the Olympics so I thought I'd go along and support my friend and then I can say I've been to a real horse show. There was also the potential for me to finally get a pair of wellies.

TIP: If you are planning on going to the RAC make sure you get a pair of Wellington Boots, more commonly known as wellies. They are vital to survival as it is always wet, rainy, and muddy and you will be touring farms where these conditions are worse.

Now, because I'm stubborn and I want the wellies to be my main souvenir I'm going to get Hunters, which are rather expensive but extremely nice and sturdy and they last a long time, instead of doing the cheap option and getting a pair to muck around in for about 5 pounds. The show however did not have any wellies for sale and like usual it was cold and wet and muddy. While the show itself was inside we had to walk through tons of mud to get indoors and also there were rather large horses and it's like the book says, Everybody Poops.

The show itself was interesting. There isn't really too much to tell. People mount their horses and jump over fences. I think the reason I like watching it on the Olympics is because I'm a bit of an Olympics fan girl, I love it and pretty much will watch any sport if it is for the Olympics.

Sunday I went to the RAC Pub Quiz, which is literally a quiz that you do for fun in teams. There were 6 categories. General Knowledge, which my group did rather well at. Sports where I guessed at every answer so the British Open is being held in D.C. and there is a football(soccer) team called the Toronto Maple Leaves. Agriculture...I would have been shunned both here and at ISU if I'd failed this round. Music, where the played the beginning of a song and you guessed it. And finally a picture round of RAC students doing naughty things, and a RAC gossip round. So since Thursday I've gone out every night but Tuesday.

Tonight we're going to the Rock Cafe again. Theme tonight is Doctors and Nurses and I was going to be real clever and go as Doctor Who, but I have no suit and no trench coat so I'm not sure how I'm going to dress up tonight. My friend Kim is going as a witch doctor in order to reuse her Halloween hat, I came up with that brilliant idea for her.

Also I had no class Monday or Tuesday and tomorrow I only have half a class. I know what you're thinking, how can you only have half a lecture. Well two different people present lectures for one class and the early one is canceled, therefore half a class.

One last thing before I go. Shortly after I got here I found out about this project where four guys from the UK helped the Youtube/internet community to make a song and are trying to hijack the UK charts (Its called the ChartJackers project). Anyway this song was made for Children in Need, a charity in the UK, and since Children in Need owns the song all the profit goes to help kids. The song is called I've Got Nothing and it's out now on iTunes only. Even if you don't live in the UK (and according to iTunes I don't) please consider buying the song its 99 cents. Link to buy here:

Nostalgia

So this really has nothing to do with my year in England except for the fact that I have been reminiscing about life back in Iowa. I'm not exactly home sick because in my opinion homesickness is when you just can't stand to be away from home and you're considering throwing everything you've worked so hard to get out the window and flying back home.

And while I do miss Iowa slightly, what I miss more in talking with my niece, and I know what you might be thinking. Come on! Your niece is probably what? 3 years old at the most. What kinda conversation can you have with a 3 yr old! In fact my niece is only 2 years younger than I am (Yeah I was an Oh Shit! Baby, I admit) and we were raised like sisters/best friends. So we are rather close, and I do talk to her over Facebook and MSN Messenger. But we had a conversation last night that had me cracking up over how us it was.

Now, we are a bit odd, I'd even go so far as to say we were really, really big nerds. So we were discussing the distance and then...

Caitlin: you're like 12,ooo miles away. Its not like i can just drive over there. Its a little too far and there is an ocean in the way

Dana: Actually its not like 12,ooo miles its a lot closer to 5,000 miles. and all you really need is an underwater car. They're the way of the future

Caitlin: Oh yeah and I'm the easter bunny.

Dana: I KNEW IT! does that mean you'll leave easter eggs for me in Paris?

Caitlin: maybe

Dana: Where are you going to hide them in the Eiffel tower? or with Lady Liberty? or in a baguette?

Caitlin: The Easter bunny never reveals his secrets. Thats not the point

and after a long pause in the conversation

Dana: if you're the easter bunny does that make Branden's [her boyfriend] the tooth fairy?

Caitlin: Gasp, who told you?

Dana: The leprechauns

Which made me remember that just before I left my family had a big sit down dinner to say goodbye and Caitlin came over early. Well, she got a call from Branden and he asked what was for dinner and we told him hamballs.

Branden: What's that?

Caitlin: How would you describe hamballs Dana?

Dana: Tell him it's like meatloaf but made with ham and rolled in to balls not a loaf

Caitlin: Its like meatloaf but made with ham and rolled into balls not a loaf and then it has this sweet sauce on top

Branden: So it's meatballs made with ham?

Caitlin: Duh Dana, Why didn't we just say it was meatballs made with ham?

Dana: Because, it's nothing like meatballs

Caitlin: Yes its like meatballs Branden, but made with ham

I don't know why but I found this conversation to highly entertaining at the time.

What I'm really doing is wasting time. I have a piece of coursework that's due on Friday and is worth half of my grade in that class and I haven't really started. I'm a lot further along than most people in the class, but still. Plus, I'm going to Wales tomorrow so I won't get any work done then.

Another thing I miss about Iowa...I'm not such a Debbie Downer there. I feel like most of my blogs I'm complaining about something or telling some sad story. Well not today! Today...oh wait nothing exciting happened today. I went to the Gym to work out with Sam and I missed breakfast because I overslept then I proceeded to miss lunch because my class got out late. And I've officially mad the bank transfer so I've been checking my account online every 5 minutes to see if its there yet. No luck so far. So I guess I'm still Debbie.

I'm going to try and be optimistic. OK Dana, what's one good thing that happened to you? I've officially booked my trip to London. I will be in London the last weekend in November to do a bit of Christmas shopping and to see the city. There one good thing. And it only cost me £8.90 per night at the hostel, which I thought was pretty good. And the hostel is near Hyde Park so yeah. Also I get to ride a train and use the Underground. *Cheesy American Tourist Alert*

Actually I've thought of two good things. I might be going to Cambridge for a weekend. Naomi is going to visit her Grandma in Cambridge and she's invited me along. So I'll have a little adventure and a poke around town.

<3>

Happy Halloween...Late!

I know that it is official November and that Halloween has been over for about 16 hours here, but I’m going to write about Halloween anyway!

Now, Halloween is not as big in the UK as it is in the States but the RAC did try their best to make it a pretty big deal. They even had fireworks and I laughed at all the “ooo-ing” and “aww-ing” that was going on because lets face it, Americans like to shoot of fireworks when ever they get the chance. Anyway they had a party going down in the Tythe Bar and people were asked to dress “scary” for most student this meant a little fake blood, some vampire teeth, maybe a mask or two, and some devil horns. I, however, went a bit crazy. Back-combed hair, slit throat, blood everywhere, tacky eighties style outfit, grey-white face, sunken eyes. In other words, everything you need to be a proper-like Zombie. It was good time, mainly because I had two Red Bulls before going out and had a bit too much energy to spare.

I’ve finally got my bank sorted out! I’m very excited. I still don’t have any money in my account but I do have one. Pretty much I told HSBC to bugger off because they took over a month to process my application for an account and there was still something wrong with it and it was going to take another month before I could even get the account opened and have any money at all. So I switched my account over to Lloyds TBS and they open my account the same day and now all I’m waiting on is my bank card to come in and my wire transfer to go through. BUT Lloyds is going to give me a debit card unlike HSBC which was just going to be a ATM card. Word to the wise for any future exchange students to the RAC…Bank with Lloyds!

This past week it seems like there was quite a bit of partying going on. Monday there was a bus for the whole college to Cheltenham to go to a night club called Dakota. I however did not take the bus as it was going to cost money and my friend Ondine offered us a ride there so we didn’t have to stay until 3 AM like the rest of them.

Thursday was Ondine’s birthday so we took her Scottish Reeling and watched a movie. Very low key, but this Wednesday we’re all going to Wales and going to have a proper meal at a restaurant since it’s the only time we can all make it and have money at the same time! (Which is mainly my fault) So hopefully there will be some good stories to tell you about Wales and the Road Trip.

Friday was the Pink Party and we were suppose to wear pink to raise awareness for breast cancer. It made me realize that I don’t actually own anything pink, and what I do own thats pink wasn’t cool enough to make it into my suitcases. So, me trying to be clever again, I wore a pink plastic sack around my neck, and using my Halloween makeup put two pink ribbons on my cheeks. I also remembered that I packed my coral pink shorts so I wore those with my coral shoes and borrowed some pink nail polish. So I was pretty much as Pink as I will ever get.

One last thing. I found out an interesting little tidbit, I’m not sure how true this is as I have no factual evidence, just the word of a friend. But apparently if they place where they filmed Harry Potter in didn’t work out the RAC was the second choice for Hogwarts. SO I really did find Hogwarts while I was over here.

A Title that Doesn't Start with "F"

Its a Saturday and I'm posting a new blog! YAY! Actually you're probably think "man, how lame is this. Dana's in this super cool country for a year and she's so bored over the weekend she has to update her blog?" But I swear it's not like that. I only slept in until half 12 today (also known as 12:30) and it's been raining most the day and I was out late last night. OK, that's enough excuses. Its just like at ISU there really isn't too much to do on the weekends unless its at night and its 4 in the afternoon here so the campus is pretty much dead. Although there is a strange man walking around taking pictures of the campus.

Anyway, (yes I do realize that half of my paragraphs start with anyway) as you now know, because I'm sure you are an avid reader of this blog and simply can't get enough of it, I am fully healed from the Freshers flu! Which is a very good things as I had planned on walking to Kemble this afternoon but had to cancel do to rain. I swear that's all that ever happens in this country and I probably wouldn't mind it if I had Wellies to keep my feet dry, but I don't.

Most of this week was pretty uneventful. I did socialize with people at the Tythe and like I said I was out late last night at the Student Union "B" party, where we had to dress up as, wear, or bring something that started with a "b". I, thinking myself to be clever, went as Baby Spice and borrowed a dress from a friend that emphasized my bosoms quite a bit more than I was comfortable with. She, however, went in my bathrobe so I guess we're even.

Thursday night, however, I learned how to do some Scottish Reeling. Which is pretty much a cross between square dancing and line dancing set to Scottish music instead of country music, but way more fun then either of those. Except the group I was in when were doing a Reel called Strip the Whip were rather violently flinging the girls around and I have several rather nasty looking bruises on my arm, and they almost make it look like I am a drug junky. It was a really good time and met new people, which is always exciting.

Also, my friend Naomi and I took a bus to Tescos but we were then told that the bus was not returning so we had to walk all the way back to campus. It took about forty-five minutes so it wasn't actually that bad, but still I would have liked to have known the bus wouldn't be returning before I got on it in the first place. But while at Tescos we picked up vampire teeth, like the kind you get for about 10 cents in the US and I got a fake mustache.

On other thing I seemed to be having a problem with some British English and American English words. I don't know if you know this but here in the UK the word "pants" means panties or knickers or underwear and the word "trousers" means pants or jeans. One night we were discussing wearing "trousers" and I happened to be wearing a skirt at the time so I said "I'm not wearing any pants today." As you can see this caused a little bit of a problem because what they thought I meant was "I'm not wearing any underwear" not "I'm not wearing trousers."

Anyway, (I went for three whole paragraphs without using the word it was about time) it is now about half 5 (5:30) and that means that dinner is about to be served. One last thing, my sister sent me a package in the mail and you'll never believe what was in it...TEA! How funny is that I had to be sent tea because there isn't any over here in England. Although if you think about Americans hated British tea so much they threw it into Boston Harbor so it makes sense. ( I would like to point out that I realize this point to false and that they tea was thrown into the Harbor in protest not because we didn't like it)

That's all, now I'm off to go eat undistguishable dining center food (I never thought I'd miss ISU dining so much) and make a video!

Fresher's Flu

Alright, now I promise this blog will have slightly better spelling and grammar than my last few. The one only reason for this I’m healthy again. YIPPEE! If you did not know, which you probably didn’t because I don’t think I mentioned it, I was very sick last week with what is known as Fresher’s Flu. And of course my hippie-like view of modern medicine and doctors meant that my antibodies weren’t going to get very much outside help.

I don’t like taking medicine, mainly because for things like the common cold (which Fresher’s Flu is really just a glorified cold, commonly mixed with alcohol poisoning) modern medication only masks symptoms not cures them and it also leads to mutations in the disease. So there is some science behind my reasonings, but mostly I just don’t care to spend all that money and cheap cover ups when my body is perfectly capable of taking care of itself. I would like to point out that if it had come to the point of me coughing up my lung, which it seemed likely to happen earlier in the week, I would have sought medical attention. I’m not that much of an idiot and now i’m completely off topic.

Anyway I was very sick and sore, but I’m doing much better now although my voice is still a little hoarse it no longer hurts to talk. But I’m afraid that because of the the Fresher’s Flu I didn’t do anything exciting except go to class and watch movies at night. I did walk into Cirencester a few times, mainly to get sore throat lozenges. I was very excited to see that Superdrug sold Fisherman’s Friends, which for anyone who suffers from a sore throat they taste like butt, but they work amazing. And just for Jacob Hunter they had black current flavored Fisherman’s Friends and I’m going to bring a pack back for you! (Hopefully, if I remember).

On Monday the 19th (which would have been yesterday) I felt like the creepy foreign exchange student for the first time since I got here. I went to my food science lecture/class/module and in one section of the class there was several UK students all chatting amongst themselves. (I should also point out before I go any farther that this was a second year class which meant I knew nobody in the class. ) Then around this small group of UK students were all the Asian students so you could clearly see the segregation of the classroom. I, having not be in the previous lecture like everyone else, came in late and was shunned to the outside of both groups making it painfully obvious that I was not one of them and there for must be some creepy foreign student. Needless to say I felt very awkward and that is not an easy task to accomplish, I’m normally the one making other feel awkward while I am perfectly comfortable.

Saturday I’d planned on walking to Kemble (a town about 3 miles away and the location of the nearest train station) with some friends. We’d actually thought we’d do it Friday night, but I thought that walking back in the dark might not be the best idea but only because we really didn’t know where we were going. Unfortunately, when we woke up on Saturday we thought laundry would be more exciting because we are lazy and didn’t feel like walking anywhere. That’s one good thing about campus compared to Iowa State you don’t have to leave 15 minutes before class to get there on time because everything is really close to your dorm. In my dorm you walk down the stairs and the laundrette, dining centre, and student union/Tythe bar are all right there.

I do have one other piece of news to share with you! I have started planning my Easter break. I have 4 weeks to do what ever I want so my friends Kim and Naomi and I are going to travel around Europe. We’re going to start in Paris (which is where Naomi is from) and we will then travel to Germany (where Kim lives) and hopefully Denmark (where I have family) and a few other places along the way. We’d like to visit Spain, Italy, and Amsterdam to name a few places but it will all come down to time and money.

The irony of having started to plan my Easter break is that I still don’t know what I’m doing for Christmas break. And if you know anything about the calender you’d know that we will have Christmas before we have Easter. I’m not worry, although other people seem to think I should at least have some vague idea of what I’m going to do.

Also, the first week in December Naomi, Kim and I (and maybe a few others) are planning on heading to London for the weekend. This means I’ll actually have some exciting stories to tell you! It’s not that exciting things haven’t happened already, it’s just mostly what I’ve done is what I’d do back home, but London is obviously something that I can’t do at home.

And for anyone who cares to know. I’ve started reading Twilight, and it’s not completely horrible. Don’t get me wrong Harry Potter will always be better than Twilight, but Twilight isn’t all that bad. I still don’t like Edward Cullen though.

Sorry this blog was kind of all over the place. I’d promise the next one will have more structure but that would just be a lie.

First Week

So classes have officially kicked off and I’m having a bit of a scheduling problem. Two of my classes overlap and so SOMETHING has to be done. I’m just not quite sure what that something is yet. But I should probably figure it out soon or the classes will almost be over.

Anyway, this past week has been Freshers week. For those of you who don’t know it consisted of mostly drinking, drinking, and drinking. We started out on Sunday with a party in the campus bar (aka Tythe Barn). Needless to say I had my first real and legal drink that night. Also I met a few people, unfortunately it was so loud that I couldn’t actually catch most of their names and of course I was bombarded with the same question from several different people. “Are you from America?”

Monday there was more drinking but we also had a few lecturey things to do. We had our official registration and got our ID cards as well as sat a listened to people talk to us but I’m not quite sure what they were actually saying. That night, though, was something called the Fresher’s Crawl. No one was really sure what to expect, except that alcohol would be involved. It turned out to be gross and disgusting and smelling and sick and also, surprisingly quite a bit of fun. And I must say I probably won’t forget it anytime soon. I’ll have to do some gross experiement in biology and the only thing that will come to mind is, “eh, not as bad a Fresher’s Crawl.”

Tuesday we did a team building event where we had to make a farm animal out of cardboard boxes. My group made a chicken although it would pass for quite a nice robot as well. We didn’t win but our chicken was definitely the best of all the chickens. That afternoon was Old School Sports afternoon so we played things like egg and spoon race and tug of war. And that night they had the Fresher’s Fair, which is essentially signing up for clubs and things like that, also known as clubfest as Iowa State.

Wednesday we sat through more introductory lectures and the first Rugby match of the year was played. However since I arrived in this country it has rained everyday but today [October 12th] and it was absolutely pouring out on Wednesday. I did not attend the Rugby match but I watched from my window and caught bits and pieces of it. Also for those who attended the match it was the start of the port challenge, which is to drink a whole bottle of port during the game just because you can. So far all I’ve managed to learn at the college is how to drink and this small college of 900 students could easily put the biggest party school in the states to shame. That night however instead of just drinking in the Tythe like normal it was the first official RAC night at the Rock Cafe, a local night club. Freshers wore their 20 GBP tops they were required to purchase and we all felt like complete twats.

Another thing that I have learned is that they really want to suck every last pence out of you. Excluding all the drinks you buy and extra crap you want they expect you to buy the Freshers top (20 GBP), go to the Fresher’s Crawl (5 GBP), go to the Rock (4 GBP), participate in a scavenger hunt (20 GPB per team of 4-5), and attend the Freshers/Graduates Ball (40 GBP). In totally they expect you to spend a minimum of 73GBP and that doesn’t included all the drinks which are included in none of those prices. You are also required to pay for your own heating and electricity bills if you live in the dorms and pay for club dues and 90 GBP sports kits during the Freshers Fair. I don’t mean to complain but I’m here on a shoestring budget and they aren’t making it any easier on us poor college students. The thing I miss the most about Iowa State is all the free crap they give you, especially the free food.

Now back to the remainder of Fresher’s week. Thursday was the first day of actually lectures and they were pretty much the same as any lecture you’ve ever been to. Nothing really exciting to tell. However there was a scavenger hunt that night which I did not participate in because I had no money to do so. I literally had 2 GBP to my name. I instead watched a movie with some friends back in the dorms because I just couldn’t be bothered to go out every night like everyone else at the RAC.

Friday was more lectures but I didn’t atcually have one so I slept until about noon and got up for lunch. I’d also like to point out that I paid for all of the my meals for a whole year and you can be pretty darn sure I’m going to eat every single one of them. I get up everyday for breakfast and just go back to bed afterwards if I have to. After lectures however we went to AV8 and did some more dancing and of course more drinking, except for me the broke one.

Saturday we went into town and I managed to get more money from my account back home, something I was not really wanting to do. Went to Swindon to pick up a printer with some friends, came back and went to the Freshers/Graduates Ball. Nothing too exciting happened it was like most homecoming/prom/school dances except everyone was drunk and were actually legal to drink. They also had inflatable games including a mechanical bull, but instead of an actually bull it was a penis.

And finally, Sunday I mostly sat in my dorm and tried to recover from the night before which apparently didn’t work so well as I am now sick with a very bad cold. But there was something called a Pub Quiz that took place that night which I didn’t attend because I went out to pizza hut in Cheltenham.

That pretty much sums up my week. I’m sure I left a few things out but you can blame my crippling sickness. Okay so it’s really not that bad just a sore throat that hurts when i breathe, a massive headache that not even the best painkillers in the UK can seem to ease, and a case of the sniffles. Next time I’ll try not to be such a Debbie Downer.

First Day

Okay, Just in case you might be wondering I have landed in England and I’ve been here almost 12 whole hours. AND yes, I’m already writing my friends back home, but I don’t know if I’ll get a chance to update next week since it sounds like they’ve got the week pretty much planned for us.

It’s still feels a little surreal, like I’m going to wake up back in Iowa, but I’m slowly getting use to it. The whole thing, you know that thing, where the drive on the left side of the road, doesn’t really seem all that weird until you’re in the car with a crazy driver who you think might kill you before you even get to college. We did make there safe, but there was a point I wasn’t quite sure we were.

Other than that I realized I forgot to pack any towels, which if I wanted to be smelly all the time wouldn’t be such a big deal, but I rather prefer to smell nice. You tend to make new friends better that way. So Samantha, the other girl from ISU who is attending the RAC this year, and I went into town to try and setup bank accounts, get phones, and find me some towels.

Needless to say it was all going fine at the bank until he required proof of accomodations, which luckily both Sam and I had forgotten. So he gave us the applications to open an account and told us to come back tomorrow. So we ran across the street to Vodaphone.

I now have a working cell phone in England. Although I’m still slightly confused as to how this works. I’ve returned to the land of prepaid phone systems after I swore off all prepaid phones after I destroyed my Tracfone. While we were purchasing our phones Sam and I were asking questions and the sales clerk must have thought we were stupid when we asked him if there were charges for any incoming calls or texts. Apparently anything incoming is free of charge and we have there for been being ripped off by US cell phone companies who charge for incoming calls and text and charge you twice as much to do.

After that Sam and I walked what seemed like the entire area looking for a store that sold towels. Sam has gone to visit some friends in the next town over so we time to kill, but we just couldn’t find towels anywhere. Finally after Sam had gotten on a bus I was walking back to the RAC and what should appear? A store that not only sells towels but has them on sale. Naturally I jump at the chance and got some nice new towels.

After that I returned to the college and decided to take a nap until dinner, and then ended up sleeping through dinner. So now I’m going to try and find some kinda of food. I would get them out of the vending machines, but I’m not quite sure which coin is which yet.

xo Dana

Sorry about it being so late. I only just got internet in my room to actually post it

Welcome

Hey. Welcome to my blog. I'm Dana and I'm currently a sophomore at Iowa State University double majoring in Agricultural Education and Global Resource Systems.

First let me start by telling you I am about to embark on a year long study abroad to the Royal Agricultural College in Cirencester, England. I've started this blog for several reasons. 1) I've had several requests to keep people updated and figured the blog would be an excellent way to do that without having to send out a million emails. 2) I'll have a virtual scrapbook to remember my amazing year in England.

Now, my flight goes out on Thursday so I have 3 days left and I've just barely started packing. I've managed to sort through all of my clothes and narrow it done to the bare minimum I'll need and let me tell you it's a rather sad feeling to see how small the pile of clothes you're taking is compared to the large amount of clothes you're leaving behind. I'd say the two piles were like a mouse compared to an elephant.

This past weekend I was in Ames saying good by to my friends from college. It was a good time and I got to see a lot of people I knew, but it made me wish I was there. I ate my lated night Chinese food and went out to the Pizza Ranch. Spent some time shopping for fabric and modeling the ugliest ones. Had a mini fashion show with my friend Brady and pretty much tried to live my entire sophomore year in one weekend.

Anyway, this blog will hopefully be updated once a week with what I've done in England so far. Please enjoy and I promise it will be more interesting from here on out.