Multi-tasking

I can shampoo, rinse, and pee all at once! All in my tiny bathroom cubicle. When I first turned on the water, I thought, "Maybe this shower curtain will work." No. The water was basically going into the toilet, so I had to put the seat down. The mysterious water stains outside the bathroom door are no longer mysterious: they're from water leakage, which short showers will hopefully limit.

I'm a little overwhelmed by moving to London, mostly because I don't have everything all under control. I've blown a fuse twice now, despite following directions on the pamphlet, etc. I give up on that, because I can't bear to hear the fateful *POP* again and have to walk down and ask them to reset it. Having an aunt who lives here and my mom to help me are immeasurable luxuries. A car. Amen. People to buy me toilet paper and dinner? Oh. my. god. At least I can speak English. I've already been frustrated with the LSE housing staff not knowing how to help me with plugs, the internet, etc. Thank God I have the internet right now or I would be flipping out. The internet is my comfort, my connection to the world and my former life. I have only had 2 hours of sleep in the past 24 hours and I need rest. It's 8:45PM London time. Did I mention that my room overlooks the entrance to The Atlas, the on-site student pub? I hear the dull hum of conversation.

I've met no one here so far, but I don't care. I was too tired to make a good first impression and I'm feeling good about going to sleep. First entry complete. I'm a bit frantic about meeting up with other Georgetown LSE people and man, I wish I was in High Holborn Hall with Jared and JP.

From Yonkers

I am 25 minutes from leaving for the airport and there must be a lot of things I haven't done. But that's okay. I'm ready. Sooooooooo ready. I'm currently listening to the Touch My Clickwheel show at www.georgetownradio.com and it's possibly the most wonderful way to leave the United States. It's my first time listening to it and may I say that we (yes, I'm claiming it for myself too) are hilarious and interesting and have amazing song choices.

I'm kind of in a bad mood pre-leaving the U.S. which is spurring my enthusiasm for London, but I will blame it on the swollen, tumorous lymph nodes on my left side... AND the packing. So... beware London. I'm possibly bringing mononucleosis across the pond (but hopefully not). Ok, some may think I've wasted my last minutes on the internet but I don't agree. I've updated my facebook (which I irrationally wiped clean) and established an identity so LSE people can at least judge me properly (I will judge you). And here I am updating this blog. Also, I changed my voicemail greeting. Woo. Ok, that's enough. Talk to you soon from across the pond. I will continue to overuse that phrase.

DC Pt. I

Part I: Days in DC have flown by, which is strange since I initially thought my 6-night/7-day stay would wear out my welcome at Georgetown. For the most part, I don't feel like I'm bumming around at all. I sleep late, do my own thing, and then meet up with friends who happen to have a break from class. I can eat endless meals at Leo's thanks to generously offered guest passes and it just feels normal.

I've taken a strange liking to shocking people here with my presence. I walk around with my backpack "posing" as a student. When I see people I know and wave or say "hi," I wonder if they are curious why I'm here or if they just think that I've been mysteriously low-key for the past 3 weeks.

I'm now back in Yonkers and will post my last post from the U.S. in a day or two. Until then...

Natick

It's my second to last day in Natick and I'm beat, despite having napped more than the kids. I feel productive somehow though, and that's a feeling that I miss. My nephews remember me AND like me, major accomplishments since I don't get to see them that often. I'm glad I visited, overall, since I first doubted leaving California so early.

I'm watching MTV's Real World Sydney and I have to say that this girl is the most annoying person I've seen on television since watching an episode of My Super Sweet Sixteen. "Trisha is a sharp-tongued party girl from California who enjoys drinking, flirting, and flaunting herself with the popular crowd. Raised as a devout Christian by her adoptive parents, 19 year-old Trisha greatly values her faith." Allow me to translate. Trisha is an obnoxious party girl who drinks a lot and then cries when she remembers that Jesus said drinking is a sin AND when she is moved by the songs of Christian street musicians.

I need to get out more.

EDIT: I didn't just watch tv in Natick. The last post was not representative of the trip. I forced myself awake at 8AM each morning after foolishly going to sleep at 1 or 2AM. There was one day where I was constantly sleeping throughout the day. But then my sister would ask for help carrying a bag of dirt (she planted a tree), etc. and I'd pop up, throw on my shoes and pretend to be a contributing member of the human race. I feared alone time with either of my nephews in case one or both threw a toddler fit, but it turns out that I'm an amazingly fun aunt and can win over babies' hearts by pretending to drive a stationary playground fire truck or by playing the song "Life is a Highway" on my computer. We went to the Natick Mall, excuse me... the Natick Collection, at least 3 times where I crashed my sister's mom date, witnessed a hilariously embarrassing episode by my sister in J. Crew, and watched Zach try on the cutest tiny Pumas (pictures soon). 'Twas a good visit to Massachusetts and I'll be looking forward to returning in December.

Yonkers

I'm 1.5 days into the two weeks I'll be spending on the East Coast before my departure to London. What can I say... I'm tired. Flying East is always worse than West. I went to sleep at 11PM EST, which is strange considering I'd been going to bed at 1 or 2AM PST. I'm off to Boston tomorrow and have unpacked from California, packed for Boston/DC for the most part, sorted through things, and half-packed for London. When will packing end? Very, very soon.

Not much to say here, except that I am itching to have a space of my own for a year. I cannot wait until I don't have to move or pack again. I've said that repeatedly but it's wearing down on me. But I will say that through all the moving around, I've been very well taken care of by my lodgers of sorts. It's a little bit bittersweet that the fall season is upon us, but as I discussed with Kate, it's mostly because my wardrobe is suited for summer. And by not suited... I mean... I adapt to winter by wearing my coat over my sweatshirt over my short-sleeve t-shirt with jeans over long underwear. Maybe a beanie thrown in there. Alright, I'm all out of words because I made two posts on my other blog (related to my Gtown radio show) Touch My Clickwheel today. See you for now.

The Lowdown Pt 2 and a Tangent

After realizing that the piece of paper I mailed to LSE was some kind of unnecessary formalized process for making you think that they're involved with the class selection process, I chose new classes online. Now I'm signed up for:

1. Development Economics
2. Political Economy (where I actually get to learn what my Georgetown major means...)
3. Intro to Econometrics
4. Latin America and the International Economy

Choosing classes for geeky people like myself is one of the most exciting parts of going to school, so forgive me for repeated postings on the subject. A Georgetown friend of mine is in all of these, so I'll have some comfort that I won't be suffering alone (solidarity, woot). I'm a little bit scared of Intro to Econometrics, although I can be thankful that I don't have to take it with the infamous Westbrook at Georgetown. Political Economy looks... interdisciplinary? I'm hoping for less theory and more application, please God. Development Econ looks like it might be the biggest challenge. And finally, Latin America and the International Economy looks like a breath of fresh air.

I'm reading this book called Imagined London: A Tour of the World's Greatest Fictional City by Anna Quindlen and it's giving me a little flavor of my future home. Admittedly, some of the literary references are flying right over my head, but I like it anyway. I wouldn't call it the best book to introduce me to London, but bookstore travel sections are full of crap. I don't want to know what walks to take in London or a travel guide. I want to know about it, it's history and its anecdotes, with a hint of suggestion for places to visit. That proved to be a tall order, so I settled with this book.

What has this summer done to me? Reading a book about London? That's not really me. I read books for school and occasionally picked up a leisure book during summer, but I was put to shame by my housemates. The four girls of my house (sorry, not the boys) read books with an appetite that I've never really seen before. Ayn Rand? Sure... just for fun. So I, in order to preserve my faux-intellectual ego, read with them. Granted, not Ayn Rand, but read nevertheless. So here I am continuing my "habit." Any London-ish suggestions? Please. Not Londonistan.

In Limbo

I'm back from San Diego and four days away from my pre-London east coast tour. It freaks me out a little bit to be back home, because the end of the San Diego trip means one less event to buffer my departure to London.

On the bright side, I'll have a chance to see family and friends in a last goodbye. "Last goodbye" is a bit of hyperbole, since I'll go the same length of time without seeing my parents as if I were in DC. The dread of finally going to London is just the usual dread I feel about starting anything new, and it's extra exaggerated since I'm waiting in limbo while everyone else has already begun their school year adventures. Let the packing begin and let function win over sentimentality, at least in this case.

Here are some San Diego pictures.

Home Life Frustrations

Home life is in stark contrast to the hustle and bustle of working eighteen-day stretches at Helly Hansen without a day off. It's hard to stay busy when there is seemingly nothing to do but this has been my general schedule. I wake up around 9 or 10AM (impressive for me), eat, watch tv, go to some doctor appointment, watch more tv, annoy my dog for some attention, possibly go on a short excursion, and wait for my mom to get home from work. After dinner in the gloomy nighttime hours when I might normally be socializing, I force myself to jump on this thing.

Yes. Say what you will, but the 20-30 minutes I spend on it eases my growing insanity. It's only a short stretch I have to endure at home and it's not all bad; I enjoy having a stocked fridge, free food, zero time constraints. The hardest thing for me is recovering from the best summer I've ever had, constantly surrounded by 6 of my favorite people at Georgetown.


Some of you probably think I should be proactive about this whole boredom thing and I agree. Yes, be proactive. Following my 5-month stint posing as an outdoorsy girl at Helly Hansen, I decided to rough it a little bit. I discovered that Henry W. Coe State Park, only a short drive from my house, is the largest state park in Northen California. I picked out a hike to do with a friend and got psyched. Then I heard sirens one day and saw billowing smoke clouds, signs of the 18,000-acre fire that's expected to burn at least 30,000 acres before it's contained.

Despite the fire and lack of plans, the downtime of home has caused to me to finally get excited about London. Was I excited before? Barely. Did I once tell you that I was? Probably. I lied. I can't wait to step outside my building and see city streets ripe for exploration. I can't wait to be able to walk somewhere. I can't wait until I'm not constantly available. There are still 23 days until my departure from the U.S. Sigh. Until then, I hope that I can come to terms with the fact that my friends' lives are up and running like mine would have been if I was at Georgetown. In the meantime, find me in the garage on the bike... sweating out the frustration.

Also, skype skype skype. I skyped for the first time with my high school friend who is studying in Australia and the video and sound quality are top notch (fo' frizzle!). Download skype or prepare to sacrifice our friendship/family relation for a year. I'm kidding... kind of.