Starting a Routine..

So I love Tuesdays. My one and only class is at 4:10-5:00. I slept until noon today (Derek, I know you are disgusted with me). Got ready, ate lunch, went to town and got some bread, went to class and dinner. We had Shepard's pie which was alright, it was like if my sloppy joe didn't have a bun and someone spilled my potatoes in there. We had icecream and peaches with lunch too and my friend Jena enlightened me with her song "Desert Soup." I have yet to write down the lyrics. Kellsey and I went to town and bought some breakfast bread (cinnamon raisin bread) and a Sprite :) Poli sci was fine and we had dinner. I had to do homework for B.S. and Bio but not too bad of a day. I talked with my friend Chris Harrison alot and I always forget how funny he is. I skyped mom, Max, Derek, Ford, Barb, dad, Jack, and Jackson Frank today, and I'm ending it with a conversation with Craig Keepes as always :)

Assistant TO the President

Well today was the first day of classes. I didn't know that British Studies was a 2-part class, group lecture and class time. So from 8:30-10:40 I was listening to crap haha. Then I had biology class, a solid break, and political science. I really like all of my teachers so far so thats good. I have been hanging out with some people and its great :) Today at 9:00 there were SGA elections. I AM VICE PRESIDENT OF SGA AT HARLAXTON. Kellsey is President, Kalen is secretary and Steven is SGA rep. I am so excited to be involved with this as well as yearbook committee. We had a celebratory drink :-) Day 1: good day :)

Last Day of Summer

Goodbye summer. Today I got to sleep in and that was amazing. I got my picture taken for my new Harlaxton ID, bought books, a computer adapter, and a patch for my backpack :) I mostly just hung out with people and took pictures with Kellsey. But today my friend Rosa Palmeri came! I missed her alot even though we aren't the best of friends. School starts tomorrow and I'm nervous.. I only know where one classroom is, but I'm going to be fine. My friend Craig Keepes told me that "Harry Potter didn't need a map to find the Room of Requirement, you don't need one either; You're smart, you're clever, and with a bit of help from others you will be fine," and that was just the reassurance I needed.

Goo luck er'body else!

The Bistro

This is not a quaint Italian cafe, but rather the bar in the basement of Harlaxton. Whootie.. sorry for the following. I had some drinks with some people, there are these Smirnoff things that are flavored vodka (malt beer-Derek) and well I had a blue one (sorry mom). It tasted like a melted blue slushie. I was sat down with these kids from Evansville and they are just soo great. Brian, Matt, Rachel, Natalie, Jena, Katie, Taylor, Kellsey, Collin, and Bria. I now understand why drinking is so much fun rather than just a tastie drink. I am really glad I didn't go to Grantham tonight :) Things are so great and its only Saturday. P.S. Strongbow beer tastes soo good.

A Tribute to Garth Beams

When Sam and I visited Garth and Alex in New York a few years ago we had a great time, but one occurance that I remember specifically is Garth hip-checking his ID scanner to gain access to a building; rather than taking the card out of his pocket and scanning it. Today, I used that same concept to open the doors here at school. We have these scanny key fobs that you put to this sensor and the door unlocks. I just leave mine in my purse and put the purse to the scanner :)

We also ventured into Grantham today which was really neat. The guy who tried to sell me a vodafone was really cute and said he will be at the bars tonight.. hmmm.. decisions decisions. I did get shampoo, conditioner, body wash, a towel, and a water bottle so hopefully I am all set now.

Our principal is hilarious :) he had us all sing the song "Inch by Inch." I was the only one who knew it, of course, and it used to be sung on Sesame Street. Go Grace..

Jesus, Mary, and Joseph

The trip:

-Driving to Indy Airport:
The drive was fine but I was nervous. Not as nervous as Katie however, who threw up in her mouth :) Sam met up with Mom, Derek, Katie, and I so that was really cool. Kellsey and Pam were there at check-in when we got there. My bags made weight and we were ready to go. We all said bye and such then Kellsey and I went through security. Both of our backpacks got checked and by checked I mean torn apart. I had left my shampoo in my backpack and not my checked baggage... so they took my stuff. We found our terminal, sat down and our sorority sister Alyson Hollis was there too :) We sat and talked until she left for Detroit (I had laughed at this not knowing what my fate was soon to be). Kellsey and I boarded, I was fine, and we had the smoothest landing ever. I was excited not to puke needless to say. But it might have been because I was so distracted by the woman in front of us that I didn't puke. JUST FOR YOU WHOOTIE-- this woman had the worst lateral lisp and chewed on her "s" like none other. I just wanted to puke on her. I refrained, and we even arrived a half hour early.

-JFK (Just Fucking Kill -me)
We got off at gate 27 our next plane was to take off at gate 5, easily a mile away. So we walked and got there finally took our bags off and realized everyone seemed tall, blonde, and with blue eyes. The TV told us to go to the Stockholm gate. We were trying to go to London. So we checked a different TV and we went to gate 6. Only to arrive to what appeared to be a Barmitzvah celebration. The flight to Tel Aviv, Israel was an hour late and people were standing in the hallways. We decided to not freak out and just get some food. After an hour we went back and everyone had left. We sat for roughly 3 freaking hours due to 2 delays. We met a weird British man and his family who said that Las Angeles was vile, absolutely vile; also during his mile-per-minute talking I couldn't help but notice his daughter was DRINKING soup out of a bowl. We finally boarded.

-Last Flight
I sat in the very middle of the plane between Kellsey and Old Man Rivers. While we watched the movie, Date Night, he watched some Asian murder game show, with sub-titles, an inch away from the screen because apparently his readers weren't helping enough. It was a horribly flight filled with turbulance and stewards waking us up asking if we wanted a wet-wipe. WOKE US UP FOR A WET-WIPE. At this point we had realized that we were going to miss the bus to the school. We tried to psych ourselves out and were going to have to get ourselves to Harlaxton. We got our baggage and called the school like we were told. European telephones are weird, ps. So I get ahold of the school and they knew that Kellsey and I were late. I get patched through to another guy saying that the bus is still at the airport and he is going to try to get it to pick us up. HALLELUJAH we might be saved! I get a call on my cell phone from the bus driver, they were going to pick us up! Kellsey and I freaked out. We were saved. We got on the bus and were worry free (ish). Apparently while we were asleep on the plane we hit some nasty traffic for about an hour. Well since the bus driver had to wait for us, wait in traffic, and get to the school (which is far) we had to take a break. I guess it says in his contract that for every 4.5 hours he drives, he gets a 45 minute break. We were 30 miles away from the school and had to stop.

-Arrival
We got the school finally and its just crazy amazing to see in person. We have to wait for the Principal to get on the bus and give us the run-down. Dinner had already started and we were to put our things in our rooms then go to an introduction class. We had a half hour to do all of this. It turns out that Kellsey and I are roommates!!! It was soo amazing. I live with my best friend. I ate fish&chips which was actually pretty good, had some wine at our introduction, went back to the room and unpacked. We forced ourselves to go to out to the bar in the school (because we live in the carriage house). We had a drink walked around and took a shower. But I had to borrow a towel because I forgot mine...and didn't have shampoo because the man took it.

I feel mostly dead.

Now I Can Leave :)

I found this toad in our garage!!! I can take that as a sign that its alright to go :) What a cute little (fat) toad :)

Packed

It only took one hour of packing but I am now "ready" to leave. My luggage all came in under the weight limits and I have decided I will look like a midget that ran away from home with my backpack and 2 rolly suitcases; oh and my "purse" which has snacks in it :) I have Dramamine and WheatThins packed hopefully I won't puke!!

Starting to Feel Better

Finally. I am starting to feel less indifferent about this trip. I started packing for real today and I think it went well for the most part. Finishing up packing tomorrow, saying more goodbyes and eating my last "mom" meal :( Mom and Derek are taking me to the airport and the rest is yet to come.

Tried Packing

Soo I tried packing today and I managed to do a load of laundry. That's it. I did buy matching/nice pajamas to make mom happy and luckily they aren't too grandma-like. I watched Rush Hour 2 with Max and that was today.

DePauw

Max and I drove down to DePauw to go hang out with Sammy, Kyle, Keirstin, and Brett. It was really nice to get out of the house and hang out with people my age. I saw David Moss! I haven't seen him for about 10 years and holy shit did he get tall! I miss college. It's so fun.

It's Finally Sinking In

Well today after riding in the car with Sam, I realized that I have to say bye to him this weekend :( I have been so worried about making sure I say bye to everyone before I leave that I overlooked that fact that he leaves first. I have seven days to go. The plane rides are making me nervous already. I am excited to experience the world but that means I only have myself to count on; no mom to scratch my back, no Max to tell me funny stories, no Sam to talk to, no Katie to craft with, and no Derek to sit in silence with ( sometimes you need that silence). Well I managed to go this whole time without crying until now and hopefully I won't ball the rest of my time here. My eyes hurt and my brain hurts. I'm trying to keep a 'normal' life while I'm waiting but its freakishly hard. All of my friends are going back to school and here I am sitting with Ford with tears rolling down my face..blogging (lame).
My days have been filled with so many ups and downs a doctor would prescribe me Prozac, its just that there are too many emotions. Everything I have in Evansville is being delayed until January and its extremely hard to be perky about leaving sometimes; eventhough I'm going to travel the world in one week and be happy. These hours upon hours of neutral are getting to me. I read one of the most inspirational articles yesterday only to be followed with a sad song. I went from hopeful about the world to mild depression in a half hour. Maybe I should take Prozac.
Right now I am just hoping I don't snap next week, ball my eyes out, and say I'm not leaving. (It will most likely happen). To put it in a random "Grace" analogy: If I were drowning, I would have already come up for my second breath of air. Let's hope someone saves me before breath three.

Derek :)

Hell yes! Derek hooked up a BluRay player to the TV.. not normally a big deal to normies. However, after only having Wii Netflix and no cable. This BluRay player is kick ass. We have Netflix and magical magical TV shows. The Closer, Bones, Modern Family, Lie To Me, How I Met Your Mother!!!! Maybe now I can make it through these last few days in the states :-)

Getting Closer

Toy Story 3 was amazing! That was an exciting hour and a half, now back to boring. I've been helping Derek work on his house and I happen to be a master cabinet installer and spray-painter. It is super exhausting work, mostly because of the heat. The awful awful heat. I had a 4 hour nap yesterday and wanted to sleep the rest of the day. Today however has already kicked my butt. I went to CVS to get my presciptions for England (which I have already done twice now). The doctors office only allowed them to fill one month's worth. So I took a medicine break and picked up my pants from the alterations place (because I am too short for the short jeans) then drove to the doctors office. I demanded 6 month prescriptions drove back to the pharmacy and sat there for two hours while they tried to fill it. The two hours included myself calling the insurance company and the pharmacist call the insurance company. Good lord.

More Waiting

I think my brain broke today. I tried to stay busy, worked out, showered, ate lunch, waited for Max to get home with a story, waited for dinner, waited some more. These next few days are gonna kill me. Tomorrow I get to wait until 6:00 to pick up Jack to go see Toy Story 3... hopefully tomorrow will be better.

Waiting

Now that all of my fun is over I'm pretty sure the waiting will kill me soon. Babysitting Jack and Jackson tomorrow.. woo.. hoo..

My Grandma Made Me a Pie

After staying less than 24 hours at home after Evansville. I went dad's lake house in Michigan. Katie, Patrick, Sammy, Max, Woeste, Jack, Jackson Frank, and dad were all there. We spent alot of time fishing and out on the boat. Whootie and Gramps came over and it was really nice to see them. Grandma also made me an apple pie :) and Katie a mini-pie. The last night we were there there was some drama. Katie's car almost got broken into but thankfully since the house is in Mayberry a cop was already there doing his drive-bys and scared the two guys off. Its a good thing that Sam's car was blocked in because someone left the keys in the car (sam). We stayed for two days and I got to ride home with the boys, with the top down, for three hours. It took me 30 minutes to get the knots out of my hair. After wrestling with that task, I opened my mail (best part of the day) and I got a $500 scholarship!!!! Yay!!!! 21 days until England, 31 days until I'm 20.

Last Adventure Before the Big One

I had a great time in Evansville :) I loved seeing everyone and getting to hang out. We had a birthday party for Jaylah and Romeo which was fun but slightly crazy. After playing on the little kid bounce house for awhile we eventually got tired. Kellsey and I opened gifts which was great. I got her this sweet coat for England and she got me Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs and awesome earrings. Meghan gave me a bible with my name engraved which was really thoughtful. A#1: I love things with my name on it. B#2: I have my own bible to use when I go to church with them. To top it off Kirstie planned a party for Kellsey and me :) I have to say my first suprise party was freakin sweet! Monday Kells and I went to Holiday World and met up with Sam, red, Katie, and Pat :) It was a long, fun weekend. I can't wait to sleep in my own bed.