Clarification / backstories

I have been informed that I am starting to leave important things out. Sometimes I'll make insinutations about certain past events that I have not properly explained. Sorry about this!

"Why don't you like Clyde?" asks Ryan.
Well, Ryan, in the first place, Clyde spits when he talks. Somehow I always end up standing next to him, too. I suppose that's forgiveable, though. What's not forgiveable are the events that transpired 27 Sept. 2006 on our BLC trip to Parliament. Unbeknownst to us, our group (80+ of us) had a sit-down lecture with a Member of Parliament (MP). He was very nice and talked to us for 30 minutes and then we had 35 minutes of questions. After this was over, everyone else left but Clyde had us stick around to talk to this guy. Clyde then proceeds to tell the MP that we are 15 of the best up-and-coming journalists in the US. Whatever. And then he says that the 15 best up-and-coming journalists from the US are going to ask him a bunch of really introspective and amazing questions - RIGHT NOW. We all stare at him blankly. There have already been 35 minutes of question-and-answer time. We didn't know we were going to meet an MP. We certainly didn't know that Clyde was going to put us on the spot in front of the MP. And frankly, we're all a little tired because we haven't stopped moving since 6:45 a.m. Monday morning (it's now Wednesday). So there is enormous silence.

After Clyde loosens his grasp on the unfortunate MP - who could care less if we're journalism students or prison inmates - he takes us outside and screams at us. He tells us that we just had the opportunity of our lives to talk one-on-one with an MP and we blew it. He says that we are an embarrassment to our school and our country (!) He tells us that we need to shape up and be real journalists and that as soon as he gets back to his flat, he's calling each and every one of our department heads and informing them about what just happened. Furthermore, he says that if anything like this happens again, he's shipping us all back home. And as punishment, he's not taking us on a tour of Fleet Street. Then he leaves.

Thoughts:
1. We did not know that we were going to be speaking to an MP.
2. We had already had 35 minutes of question-and-answer time with MP.
3. I don't even know who my department head is. Be my guest and call him/her, Clyde.
4. If I knew in advance that "being an embarrassment" would lead to him cancelling our extra field trip, I would have insulted the MP to his face. No, I would have insulted HIS MOM to his face.
5. I don't want to be a journalist. So there.
6. Send us all home and watch Mizzou fire your sorry self.
7. Clyde is an idiot.

Also, one of the girls from our group saw someone get mugged on our street yesterday!! It was 11 o'clock in the morning - broad daylight - with bunches of people around and this guy grabs a girl's purse. Screaming and fighting ensues, but the guy makes off with the purse. No one helped this girl.

Mom, if you read the above paragraph, it was all a lie. No scary, mugger-type people exist in London.
To everyone else - YIKES!

My day in the germ-infested dirthole

I have spent all of my free Saturday in the flat.

I slept in - till 9:30. That's the latest I've slept probably since March, no joke. So I got up, fixed myself breakfast - and went back to bed. Then I woke up at 12:30, took a shower, read, ate lunch, read, busied myself online, ate Nichole's dinner, ate my own dinner and here I am again. It has been both sunny and cloudy (at the same time), and it's also rained on three different occasions. Nichole and Diana have decided that they are deathly ill. They've been lounging around today, too. We finally got Diana to take a shower, although we told her not to sit down because no one would come in to rescue her. They have been drinking lots and lots of orange juice to get better and have shown much self-control in not adding champagne to their drinks. I finally opened our balcony doors to get some air in this germ-infested dirthole.

Starting this coming week, I am going to be very busy.

Schedule for next week --
Monday: Work in morning. Sotheby's LondonRocks event in afternoon. International Issues with Clyde 6-9. Kill self.
Tuesday: Work till 4. BLC lecture 6-9. Kill self again.
Wednesday: BLC field trip to the Victoria & Albert Museum. Hopefully no additional time with Clyde.
Thursday: Work till 5:30. Viewing of Twelfth Night at Greenwich Playhouse with Katie and Wendy.
Friday: No work. Leave at sunrise (approx.) for Leeds. Visit Leeds Castle and town. Get home at 6. Pack. Spend night in airport.
Saturday: Fly to Dublin at 6 a.m.! Arrive at 7:30 a.m. Spend all day and all Sunday exploring Dublin and escaping into the rolling hills of my homeland's countryside. Visit Guinness Factory.

I will take LOTS of pictures! I hope it's fun. I hope I'm not exhausted.

As I have previously mentioned, Nichole works at a psychologist's office. I stole her copy of Overeaters Anonymous, and it's a really fun read. I'll only feel bad if I next find Kleptomaniacs Anonymous laying around.

Nichole, Diana and I were having a discussion about kids today. They both decided that they don't want any. I said I wanted 12. They said I would be a cute mom. That kind of made my life.

Sorry this is boring. That's what you get when I schlept around all day.

The cattery

So I'm sitting at my desk during my lunch break, eating my peanut butter and JAM sandwich (jelly = Jell-o), when Sara comes over and is like, "Michael left me a note! He went to a pub. Let's go." So I look over at the note and it's this awkwardly drawn map to a pub, complete with a huge X and a "You are here!" designation. We mulled over it for a couple minutes before deciding it was worthless and asking directions from the receptionist downstairs.

We found the group upstairs in the pub and halfway done with their meal. Sara and I went downstairs to order - me a Diet Coke because I had already eaten, and she lasagna and [insert really thick-looking beer here]. I paid for some of her meal because she had helped me through my travel card disaster a few days earlier. Whoops - I forgot to write about that. Basically, I had my month-long travel card at my desk, went over to Sara's side of the room to get her and somehow ended up losing it between then and reaching the tube station. Major disaster that resulted in us being late for class and Clyde telling us that the next time we would have to sing the first stanza of "God Save the Queen."

Sara is fun. She readily admits to everyone that she's clumsy and she told me a story about how she was walking down the steps in the tube the other day when she totally wiped out - like feet flying out in front of her, falling down the stairs wiping out. She said that an old couple rushed over to her and were like, "Honey, are you OK?" And Sara stands up and she's like, "Yup, I'm fine! Happens all the time." On Tuesday, right before we left, Hot Michael told her that she didn't have to come in on Thursday because they'd be needing her desk. "So I want you to work on a project from home," he said. "A project I'll never see." Hot with a sense of humour. Swoon.

Anyway, I came back from my lunch rendezvous and told Fran and Marie where I went, and Fran says, with a characteristic smirk on her face, "Oh... the cattery."
"The cattery?" I repeated.
"Yup."
"What does that mean?"
"Oh, well, the last time we were there, we saw a cat walking out of the kitchen. But don't let that put you off from eating there."

Important lesson I have learned today: That big city in Scotland? Edinburgh? It is not pronounced Ed-in-burg. It is pronounced Ed-in-brrr. "Like brrr, it's cold up here in Scotland!" = Fran.

Greece/Turkey cruise itinerary here.

Razorblades and Knives

Sigh.

I'll be honest. I'm only writing this to get e-mails. Everyone is gone. Nichole and Diana went to Les Mis and Katie went to some club with some guy from our group because he got free tickets. FINALLY. I am here by myself with no one to bug me, no one to steal the computer from me, no one to talk to me, and NO ONE TO BREATHE ON ME.

I think I'm getting late-in-life only-child syndrome. No, actually I think the real difference is that when my brothers and sisters are bugging me, I can tell them exactly what I think and tell them exactly where to go. But when it's other people, you nod and you put on a perma-smile and you tell yourself that you can strangle your bedspread instead.

Katie and I went to a music bar last night. It was in a basement, dark, random furniture in shadowed corners, lots of smoke, lots of piercings and hair hack jobs. Various unknown artists were performing, like crooner #1 sharing his heartfelt ballad, Razorblades and Knives. It's hard to clutch your purse to your chest, hold your breath, and stand with your back rigidly against a wall for an hour and a half. At least Katie had fun!

I went to a jewellery sale party tonight with Fran and Marie after work. We took a cab there. The drivers here are psychos. Maybe I'm not one to talk about that, but roughly 392 people should die everyday on the London streets, at the hands of these swerving, speeding maniacs. This is what I call a modern-day miracle. Anyway, we got to the sale, and the store (called Nude - important detail!) was smaller than my freshman year dormroom. I felt super cool asking for orange juice, as it was the only non-alcoholic drink they had.

We booked our 4-day cruise in Greece. We won't be going to Istanbul, but we'll be going to a different place in Turkey. The flight prices went up, though - a lot. Katie is being very OCD about the whole thing. She almost didn't go out tonight so that she could help her dad look up flight costs. Must refrain from attacking her.

I'm in a bad mood tonight. TGI (almost) Friday. I think I'm going to go to bed before they all get back so I don't have to deal with anyone. Just let me read Bridget Jones in peace!!

"No mooring"

Some would say that I have been slacking off on my blogging duties. However, you must all understand that if it were up to me, I would be online all the time. This is what happens when you share a desktop with three other people.

All right, a brief overview of what's been up --

I guess the biggest news is that I've planned a bunch of trips! (Note: They are not in chronological order just so I can save the best for last.)

Trip Numero Uno: Katie, Wendy and I are going to Dublin, Ireland October 7 - 9. We fly out of this really obscure airport at 6 a.m. Saturday morning, so we think we're going to leave Friday and just spend the night in the airport so we don't miss our flight. We will arrive back in merry ole England on Monday at 9:30 a.m. Whoops. I'll be late for work.

Trip Numero Dos: Wendy and I are going to Berlin, Germany November 3-6. Apparently they have really good blueberry truffles there that Katie wants us to bring back for her. Oh, and the whole Berlin Wall thing should be cool. We might travel a bit throughout Germany - maybe hit up Munich - but that has yet to be formally decided. We still have time!

AWESOME TRIP: Unfortunately, this one is only tentative for now, as I have to beg and plead and probably kiss the feet of my boss and coworkers since I'll need to leave for fall break 2 days sooner than I'm supposed to. Katie and I have decided to go .... *dramatic pause* .... on a Mediterranean cruise. We leave from Athens, go to Istanbul, Turkey, and then island hop through the Greek isles. The WEIRDEST part of the whole thing is that I was sitting at work on Thursday and randomly - I get an ephiphany that I have to go to Istanbul. I don't even know what country Istanbul is in, at this point - only that I could see this elaborate mosque in my head and knew that I had to go there. I had also been filling her head with visions of Greece since we got here, so that was pretty much certain. So when we went to a travel agency on Saturday and the woman found a package cruise that stops over in ISTANBUL - I think that's pretty much fate. I'm soooooo excited!!

In other news... Katie, Wendy, Lara and I went to Cambridge today. It was sooo pretty. We got off the train and it was kind of '70s, mod, ghetto ... American ugly? But we trekked the mile and a half inward and found our adorable little English college town. We had lunch in a pub (codfish, new potatoes, broccoli and green beans - SO GOOD) and then shopped a bit. I almost bought a £70 pair of black boots, but they were really challenging to get on. I had to put my foot in completely vertically and then try to slowly get it to lie horizontally. I almost tore a ligament. The main point of this story? Mom and Dad, if you don't send me my black shoes ASAP, I'm going to resort to spending the equivalent of $140 on a pair. And I know you don't want that.

Speaking of shoe problems, I had one of the biggest nerd moments of my life yesterday. Katie, Wendy, Rachel and I were at an Aussie pub in Earl's Court just hanging out. I arched my foot in my flip flop and the thong part snapped. Did you know that it's impossible to walk in a broken flip flop? I pretty much had to drag one leg home. Fortunately, I have very caring and thoughtful friends. Their only regret was that they didn't bring their cameras to document the event. It was quite funny, I will say.

The streets here are disgusting. You just put your rubbish (garbage) out in bags on the sidewalk for the garbagemen (rubbish collectors?) to pick up. I think they pick it up twice a week. It always smells really gross. Anyway, it was Friday night and Katie and I were walking to the tube station. We passed Hogarth, the other flat for students in our group, and Sara, a girl who works in the same office as me (I eat lunch with her, ride to/from work together, etc.) kind of stumbled down the steps with another girl. She had told me at work that day that she couldn't walk home with me because she had to have an evaluation with her boss. She's pretty much obsessed with her boss, Michael, who's like 31 and very cute, as only British men can be. Anyway, the evaluation ended up being at a pub where he bought her 4 drinks and she bought 2 rounds. This is after going out to lunch with him and drinking earlier. She was in very bad shape. The worst of it was that she was walking on the DISGUSTING London sidewalks WITHOUT SHOES. I about died. I was like, "SARA, DO YOU REALISE YOU DON'T HAVE SHOES ON?" And she's like, "Oh yeah, I never wear shoes." Omg. As we walked away, I turned to Katie and said, "Do you think she really knows she doesn't have shoes on?" and Katie goes, "I think you made that pretty clear..."

Anyway, back to Cambridge. After shopping we headed down to the River Cam (creative) where we went punting. Punting involves a canoe-like boat which is propelled down a river by a person holding a very long stick. You push the stick off the bottom of the river to get the boat to move. It was so gorgeous and so much fun. Our guide was fun, too. He almost fell out of the boat laughing when I asked if, by the "No mooring" signs posted everywhere along the bank, that meant no swimming? He was like, "Well, I'd feel sorry for the unlucky chap if that were the case - because if he fell in, that would mean he wouldn't be allowed to swim to get out!" British humour. Apparently mooring means parking along the side of the bank. Who knew? My next guess was fishing.

I got a Cambridge University t-shirt. I kind of have an obsessed with prestigious UK colleges. I now have, in my possession: an Oxford sweatshirt, an Oxford t-shirt, a Cambridge t-shirt and a St. Andrews sweatshirt. Too bad I've exhausted all the cool ones.

I MIGHT BE GOING TO A PRODUCTION OF SLEEPING BEAUTY AT THE THEATRE. OMG.

We're having some cleanliness issues in the flat again. It's getting pretty intense now. My mom is really big into hygiene and I never really thought I had inherited it until now. I think the idea of washing dishes by hand is revolting. You know you're not going to get it all clean. And even if you trust yourself to do a good job, you never know who washed the dish prior to you using it. So every time I had to grab a dish to eat, I would get a little queasy. However, I think I may have solved my own problem. Wendy and I went shopping on Saturday and I bought my own cereal bowl. That's the only dish I use, AND it was cheap (£2), AND it was cute (teaberry red). And who can put a price tag on peace of mind anyway? I put my cute bowl on the top shelf of our cupboard, away from all the other infected dishes ... and Nichole came back and was ruffling through the cupboards, and finally peeked her head out the kitchen door and said, "Ashley... did you buy something?" And I said, "Yes. I did." And she said, "It's very cute. Do you mind if I put it with the other dishes?" And inwardly I wanted to scream, "YES. I MIND VERY MUCH." But I'm way too passive and I couldn't bring myself to explain my OCD, so I said, "No..." But no worries - I moved it back later.

Anyway, this whole thing really comes to light because Diana and Nichole do not do their dishes. They do them eventually, of course, but that eventually comes at least two days later, when all the other dishes are dirty. It is the WORST thing in the world to wake up in the morning and have to clean a bowl to even use it. If they touch my beautiful red, clean cereal bowl, I'm going to start throwing things. Sometimes they don't even put their dishes in the sink. Like this morning, I went to plug in the hair dryer, and I leaned down and found a plate full of day-old rotisserie chicken bones on top of a box of books. Tommy, does this ring any bells? I nearly went into shower hyperventilation mode. The disaster that was the Tijuana/San Diego mission trip came back full force and Bobbie was alive and still choking from emphysema, all in front of me. And George, the creepy-looking dog, and Dre, the creepy-looking ogre, were there, too. And of course the parade of ants were marching out from my suitcase.

If we even get mice, I'm moving out and coming home.

Katie wants to bring this up with them. I wouldn't mind, really, besides the fact that I hate doing stuff like this... but Katie also has the logic that because Diana and Nichole don't do THEIR dishes, she shouldn't do hers either - as retaliation! So now there are three people in the flat not doing their dishes. I guess as long as they don't mess with my bowl, but the plate of chicken has really got to go...

I think I've exposed enough of my OCDs in this blog. Some psychologist would have fun with me. Speaking of, Nichole works in a psychologist's office and some of her patients are former Playboy models and famous actresses! But it's all very hush-hush, so I can't say who. :) Hehe.

I should probably go to bed. Or work on my project proposal for Clyde's class. Or.... go to bed.

Night, y'all. :)

I accept Visa, Mastercard ...

It's almost midnight and I'm exhausted, so I'm only updating this because I love you. Remember that. Warning: This will be written in Bridget Jones-style shorthand.

Overview:
Sunday -- Met up with a CatholicMatch friend, Matt, for dinner. We went to an Italian restaurant near Embankment where I finally tried gnocci (potatoey-pasta with cheese sauce) and then headed over to a pub near Earls Court for drinks for a couple of hours. We had a lot of fun and Matt's a very, very nice guy - who also reads my blog. :) Hi, Matt!

Monday -- Work. It was the first day Jenni was gone, and I was late. I left an hour before I was supposed to be there and there were severe delays on my tube station line. I called up retailers to ask for the romantic proposals they've heard from their customers, which is a short "vox pop", as they say, for our December wedding issue. I learned that people are horribly unromantic. No one has any good stories. Fran and I both agreed that we would turn any guy down who came to us with such sad a proposition. Today I also discovered the joys of gmail IMing. I talk to Wendy at the American Embassy all day long. Yay! That night I hurried home for International Issues class with Clyde (6-9 p.m.). Such a long day. He is so disorganised. We spent an hour and a half discussing nothing, then we went down to the student pub where he bought a beer and we discussed more of nothing, THEN we headed outside to a couple of picnic tables where we sat in the cold for 45 minutes discussing ... nothing.

Tuesday -- London Fashion Week! I met up with the gang (Fran, Marie and Ash) at the Natural History Museum, where the event was being held. I felt so cool flashing my (err, Jenni's) press badge and walking through the wraught-iron gates. We sat around in the press room for awhile, where they had magazines and free bottles of Evian and Red Bull galoure. Then we split into teams of two - Ash and Fran covering the jewellery booths starting with the letters A - M, while Marie and I did N - Z. There were sooo many pretty pieces of jewellery. A lot of ugly ones, too, but I definitely found some I would wear. There were also booths of clothes, shoes and handbags. We didn't stay too long. Ash and Fran hit up all of three booths before they stopped in the cafe and then back to the office (where they were meeting people for lunch). I was researching ideal bridesmaid and groomsmen's gifts, so Marie and I stuck around for awhile longer. No celebrity sightings, unfortunately. I was asked to do a bio-sketch of my co-workers so y'all can keep them straight, so I will try to do that ASAP. Tuesday night, BLC lecture on Shakespeare. The class is so messed up. We have to do journal entries once a week on our trips and lectures, but all of the teachers have different grading habits and writing preferences and no one can agree on the style the paper should be written in - rhetoric? opinion? random flow of thoughts? It's such a mess.

Wednesday (today) - We went to Warwick Castle and Stratford-upon-Avon. I love castles so Warwick was cool, I guess. They had wax figurines in all of the rooms, trying to recreate various parties and household occurrences. I call that creepy. We then went to Stratford, home of Shakespeare, where I had already been way back in 2003. Stratford is a place that you don't really want to go once - but when you go twice, you really just want to kill yourself. It's all so touristy and hoaky. A bunch of us were starving afterwards, so before we hit up the bus on the ride home, Nic, Wendy, Rachel and I went to a little cafe where I got a spinach and ricotta crepe (gross), while two others got an English breakfast. I'll have to post a picture of an English breakfast. It looks absolutely DISGUSTING. Nichole, Diana and Katie all stayed in Stratford to see The Tempest at the Royal Shakespeare Company tonight. Standing room only for a 2 3/4 hour show with the bus arriving back at 1 a.m.? No thank you.

Hope all is well! Longer later.

You've Got Pictures!

I finally managed to get an online photo album up and running. I hope you all enjoy them because each picture took me roughly 23 hours to upload.

LONDON PICTURES!

I get started with this sucker and I can't stop!

I just applied a deep conditioning mask to my hair. It feels better already. When I'm applying the shampoo, I can feel the dryness. When I turn off the water, it only takes me one squeeze to get all the water out. I have to squirt leave-in conditioner in my hair to just get a brush through it. :( So very sad.

I hope the last blog didn't scare people. I was just thinking aloud. It just seems silly to me to throw all of your eggs in the happiness basket. I wish I knew the purpose of life. God, do you think you could tell me? I won't tell anyone, I promise. Just my blog.

I didn't go to Latin Mass today. They have an 8 and 9 o'clock service, but I was just too exhausted. I did go to the 10 o'clock Mass for the second week in a row. It's the family Mass (in English), which I love, because I get to see all the adorable little kids. I think I should quit school and become a professional nanny. I would love that.

The English and American Masses are pretty much the same, but the English Mass is shorter. There aren't as many songs; in fact, last week there weren't ANY songs, and Mass only lasted 40 minutes. They don't do the sign of peace with each other (that British reserve). At communion, it's kind of a free-for-all. You walk up to the railing, just before the steps that lead up to the alter, and kneel down and the priests will go up and down the row giving out communion. There's no blood of Christ offered. There also aren't any pews. Everyone gets their own antique-looking chair that are lined in rows with a kneeler in front of them. There are only two inches between the foot of the chair and the foot of the kneeler, so you have to step on the kneeler to work your way to the middle of the seats or risk falling on your face (which I pretty much did the first time). The church is called the Brompton Oratory and it's GORGEOUS. I haven't taken pictures yet, but I will soon and will post them (this isn't an empty promise!). I think they have 7 or 8 services at that church for Sundays ALONE. Wild. No excuse for missing Mass here.


My feet have blisters. My blisters have blisters. I need a pedicure.

The flatmates plus Jon and Lara went to St. Paul's Cathedral for Evensong tonight, but since I have been soooo good with this whole anti-antisocialness thing, I permitted myself to decline the invite and have the flat to myself. Besides, I have very important things to do, like reading the worst book ever written for my International Issues class, doing my British Life and Cultures essay, conditioning my hair, and writing this blog, of course!

Yesterday, Wendy and I headed out at 9 a.m. for Paddington Station (home of Paddington bear!) to catch the train to Windsor. I have been dreaming of going to Windsor Castle my whole life. Of course, in my dreams I was wearing a sparkly evening gown and a tiara, so I was bound to be disappointed. I always do that to myself!

Windsor Castle is very foreboding. It's made entirely of gray stone and was originally intended to be a fortress for the army. It sits on top of a huge hill and looks like something you would see in a storybook. I can't say it's a pretty castle, but it's very much what you would expect a castle to look like. We walked through all the state rooms and into the royal gardens, and we also saw the Queen's dollhouse. Apparently she was obsessed with dolls and had this elaborate dollhouse made. The dollhouse is probably 12 foot by 12 foot, with miniature, detailed EVERYTHING - and even has electric lights. Fit for a queen indeed.

By the time we finished with the castle we were STARVING, so Wendy and I found a cute little Greek restaurant that happened to be out of everything we wanted - but we got it right on the third try. I ended up with a jumbo cod, chips (french fries) and a Mediterranean salad, and Wendy ordered roast reef with roasted potatoes and steamed vegetables. Soooo yummy. After that, we wandered through various shops, lamenting the prosperous state of the British economy that prevented us from buying anything. We wandered past a fudge shop that was handing out free samples, though. Mmmm!

We crossed the bridge that separated Windsor from Eton, and the river was teeming with white swans (I have a picture that will be posted as soon as humanly possible!). The town of Eton was so cute and is home to the famous and EXTREMELY prestigious Eton College, somewhat the equivalent of a junior high/high school for boys. Princes William and Harry attended. It looks like a university and I'm sure costs more than a university. I was in heaven - it reminded me of my love affair with Oxford.

Anyway, Wendy and I both had a great day, and we got along so well. She's a business major at SLU who says that she doesn't really know anyone outside of the business school (I didn't realise there was someone at SLU who didn't know you, Car), but she *might* know Diana. She's really independent and told me that she had already planned her fall break (to Salsburg, Vienna and Venice) - and is going BY HERSELF. I was very impressed but also glad that it wasn't me. I wouldn't enjoy it as much if I didn't have someone to share it with! She met this British guy named Dave her first night here, and they've been casually dating, so I made her promise to invite me to the wedding, which she said she wants held in Windsor. She promised. :) Yay.

That night, Jon had to go to work (he works in a theatre about an hour away), so it was just us girls. We got somewhat dressed up and walked to a pub, where we sat outside while Diana and Nichole sipped their drinks and talked and gossipped and laughed. We decided that some night we would get REALLY dressed up, in the nicest things we brought, and go out to a fancy restaurant and order dessert. OOOH - and I almost forgot. When I got home from my castle excursion, I walked into the living room to find all of the furniture completely rearranged. It looks so much better! We had a cabinet that was full of books left from past students - books about London, geography, the American frontier, theatre, you name it. We also have a random guitar in an upstairs closet. Anyway, we decided that we are going to sell the books and guitar to a secondhand shop and then split up the money for food (or shopping, or toilet paper, or whatever). Hehehe. When we got home from the pub last night, we were walking up the stairs and another girl was complaining about all of the books in her room, and I was like, "We'll take them!" So ingenius. I hope we don't get sent home for this. I also suggested selling the curtains, television and icky sofa (I got really into this idea), but everyone else said no. :( I suppose that would look suspicious for our end-of-the-year room inventory.

So I'm just chilling in the flat right now! It's really warm today. I can't decide if I want it to be warm or to be cool. The London weather can't decide either.

I've been kind of depressed the last couple of days. I think that I'm so busy during the week, with classes and work, that I don't have time to think about my emotions or my level of homesickness. When I actually have a chance to breathe, I think about things and realise that I'm sad. I've been having little thoughts playing in my head since the middle of summer actually. Dwelling on it a little more last night, I think I was really shakened by Fr. Sheahan's death. I am completely and utterly terrified of death. Not my own, but the deaths of people that I love. If one of my family members or close friends died, I would shut down. It's hard for me to even think of the level of despair that would come about, but I think I would get to a place where I didn't feel anything, and I would cease to be a person. I got a taste of that when Fr. Sheahan died. I would say that his death was as unexpected as could be for a person who was 86 years old. We got the phone call right before my mom and I were going to go out for an evening walk, and he was gone.

I cannot handle that thought. Knowing that people I love will die (inevitably) makes life not worth it to me. I know everyone says that there's life after death, but none of us can even fathom what that will be like. It really bothers me that the Bible is a filled with parables and stories that aren't necessarily the truth but rather represent a greater idea. Sweet. So the earth wasn't really formed in seven days? The apple, the Garden of Eden, and Adam and Eve? Did that really happen? Or is it more like a case of Santa Claus and the Tooth Fairy, who you really really want to believe exist because it brings the supernatural to life?

I don't know. I feel like I'm waiting for the moment for the Church to announce that 'you know the whole Jesus story? that was an embellishment, too.' Which brings me to another qualm. We praise Jesus everyday for dying for our sins so that we can be saved in the end. HE was the one who decided that we needed to be saved from something. He invented us. He thought it would be cool to give us free will. If God is the creator of everything, then he gave permission for the introduction of evil, and then allowed us to be put in a place where good people are murdered and abused and stressed and hurt and lost - and THEN if we screw up, we're damned to hell. But then again, since he designed it so that no one is perfect (but him), the best we can do is to only suffer in purgatory for a little while. And we're supposed to be THANKFUL?!!

There's a quote from Grey's Anatomy that starts out, "Maybe we're not supposed to be happy." The rest of the quote is worthless, but that sticks out to me. Why should we be happy? I think it's all an allusion. There are certain things that make other people happy that would NEVER make me happy. Why do we have such an obsession with happiness? It fades. Sadness fades. All emotions fade. Also, Clyde was talking about how he and his wife decided early on in their marriage to spend all of their money on trips - "on memories." Are memories really that important? What about regrets? So what if you're on your deathbed and you have regrets? You're going to die in three minutes and then it's not going to matter anymore. Yet people are consumed with it.

Okay, those are just some of the things that have crossed my mind lately. As a disclaimer, I want to say that I will never stop going to church. I will never stop trying to believe. And I think that in the end, the way we treat people is the only thing that matters.

Dear Diary,

Did you know they call journals "diaries" here? And by journals, I mean daily planners. This was interesting when Ash barraged into the office the other day and said, "Where is Jenni's diary? I need Jenni's diary!" as he ruffled through papers on her desk. I was like, WHAT IS HE DOING AND WHY DOES JENNI HAVE A DIARY AT WORK? Another Americanism came into play this morning, before Jenni and Fran arrived. Jenni had instructed me to organise shelves of magazine copies in a small room off the big office, so I went over to Marie to ask for the key to the closet. She stared at me for a moment and then said, "CLAW-set? You mean cupboard!" Are there cups in this cupboard? Are we in a nursery rhyme?

Work is going really well. I'm still struggling to get used to this 9:30 to 5:30 business. I'm pretty good up until lunchtime but after that, I get really antsy. The magazine publishes a list of gift ideas, and it's my job to call the listed phone numbers of the companies selling the products to make sure it's a working line. This resulted in me calling France and having a very awkward conversation with a woman who spoke wonderful French but subpar English.

Jenni gave me a few tasks for the next two weeks while she's gone. I'm working on bits and pieces for the December wedding issue, and I get to call retailers and ask about the most romantic proposals they've heard of. Also, as I've mentioned at least 12 times now, I'm going to fashion week on Tuesday to collect business cards and also to get groomsmen/bridesmaid gift ideas for another feature. I'm getting important!! No more jam-filled doughnut runs (which was part of Thursday's duties, btw).

As a side note - Jenni and Fran went to an anniversary party for this famous designer on Wednesday night and guess who was there? Christina Aguilera. Like two feet away.

Before I came to London, I thought I would be using every weekend as a travel getaway. Paris for a couple days, Dublin, Edinburgh, Munich. But then I got a real job and realized, you know what - I'm really tired! Also, with all of my flatmates also working random hours, it's hard to plan things in advance, which is what you have to do if you want to get good rates. Anyway, I'm staying in London this weekend. Wendy, a girl from SLU who works at the American Embassy, and I are going to Windsor Castle and Eton tomorrow morning. I might go shopping with Nichole, Diana and Jon later in the day. Sunday, I'm going to Mass in the morning (I think I'll try an early Latin service) and then possibly to Buckingham for a tour of the palace and exhibit of Queen Elizabeth's gowns over the years. That night, I *think* I'm meeting a friend, Matt, for dinner. I met him on CatholicMatch and we've talked for awhile now. He lives and works in Manchester but is just coming home from Paris for the weekend, so he's taking me out for dinner. No cereal - at least for one night :) Hopefully it'll be fun!

Next weekend I'm thinking Dublin. We'll see how that works out.

Katie, Nichole, Diana, Jon and I went out to dinner tonight at a place called Nando's. Perry is obsessed with it, and he does have impeccable taste so I knew I had to go. They serve Portuguese food in a fun environment that they call "high class fast food". I shared my chicken couscous salad with Katie and her chicken pita and rice, and got peach juice - mmm. The chicken pita was medium spicy, and I thought my mouth was going to burst into flames.

Nichole, Diana and Jon were all kind of dead so they headed home while Katie and I went in search of a club at South Kensington. This is apparently where all of the celebs hang out, and Lindsay Lohan and Christina ARE in town, so we were feeling optimistic. We ended up just walking around for a bit. I called Dickon and invited him to come out with us, so while he was on his way, Katie and I sat outside the tube station just watching the world go by.

The world DID go by - in the form of four 20-something guys who wormed their way into a conversation by asking us where good pubs or clubs were. "We should have known that the first people we asked would be Americans!" they said, feigning shock as one plopped down next to me, another one sat down next to Katie and ther other two just kind of wandered off. My guy proceeded to tell me that he had just learned a technique to analyze someone's personality. This technique involved questions about the height of a fence, the color, shape and size of strawberries, and my feelings towards the farmer that I have taken them from. He kept giving me high fives and touching my arm. When I know someone is obviously hitting on me, I get REALLY ticked off haha. I kicked Katie through most of this agony. Finally, they seemed to get a clue and decided to leave. The guy stood up, shook my hand and then leaned in 'because Europeans give two kisses on the cheek." I said, "Well, too bad for you, I'm an American" and he looked kind of ticked and left. There was another guy, a bit older - maybe in his 30s - and French, who was sitting down next to us watching the entire thing, and when the other guys left, he turned to me and said, "That's total rubbish. You don't kiss people you don't know here." And I smiled and said, "Yes. Thank you."

So finally Dickon arrived, a bit too late to save us from the wanna-be mind readers. We went to a pub called Zetland Arms, where he bought both Katie and me drinks (Cokes!). It was a bit crowded so we stood by the bar and talked for a good 45 minutes. I got really excited when they played Van Morrison's "Brown-Eyed Girl." LOVE that song! It was so much fun. Definitely one of my favourite nights here!

And now, I am home. It's 00:05 on Saturday morning, and I'm meeting Wendy at 9 a.m. The caffeine is starting to wear off a bit and the flat is silent although the streets are loud. We don't have windows but we have a balcony, so we sleep with our balcony doors open (except when it rains - although sometimes we still leave them open even then). We're on the equivalent of the second floor, but I'm still worried that I'm going to wake up with a strange somebody sleeping next to me. It gets so warm in the flat, though, so the breeze feels so good. So far, so good, though!

I'm very, very happy. I go in spurts. I think it might be weekend fever (British speak: fevre?) getting to me. I just got off the phone with my dad, who wondered why I didn't write yesterday (I LOVE my fervent readers!). Anyway, off to wash my face, as my skin has decided to declare war against me this week.

LOVE YOU ALL!! Kisses, hugs.

It is getting so hard to update this thing!

Our wifi is still not working, so I share this computer with all of my flatmates (plus Jon). Usually my best chance for online time is in the morning before seven, but it's hard to form coherent sentences before sunrise.

I'm getting kind of bored. I hate watching TV, even with the dancing Marias. After a full day of work, you really don't want to walk around and explore, and really, our kitchen can only hold so many groceries. I didn't bring any books because I was too cheap to buy them before I left. I JUST WANT INTERNET TIME.

My coworkers took me out to lunch yesterday. It was so nice! I ordered seafood pasta and apple cake with custard and ice cream for dessert. They're all so laidback, which is a great environment for me. AND - the most exciting news: I get to go to London fashion week next week!!!! My boss is going to be in Vegas, so she gave me her entrance pass. So what if my job is going around to various companies collecting business cards? This will be so exciting.

Some of you have been asking about my homesickness level. It has subdued so much from the first night that I can't even compare. However, it will hit me at random points in the day. When I feel myself getting sad, I'm usually tired, so I'll just lay down for a nap, which is what I did today. For some reason when I woke up this morning, I missed Fr. Sheahan so much. I must have dreamed about him.

I made oatmeal today! I could only find old-fashioned Scottish oats and the brown sugar smelled kind of weird, but it was pretty good. Not quite as good as my oatmeal at home but definitely passable. I've also found cereal that I'm obsessed with. It's fruit-filled shredded wheat, and I love the apricot and cranberry varieties. My flatmates think I'm kind of weird because I will eat cereal for breakfast and dinner, and the only reason I don't eat it for lunch is because I'm at the office (I bring a PB&J sandwich). I just love cereal and it's so easy and cheap and healthy. I've had almost insufferable chocolate cravings, too, so I sucked it up and bought a caramel-filled chocolate bar today. Mmmm.

Okay, enough food talk. Can you tell I'm hungry?

Tomorrow after work I'm going on a literary walk. I guess we're going to walk by houses of famous British authors and poets. I actually had to sign up to do this. I wonder what I was thinking.

I almost started writing about how Katie and I did our laundry today but then realized that I was just stretching for more to talk about. There was no story there, so I'll spare you.

Thank you so much for all of your e-mails and messages! They keep me going and I love hearing from all of you. If you want to send me mail (and I would love it but please don't feel obligated!!), my address is: 6 Knaresborough Place, Flat 3, London SW5 0TG.

Have a great day!

Ahhh, the first day of work. Kind of like the first day of kindergarten, minus the novelty, crayons and of course naptime.

To be honest, I had been dreading it. Cumulatively, I have phobias of journalism, work and newsrooms. I was like a ticking claustrophobic, stuffed in a ziplock baggie. I don't know how well that analogy works..

Anyway, prompt and nervous as always, I arrived forty-five minutes early. Jenni showed me around again, as I nodded like the little doggy in the window, forgetting everything she told me almost instantaneously. Well, almost everything - she must have mentioned the multiple fire escapes seven different times, as well as where to stand after we've just run for our lives - by the maroon car parked on the street (I hope that's a permanent fixture). After the tour, she got me started with a two and a half foot tall stack of newspapers. I was to go through every single page and pull out articles on jewellery, watches, retail economy, the publishing company and the birth announcements. Well, she didn't say to cut out the birth announcements. I just did because I LOVE THEM. Don't worry - I nonchalantly stuffed them in my pockets.

I went through papers for six hours. By the end of the day, my fingers were colored black with newsprint and I still had half the stack to go. I had also been moved twice at that point because they don't have a desk for me, so I wound up sitting on a couch facing a wall near the door. I am such a minion.

I had to leave early because I had a three-hour class. When I went to set down the remaining papers and turn in my special tools (err, scissors), Jenni said, "Did you think you could just leave without getting them done? You have to take them home." Inwardly, I knew she must be joking. Inwardly, my phobias were starting to explode like the fireworks on the fourth of July. After about 20 seconds of tense silence, Fran, another worker for the magazine, told her that she wasn't allowed to be mean to me on my first day. Please and thank you.

Overall, it was fine. Low stress. Tedious. I absorb everything that's written so it's hard for me to merely flip through pages of a newspaper. I want to read every last sentence. The good thing about this job is that I know every single story that has hit the London papers since August 25, so if you have a specific question, I can answer it from every newspaper's vantage point. I just don't like work, though. I hate working on a time schedule where I have to be somewhere from this time to this time (especially when the time in question is 8 hours a day). Just tell me what has to be done, I'll do it, and then I can leave. Otherwise, it feels like busy work.

There is a guy in my office named Ash. Actually, his real name is Ashley, but he goes by Ash as a nickname. He is the first live, breathing man that I've met with my name. Ash is one of the most obviously gay men I've ever met. He is obsessed with Liz Hurley and even decided to dress like her today. Jenni and Ash have this thing where they constantly mimick the publisher of the magazine by saying "hmmmmmmmm" in a really deep voice all the time. They made me practice, too.

We had our Mizzou class tonight with Clyde. It was actually pretty fun - as much as a three-hour seminar can be. We had a couple of breaks in between teaching and then with like 45 minutes to go, Clyde decided that we should all go on a walk. We stopped by a couple of pubs and then wandered around the Chelsea and Kensington areas.

When Katie and I got home, I decided to suck it up and do the dishes, since they very much runneth over. Dad, I know you will be proud to hear that. I'm still working on making my bed, but dirty dishes are a HUGE annoyance with me.

That's about it! I'm very sleepy from my hectic, professional day, and I should go to bed so I can do it all again tomorrow! Night!

P.S. Carly, you are an angel. Thank you so much for the letter!! My gosh, I barely knew my own address before your card arrived! I love you.

It seems like regardless of how I spend my day, when 9 or 10 p.m. at night rolls around, I'm absolutely exhausted.

Today was much slower than most. I got up slowly, took a shower and got some serious online alone time. I finally opened my International Issues book and grudgingly started the quiz Clyde set up for us. Fortunately, it was multiple choice and untimed, and we could save it and come back to it whenever we want. 95% for not cheating the system and just skimming Part I looking for the right answers - I rock.

Anyway, midway through the book, I got bored of sitting here by myself and texted Dickon. We ended up meeting at the Knightsbridge tube station at 4 and walked over to Harrods. Harrods has everything you could possibly want for prices you could buy luxury imported cars for. We walked through women's clothing, evening gowns, the toy store with child-sized Ferrari's, the food court, etc. By the time we got to the food court, we were pretty much starved so we decided to be thrifty and go somewhere else for dinner instead.

He suggested a sandwich place called Pret A Manger that supposedly has the BEST sandwiches and he was right. We both got mature cheddar and pickle sandwiches which sound really sick, but they were really good. When we went to grab drinks, I made a comment asking how anyone could like sparkling water, which is basically the fizziness of soda without flavour. And he says, "Sparkling water! Thanks for reminding me," and took one. Apparently he got hooked on them in China when he was ten. Random.

He is so nice! We just sat there and talked for a long time, and then we took a walk down to the Gloucester tube stop so he could go and meet a friend for his second dinner. I don't know if this is specific to Dickon or Brits in general, but I just feel like there's a wall up there. He's very formal and I don't know if he intends to be, but it's hard to get comfortable in a situation like that. It's very hard to explain. British people just aren't WARM. They're nice, they're lovely, but they're not warm. I wish I could come up with a location or activity that would kind of calm him down and loosen him up, but I can't think of anything other than alcohol! Haha, any suggestions?

We have watched way too much British television tonight. Did you know they have a show called "How Do You Solve a Problem Called Maria?" It's like American Idol except they're looking for the next Maria Von Trapp in The Sound of Music. It is by far the funniest thing I've ever seen. When a Maria gets kicked off, the remaining Marias sing "So Long, Farewell" to her. We were dying.

Whew, three entries in one day. Don't get used to this.

Ahhh, much better.

So yesterday I headed off to my interview. I wanted to look professional, yet look comfortable and keep cool, since it was warm. I went with a Victorian-style cream top and brown dress pants and pulled my hair back into a french braid. I almost twisted my ankle walking up the sidewalk in my heels to work. I am so embarrassing.

My boss, Jenni, seemed really nice, although I would never pinpoint her as the type to be the editor of a huge, jewellery-based magazine. The room where I'll be working is really big and is actually shared with three other magazines. There were about four computer stations and each desk was piled high with proofs and papers and magazines. She said I'll start out doing proofreading, which I love, and that she'll teach me to do page design. Since this magazine caters to merchandisers in particular, they just put out their Christmas issue!

I work 9:30-5:30 four days a week (no Wednesday because that's for field trips), and she said punctuality is extremely important. Bugger. However, the particularly good news is that the magazine will pay for all of my transportation. She told me to get a three-month tube pass, which means that ALL my transportation here, both work AND leisure, will be taken care of. That is a huge amount of money, so I'm really happy about that. I start work on Monday, September 11 (yikes), and I change stops at the tube station that was bombed in 2005. I really hope I don't die on my first day of real work.

When I got back from my interview, Jon, Diana and Nichole were all about to go shopping so they invited Katie and me to go. Diana needed trousers for work (pants = underwear here) and Jon had heard of a REALLY cheap store named George's where she could find some. It was 2.3 miles and no one could figure out a way to get there by bus so we walked. Huffing, puffing and panting, we arrived at George's to discover that it was - drumroll please - a British Wal-Mart. No joke. We almost cried.

That was really the beginning of the end of our good day haha. We were starving after shopping so we went to a pub where we were informed that all of us had to have driver's licenses in order to be served. Excuse me? Diana only had her school ID card and I clearly don't have my driver's license, so we had to leave. Does that make any sense? Even if you don't order alcohol, you have to have a specific ID in order to sit down. The drinking age is 18 here anyway, and we were all told that it would be best to leave all forms of ID in our rooms for safekeeping. Very strange.

We ended up eating at a British fast food joint. There's nothing quite like traveling 4,000 miles to eat a cheeseburger. We thankfully found a bus that brought us almost all the way home, and we staggered up to the top of the bus and collapsed into our seats and pretty much glared at each other for the duration of the bus ride haha. We were quite the happy bunch.

We all hung out last night in our usual spot - our lovely, balcony-side living room. Someone had left chocolate biscuits downstairs for all the residents, so I brought them up for us to munch on. Jon brought us drinks and did our dishes while we girls sat back and read the newspaper hehe. I knew we kept him around for a reason!

And that's that! Diana got her hair cut yesterday. It was shoulder-length before and she decided that she wanted it much shorter, so it's somewhat spiky now and the back goes to about her chin. It's really cute on her. I'm getting a little tired of my long hair, but there's no way I'm that gutsy!!!

I'm trying to figure out what to do today, as right now, I'm here by myself and I have no idea when the others will get back. I might get ready and head down to the Catholic Church to find Mass times. Harrod's and TopShop are also calling my name, so I might go off to Knightsbridge and Kensington. I better enjoy these free days while they last because I'll be a working girl here before too long.

Everyone else has left for Hampton Court Palace and Windsor Castle, an excursion that I opted out of since I've already been to Hampton. Most of our trips are subsidised because we've already paid an advance $300 for a variety of activities that they have lined up for us. The price of each trip you decide to go on is deducted from your total. At the end, any money left over in your fund is given back to you. Therefore, this money is quite precious and I'm trying to be thrifty!

I really wanted to just go to Windsor today, but I haven't heard back from the girl I was planning to go with. Dickon told me that Eton, the most prestigious and expensive prep school in the UK and also where Prince William attended, is just a short walk away, so I was hoping to stop by there and take an obscene amount of pictures. Oh well. Even if today doesn't work out, I'm sure there's another day that I can go. And to be honest, it would be really nice to have some alone time today so I can update THIS, send out a few e-mails and get some homework done.

Early Thursday afternoon, I headed off to High Street Kensington to meet Perry for lunch. I took one wrong turn, quickly realised it and turned around and made it there without any other problems. Quite impressive. :) As expected, when I saw him, I gave him the biggest hug ever. He gave me his extra phone which is SO NICE - he said it cost him £150, but he couldn't find the charger to it until recently, so he just bought another one. He helped me top it out (pay for minutes for the phone, which you can do at nearly every convenience store) and then we headed off to Chinatown for lunch.

We ordered sweet and sour chicken and rice, which was served to us with chopsticks. I think chopsticks are one of the reasons that Asians are so thin. It's impossible to eat fast, or in my case, at all. Perry gave me a brief tutorial, but when that proved in vain, he asked the waiter to bring me a fork. Pathetic.

After I left Perry, I hopped a tube back home to get ready for my evening out with Dickon. I knew he would be coming from work, so I thought I had better dress up. I finally decided to wear Amy's favourite outfit - the khaki safari dress - with brown heels. I was so nervous about meeting him! I saw him from across the street because he looked exactly like his pictures. He was reading a newspaper and I walked up and was like, "Dickon?" And he looked up and... yes, he did... he shook my hand. Haha. Hello, awkwardness.

The rest of the night was really fun. We spent over 2 hours in the drawing room of the hotel, me feeling completely uncivilised because everything was so nice. The meal itself - tea, finger sandwiches and various pastries - cost around 40£ ($80!!) and Dickon paid for it all. He said he had stayed up until 2 a.m. the night before working as a doorman at his friend's party and so that would cover the cost. How nice.

He walked me home and was pretty much gushing about the area that we're staying in. I found out the other day that the flats next door cost 2000£ ... per WEEK ... to rent. Oh, my Lord. I am living up this trip because there's no way I'll ever be able to afford to come back!!

So the night with Dickon was fun - albeit slightly uncomfortable - and we might hang out again this weekend! Yay!

I'll have to update on yesterday a bit later because I just decided that I want to return to bed. Goodnight!

My new workplace is about 45 minutes away. It's a loooong ride on the tube, followed by a considerable walk after the closest stop. To be honest, I haven't really started preparing for the interview yet. Or doing any homework here yet. I've decided that I'll either do it right away, as soon as it's assigned, or I'll do it last minute. Either way, I'm not going to spend a lot of time on it because I feel like it's superfluous anyway - my REAL classroom is the streets of London!

The Museum of London was quite dull. They had some cool replicas of Victorian fashion - dresses, petticoats, etc. - that I would totally wear. I just really don't care about fossils from 50 million years ago. And PLUS! - the collection ended with the beginning of the twentieth century. Just when all the good stuff was happening! Or at least the stuff I would care about. Bogus. And they call themselves a museum.

As you all know, I'm meeting Perry today for lunch. I'm pretty nervous because this is my first time going off on my own. I'm not scared of being by myself for safety reasons, but namely because I have no sense of direction whatsoever. My family can attest to the fact that I can't differentiate between my left and my right. When you come upon a street, it will say, "Look left" or "Look right" for oncoming traffic. As you may remember, the English drive on the opposite side of the road as Americans do. I have determined that this is the way I will die. I will enter an intersection, see a "Look left" warning, and I will look right instead, enter the street and collide with a double decker tour bus.

Anyway, I'm not exactly planning to die on the way to meet Perry, but I'm pretty sure I'll get lost and end up in Paris (which hopefully I would notice when I started treading Channel water). Whenever Katie and I go off, she practically has to take my hand to guide me because I keep turning the wrong way. It doesn't help that every time we've gone off to Imperial College we've taken a different route. I'm scared for myself.

Dickon made reservations for us to have tea at 5:30 at the Cadogan Hotel Restaurant in Belgravia: http://en.venere.com/hotel/index.php?htid=72092&lg=en. It looks so fancy! What to wear, what to wear. And no, Carly, just because he's taking me to a hotel does NOT MEAN I'm bringing mace. Five years in prison doesn't sound too appealing to me. Plus, I think I have enough traffic violations on my record without adding "carrying a concealed weapon" assault charges to the list.

Have a great day, everyone!

So I got my internship!

I will be working at a jewellery magazine. One of our RAs, Jamie, told me that when she was here a couple of years ago, her friend had the same internship as I will have. She absolutely adored it and she still keeps in contact with her supervisor. She said the supervisor, Jenni, loves Americans and thinks our "accents" are adorable. Jamie also said that she's pretty sure the girl got a end-of-the-year present - aka jewelry! I'm so excited!

I go in for my interview on Friday at 2 p.m., so I will know more then!

Clyde, our Mizzou advisor-professor, gave me a few hints on body language. He told me that I have an "infectious smile" but that my body language hints that I'm shy. Me, shy? Okay, yeah. So I'll have to work on that!

Katie and I are going to leave in about half an hour to find our new workplaces so we don't show up late on the first day and make a horrible impression. The only downside to what sounds like my perfect internship is that it's quite far away. Jamie told me that I'll have to take the tube to get there and then hop on a bus right afterwards. So basically, I'll be getting up at 5 o'clock and leaving an hour and a half before I need to be there because the transportation can be tempermental. Katie will be working in the advertising/sales section of USA Today. Later today, we're taking our weekly field trip, this time to the Museum of London. Mizzou students are responsible for writing a blog, and we're each taking turns doing so. Being the only news-ed major, I get to go first. I have to write a personal perspective on our trip. I'll send you the link when it's posted!

I'm pretty sure tomorrow will be the greatest day of my life. I don't have any classes. Most people who don't have classes tomorrow have their internship interviews; mine's not till Friday. So what will I be doing? I will be meeting Perry in Kensington for lunch, where he is being so incredibly wonderful and Perry-like and giving me his extra cell phone to use while I'm here! I will then be meeting Dickon for my first proper English tea and crumpets at 5:30, and we'll be going to dinner afterward.

When I was packing, I thought I was being so incredibly girly by bringing so many clothes. I was very, very wrong. I feel like I don't have nearly enough stuff, particularly summery clothes, since it is SO HOT over here right now. This morning, for example, I didn't wake up because I was well-rested. I woke up because I was drenched in sweat. Sorry for the questionable mental image. Also, I didn't bring enough walking shoes. My tennis shoes look so goofy with most of my outfits because yes, I am more concerned with looking fashionable than the well being of my feet. Also, I have a pair of brown flats but no black ones - and I have lots and lots of black clothing.

An optional excurstion to Hampton Court Palace and Windsor Palace is planned for this Saturday. I decided not to go because I've already been to Hampton, and I didn't want to use money to go somewhere I've already been. Luckily, I talked a girl named Wendy from SLU into just going to Windsor Palace with me. PRINCE WILLIAM! Oh boy.

Amy, I'm wearing your red polka-dotted shirt today. And your perfume. Thank you. :)

I will post pictures when my Mac starts behaving itself! I'm fortunate compared to all of the people in the other flat because they don't have wifi OR a desktop working.

That's all from me! Have a lovely day!

P.S. A lot of us joke that we're going to come back with southern accents rather than British ones because so many kids in the group are from Tennessee and Georgia. I WILL NOT LET THAT HAPPEN.

Things have been so hectic that I've barely had time to sleep, let alone update this blog! I'll do better, though, I promise.

Well ... I'm here, and it's wonderful. It didn't start out that way, though. When we arrived at Heathrow, it was misty and gusting wind. We ended up doing a pub crawl that night, which meant frequenting a few pubs in the area. Being that I don't drink and it seemed like everyone else did and also that I was beyond exhausted (I slept for maybe an hour on the plane ride over), I just kind of lost it. I got back to the flat and burst into tears. I'm so close to my family anyway, and being so far away for so long just seemed terrifying. I think it hit me then that I wouldn't see them for three and a half months. It kind of hit me when I had to leave my dad at the airport, but it DEFINITELY hit me then. I thought I was going to die.

However, sleep and sun can do wonders to you. The next day (Sunday) was very nice and we took a tour bus around London. We were set free at two to roam in Piccadilly Circus, so I went off with three girls from Tennessee, Lara, Melissa and Charity. Car, just for you there was a Spanish festival, where we saw a four-story human pyramid and dancing horses.

Yesterday we had orientation for our British Life and Cultures class at 8:30 and then we also met with our International Issues class led by our Mizzou professor, Clyde Bentley. He seemed really nice and laidback. Things are looking very positive in the journalism direction. :) After that, we had a few travel people come in and talk to us about weekend trips. There are just so many opportunities that it was overwhelming. I think next weekend I might head off to a lodge by the sea in Wales to do cliff-jumping and surfing.

Today, Katie (my roommate) and I headed back to Piccadilly Circus to wander. Before she left, her friends gave her a present that had 50 London cards with different things to do on each of them. Her goal is to do all of the activities on the cards, so we got Card #1 out of the way today. We found some old record shops and browsed for shoes. At 2 o'clock, we find out what our internships are, so Katie and I will be heading over to the school in a bit for that. I'M SO SCARED! The internship will be such a huge part of this trip. I hope I get a good one.

My flatmates are wonderful. I couldn't ask for any better ones. Katie and I share a room on the bottom floor that's probably half the size of my room at home. Katie is from Mizzou and is actually the one I'll be sharing a house with when I go back in January. She's really sweet and quiet. We get along great. The other two girls are Diana and Nichole. They go to a small private college in Naperville, Ill., and are both into theater. Diana's boyfriend Jon is also on this trip and he spends most of the evenings with us in our living room. Again, very nice kid.

The flat is nice, if not a bit dirty and small. Nichole described our bathroom to her parents like this: If you sit on the toilet, you can wash your hands in the sink and stretch out your legs and wash your feet in the shower at the same time. You're hard pressed to fit two people in the kitchen, too. We have a mini fridge which is hard for 4 people to share, plus there were bits of mold growing on the egg cases and drawers. Ick. The living room is really big and has two armchairs, a couch, a TV and TV stand (that doesn't work.. yet), and a computer table and chair. Diana and Nichole's room is upstairs, and the staircase is right by our door. They call their new abode "the midget room" because once you walk up the stairs, the ceiling goes up to your shoulders. You have to duck down to walk across the room. They thought it was the coolest thing until they figured out that it's very difficult to pull on a pair of jeans while hunched over. By far, the greatest part of our flat is the balcony. Katie and I can access it from our room and we can also access it from the living room. At night, when we're all sitting in the living room talking, we'll open the doors and get a nice breeze. Lawn chairs are also sitting on the deck, so Jon has fallen asleep there a few times.

We live in one of the poshest areas of London, in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. Apparently Elton John lives right up the street, and if I see him, I might just die. I still need to find out Jude Law's place of residence, so don't worry, Ames - I'm right on that.

I got ahold of Dickon last night on the phone and we made tentative plans to have dinner together on Thursday night. I'm so excited! For those of you who don't know, I met Dickon via facebook about a year and a half ago and we've been good friends ever since. He lives and works in London, too. It will be nice to finally meet him! I also have plans to meet Perry for afternoon tea on Thursday. I can't wait!! Thursday should just be wonderful in general.

Katie and I are about to head off to our internship meeting. Wish me luck! I'll update soon. Love and miss you all.

All right, I'm shipping out in less than an hour. I'm so nervous!!!! I need one more thing ironed before I stuff it in my suitcase and before airport security rips the insides of my suitcase apart. Why bother? Then I need to figure out how to fit laundry detergent into one of my two bags - both of which are almost zipped and protruding at odd angles in various places.

I'M SO SCARED!!!! I am not mature enough to do this. Repeat after me: I have Perry. I have Perry. I have Perry. And my teddy bear. Breathe.

The next time I update this, I'll be in London! Or someone will close it down post-mortem. :/ HAPPY THOUGHTS, ASHLEY.