I'm alive! And, I'm using an English keyboard, so bare with me if things get typo-ish. I think I can handle it, though.

So. I'm in Oxford, and tomorrow I check in at Brasenose College. Until then, I'll spend my second night at the hostel. Northwest lost my luggage. Yeah. So I have one more clean outfit before I really need to worry. Also, the hostel does not have internet ... so that's the reason for my delay. I'm avoiding my email, since I'm sure it's jammed.

The enter key is so hard to find!

Oh, and my cell phone doesn't work.
And my flight was extremely delayed getting into London.

But other than that, I'm alright. The city is nice (but huuuge), and the weather is pretty damn entertaining. I could sit in the hostel and watch it and laugh, but I have far better things to do.

Sorry for the short post. Hopefully BNC's internet will work tomorrow. For now, I have to try to track down my baggage, figure out my cell problem, and email a few people who probably think I'm dead.

Ridiculousness

Alright. I think I’m actually going to survive the next day and half, and find myself in London! After huge problems with Northwest, I think everything is straightened out. That was a nightmare, by the way.

And, if you’ve seen the itinerary that I sent out, the flight numbers posted there are wrong. What happened was, NWA canceled my flight to Baltimore. So, they then put me onto a flight to Amsterdam, and then to London from there. Yikes! Then, to make things more difficult, they also scheduled me for another flight to Baltimore. So, I was supposed to be in two places at once, on two separate routes to London.

After a few hours, I got it all straightened out with NWA (they were very nice about it), and now I’m back to the original plan of going to Baltimore first, and then on to London. The flight to Baltimore is earlier than first expected, but as long as I get there, I’m happy.

Also, the plans for renting an apartment in London are finalized. Yippee! That’s going to be much better than staying in a hotel. We can make our own food, do laundry, and pretend we live in London. It’ll be fantastic.

Needless to say, I’m excited. I just hope I don’t forget anything too important! Oh, and I got all of those papers finished, somehow. Still not sure how I did it on time.

Can't take the STESS! *tweaks out*

Ahhh! So stressed out.

I leave Thursday afternoon.

I still have to:
Get dressed.
Get all of my stuff from Sean's place.
Write 3 essays.
Haggle over grades with 2 professors.
Visit my grandparents.
Return crap at Target.
Set up my computer for my little sister.
Get to Oakland from State.
Return library books.
Do Laundry.
MOVE OUT OF APARTMENT BEFORE 9pm tonight.
Find an extra few thousand dollars for my trip.
PACK/figure out what the hell to take
waterproof my shoes
figure out a cell phone solution
find a few thousand more dollars
get on the freakin' plane


I don't know if I'll make it. I have so much to do before I fly out!
Hah. So instead, I'm writing on this thing.
Wish me luck!

Travel Journal Entry Numero Uno!

So, here's the deal-io.

This is going to be my shiny new TRAVEL JOURNAL!
I know, you're all dancing around unable to contain your excitment.
Calm down! It's much easier to read when you're sitting still.

I'm writing this not only for my own record, but also for the handful of people who want to live vicariously through me while I'm abroad. Friends, family, co-workers, strangers ... you're all welcome to watch for updates. Hopefully I'll be able to upload pictures pretty regularly, especially since I'm bringing my nifty laptop with me.

For those of you interested, here's the overview of my next month and a half:

• Fly out to London on June 28th and somehow get to Oxford.
• Throughout the month of July, take a class about British dramas and theatre with Prof. Brian Connery at Brasenose College (BNC), which is part of the University of Oxford.
• Study multiple plays and SEE THEM PERFORMED with the class. So far, I know we're doing Midsummer Night's Dream, Love's Labours Lost, and Macbeth, along with a few more. Plus, we're going to theatres like the National Theatre, the Globe, and the Swan in Stratford-upon-Avon
• Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Release Party! I'm totally going. It's in London, and it's pretty impossible to get into. But, I'm sure there will be a few thousand fans hanging around outside, and I'll be one of them! Probably won't dress up, though. That's just a little too much.
• London, Cambridge, Stonehenge, Bath, Avebury, and a few places in between are all on my list of "excursions".
• SEAN! My wonderful boyfriend is joining me out in Oxford at the end of my term. Once that's finished, we'll be staying in either Oxford or London for another week, then we'll go to Paris for a few nights, and then back to northern London to visit his relatives. Seeing him after a month will definitely be the best part of this trip.
• Come home! I'll be back in Michigan on August 8th. That gives me about 40 days to make my mark in England.

So, there you have it. A brief overview. It'll probably change drastically over the next few months. I'll try to post often and keep it somewhat interesting. But, if you don't hear from me for a few days, email me! I might have fallen into the Thames or something.