1.) I'm sick. Yuck. We had a head cold thing going around the Elon kids, but it seems I got the worst version of it, complete with chest congestion and impacted sinuses. Fabulous. But, while I can't breathe out of my nose, and every time I laugh I go into a coughing fit, I don't feel bad, so I've been going about my normal activities with a bottle of hand sanitizer near by. I have been sleeping more, so hopefully that, and drinking water / tea all week and with my powerful cocktail of my vitamin regimen and Sudafed decongestant, hopefully I'll kick this thing in the pants sometime this week.
2.) I finally did my laundry. It's an absolute PITA to do it because 1.) it's expensive (£2 for wash, and £1 to dry although it usually takes 2-3 cycles in the dryer to get my clothes dry, so make that about £4-5 per load), and 2.) to get to the laundry room, I have to go up two flights of stairs, walk to the other end of the building, then walk down three flights of stairs. That gets to be a pain after a while, especially when you're trying to time your laundry. I now appreciate the luxury of having a washer and dryer within 10 steps of my door, something I once took for granted.
3.) It has been a sports week. Between watching the Olympics and the Six Nations rugby tournament on BBC iPlayer, its just been a week full of sports. Although as far as the Olympics go, I haven't seen much besides the curling because when it's 11:00PM here, it's 3:00PM in Vancouver and all the exciting sports aren't on for another 5 hours. Fortunately, the Canada v. USA hockey game is playing at 8:15PM tonight, so I'll actually get to watch it. Does anyone else think the Norweigan curlers have funny-looking pants? Also IRELAND BEAT ENGLAND IN RUGBY!!!!! Scotland sadly lost to Italy, BUT IRELAND BEAT ENGLAND. I was able to watch the first half of the match, and there were a couple brilliant plays. Did I mention I'm starting to understand rugby / am becoming a rugby fan?
4.) I've now seen Invictus three times. One more time and it ties My Big Fat Greek Wedding for movie I've seen most times in the theatre. Some people from Elon wanted to see it when it came out at our theatre this week, and so I gladly volunteered to go with them! Understanding the game a little better from watching Six Nations just made it even better and I picked up on things I hadn't seen before.
5.) Our movie theatre is awesome! Every Wednesday night at 11:00PM, they show a "throwback" movie, as in an older movie, and sometimes it's a VERY old movie. We saw Top Gun two weeks ago, and Merrill and I saw a 1920s silent film called "The General" that I thought was going to be a 1998 Irish comedy. Definitely wrong on that one. We couldn't help but laugh once we figure out just how wrong I was. This viewing experience is also where the now-frequently used phrase "So damn cultured." originated. Apologies to anyone who takes offense to that, but clearly, there's no other way to describe sitting through a 2-hour silent film. About a train. In the Civil War. Yeah. Going to these movies gives me an excuse to add my own commentary to the films, which is something I really enjoy because apparently people around me think my commentary is hilarious. Fortunately, this week, they're playing Superbad and next week (and we're insanely excited about this), they're playing MRS. DOUBTFIRE. So there will be plenty of "HELLOOOOOO"s on that night.
6.) I FINALLY GOT MY CARE PACKAGE. After the Queen excised a VAT tax and then my building withheld the package without my knowledge, I finally got my package! Now I can FINALLY get to swim club practice, which I'm really excited for!!!
7.) Sandy and I are going to London next weekend using our rail passes and intend to do every free thing possible. This includes: The British Museum, the outside of Buckingham Palace and hopefully the Changing of the Guard as an IRA bombing in the West End prevented me from seeing this 9 years ago, the Tower Bridge, the Houses of Parliament, Hyde Park (Peter Pan Statue, the Princess Diana Memorial Fountain, and the bench Johnny Depp sat on in Finding Neverland), Millennium Bridge, the Platform 9 3/4 (another Harry Potter site, when did I become a Potter-head?), Picadilly Circus, Notting Hill (and the house with the blue door that is no longer blue), the Thames Footpath, Regent's Park, Trafalgar Square, Harrod's, No. 10 Downing Street, and various other places. We'll have to pay for some things, i.e. a night flight on the London Eye and getting into Westminster Abbey, but those are worth it. Don't worry MomEl, I'll be sure to take plenty of pictures of BIG BEN!!!!!!
8.) My classes are fantastic! The format is definitely different, and there's a lot more personal responsibility, but I really enjoy the challenge involved with that! I'm taking "Peace Processes and Violence" which may be one of the best classes I've ever taken and "Political Culture of Post-War Europe" which feels more like a psych class than a history class, but it's really interesting and our professor is very engaging.
9.) And also on the travel front, Sandy and I are making headway on our Spring Break trip to Spain and day-trip to Morocco. We'll be going to Madrid, Cordoba, Seville (for the biggest Holy Week celebration in Spain), Tarifa and Tangiers in Morocco for a day, Granda (and al-Hambra), Barcelona, and Girona (American cycling capital of Europe). Transport is a little trickier in Spain that in the UK, so it looks like to get from point to point in Spain we'll be using trains, buses, ferries, taxis, planes, and public transport. I'm trying to rent a bike for a day in Granada as well, so this is looking more and more like a trip planned by Charley Boorman. I'm really excited to be going to Spain. It never really occurred to me to go there, and I literally decided to go because Sandy's original travel partner bugged out of St. Andrews after three days and she was really upset that it looked like she couldn't go. So I told her I would go as long as we went to Girona for a day. Turns out we're staying overnight because it's closer to the airport than Barcelona proper! So, my dream to go to the former HQ of Postal, and the current HQ of Team Garmin-Slipstream (Lance may still have a place here, not sure), is going to come true! I'm so excited! And the more we've been talking about it and planning it, the more excited I'm getting to go to a place I haven't been before. Still looking at going to Ireland with Merrill during Revision Week, so to all you folks who worry that I won't make my U2 pilgrimage, don't worry. It will happen. No doubt about that. For those of you who are curious to see what some of these places in Spain look like, I found this guy's website years ago and just recently found it again, but he's got some incredible pictures of the places I'll be going. Click this link, scroll to the bottom of the page, and click the links to "Madrid", "Anadulcia", and "Barcelona" and you can get a feel for where I'll be going.
Well I need to go the library and study so I can watch the hockey game tonight! We haven't won a gold in Men's Hockey in 30 years ... I think it's time to believe in Miracles again.
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