Classes and Hanging Out!

Hey guys!! 

Man, I’m sorry I haven’t been updating this as often as promised!

So classes have started. I’ve got two, two hour classes, one of Wednesday and one on Friday. Wednesday is W. B. Yeats and Friday is Arthurian Adaptations. I really like both of them. I’m having a hard time understanding my Arthurian Adaptations teacher, but I have a feeling I’ll get used to it. I’m really excited for both of these classes! *grins* They are going to count as my last two English gen eds so next year is going to be all core English classes, which will be tough, but I can do it!!

I think it was Sunday, but I made potato soup for the house recently. It was my step-dad, Joe’s, recipe. Everyone loved it. :)

My friend Kelda and I got out whole house out of the house Tuesday. We all went bowling. It was a lot of fun, and I found a DDR machine! I know what I’m doing this weekend *grins* I think we’re going to try and get the house out at least once a month. It’s good for bonding and building friendships and it’ll be fun to get us all out of the house and stuff.

James, one of my house-mates, and Kelda and I have this thing where we have started watching at least one or two movies a week. The other people in the house rotate in and out of the movie nights, but it seems to be the three of us a lot. It’s fun.

Kelda taught Hwe (pronounced like Hue), James and I a new card game and we played that Wednesday night. It was a lot of fun. We’ve started calling it ‘pot’ *rolls eyes* but it’s called Rummy Royal. I’m thinking of maybe trying to teach them Eucher. I miss it a lot.

Today the three of us (James, Kelda, and I) are going to get groceries. James has a car, so that means no lugging it on the bus! I’m going to try some recipies from the book Aunt Julie gave me over the summer, I’ll let you know how that turns out *grins*

Namaste, Y’all!

Lucy

Thoughts from places: Bath

It's beautiful here. I love it so much. It's a bit brisk, but nothing I can't handle. This post is going to be a little scatterbrained because I'm sitting in an Internet cafe across the street from Bath's Original Theatre Royal. There is a little sign that says they have a tour at 2:30 today, and so I'm hopping I can catch it before the bus back to Swansea! (beware of spelling errors)

-The rain here (in Wales) is really weak rain. It's like... misting or spitting instead of raining. Coming from Tahlequah where the streets flood when it rains and my waterproof backpack got soaked through my first year, the rain here is nothing. It's kind amusing to see the locals huddled under umbrellas and stuff. The thing about the rain here is that it's persistent. It will do the misting or spitting thing all day and so by then end of the day I'm still pretty wet. That being said, YOU WILL NEED BOOTS (of some kind or another).

-I loved the Baths. They were so neat and old. I would love to be able to go back when there are LESS people. That way I could walk around and read everything and see it all and not feel rushed an hurried.

-I went to the Jane Austen House and bought something for Amy :) (Hush, I wanted to you silly thing) I also treated myself to hot chocolate and carrot cake. It was amazing.

-Across from me there is also the youth hostel. I can't get in, or at least I didn't try the door and the windows are dark, but it looks neat. I plan on trying to stay at hostels during most of my traveling this trip.

-Speaking of traveling, I don't know if I've mentioned but I've bought a ticket to go with the school to Oxford and see the museum there and to go with the school to DUBLIN on St. Patrick's Day!!!! I'm super excited. I don't plan on drinking much, but I will be there three days so I'm hoping I have time to see a show ;) I also bought my ticket for the Harry Potter studio tour that opens in March! My ticket is for April, but still! I'm so excited for all of this!

-I signed up for my classes. I have two. An 11-1 on Wen that is Yeats and an 11-1 on Fri that is Arthurian Adaptations!!!!! AHHHH!!!! SO excited for this second class!!

I think that's it for the mo!
Namaste

A dragon’s eaten my time, I swear.

Okay, so I pulled into Swansea Friday, the 13^th of January. Once I got to my room I crashed with a migraine for most of the weekend. Monday was the first day of our orientation and we also visited The Gower. The Gower is this beautiful spot (I have pictures in the flicker -->) and I can’t wait to go back when it’s warming and the shops aren’t closed!

Last week and this week have been our pre-sessional class. I really liked the teacher and the subject was really interesting. We learned all about Britain’s political and social history since WWII. I wish it hadn’t been crammed in to only two weeks, but oh well.

Last weekend we visited a few places but I’d caught some kind of bug and asked to be able to stay home. They let me and so I slept most of that weekend away as well. Eh, so it goes.

We sign up for classes and things tomorrow. I’m nervous because that means classes really start and I hope I do things alright. I hope I have at least one fun English class and we’ll see what else I can get. My essay for the pre-sessional  is due the first Monday of February. The way they write essays here is completely different then the way they write them for English papers here. I’m a little worried that I’m going to mess something up and fail the paper.  I hope not, that’d be so embarrassing.

I’ve gotten to do a little exploring of Swansea. I’ve wandered the streets and bought some gifts for people. I’m still looking for a few things before I send off a box to you guys. I bought a stuffed dragon! He’s super cute. I bought a new purse, hat and skirt. They are very hippyish and if you know how I dress you’ll know that’s perfect for me :)

Saturday we are going to Bath and I’m super excited about seeing the Roman ruins and stuff. I also bought tickets to go see Oxford and tickets to spend St. Patrick’s day in DUBLIN!!

Namaste, everyone!

An Open Letter to the other Americans in my Pre-Sessional

Dear You,

I would love to inform you that you are perpetuating the stupid and rude American steriotype. I'm not sure if anyone informed  you or stressed the importantce of the fact that you are representing America, your state and your University while you are here. I'm here to say this. YOU ARE DOING A BAD JOB. I'm also no sure if you understand that talking while the professor is talking is the hieght of rudness. Expessialy when there are sixty of us and he is good enough to understand where we are coming from an d willing to help us in any way he can. In case you were wondering, while seated in the front row, I could not hear him while he was five feet from me. Also in case you have not noticed, our Professor is not only kind and funny, but very helpful. This is wonderful for us and that fact that you do not respect him, the opertunity you have or the other students around you just goes to show that you are not as smart as I exprected. Pity. 

We have less then two weeks the learn over sixty years of British history and understand it's politics. Sit down. Shut up. And at least let me learn, even if you have no plan to. 

Sincearly,

Me.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In other news I have an address!! It's over there --> 

I'll write up about my weekend and maybe post it tomorrow, I'm still so livid about that whole class thing...

Cheers!

London!!

Okay, so I failed in the updating on Sunday but that’s okay, I have a feeling I will be writing a lot more than once a week. How in the world could I contain everything I’m doing and going through in just one post a week?

First off, JERSEY BOYS IS AMAZING!!

Okay, not that that is (slightly) out of my system I’ll go back to the beginning.

I packed and saw friends and tried to not freak myself out too much last week. THEN on Tuesday I woke up at 4am, to leave my house at 4:45. My dad and step-mom Jackie had driven over from Siloam Springs the night before and so they met us (my mom, step-dad Joe, and me) at our house and we drove to the airport. Checked my baggage (my heavy theatre book made one of my bags over the limit, yay), had breakfast and said goodbye. I did not do this well, but at least I didn’t cry or have hysterics in the airport. I already miss my mom and dad and Joe and Jackie… I have so many things to tell them and not enough time to tell them all.

This is one of the things I’ve realized in just a few days. SO MANY things are going to happen, and I’m never going to remember them all of be able to tell them all, so I just need to stick to the big things. Or at least what I think are the big things…

The plane ride to Newark wasn’t too bad, I slept a bit. I got to Newark and the first thing I did was find a bookstore that had John Green’s new book, The Fault in Our Stars. It’s fantastic. I’m close to the end, but I don’t want to finish it, I don’t want it to be over so I’m kinda putting that off… heh. I met up with Betsy, my mom’s best friend who is going to London with me and helping me around and stuff.  She’s amazing and I’m so glad she is helping me. Instead of having to wait in the airport for my 8 hour layover, I got to go to her house, print out some things I’d forgotten to and do a few more things (like eat and read TFioS:) ).

A cab picked us up and drove us to Newark and we checked Betsy’s bag and then went in. I wasn’t feeling too good, so I just had a Jamba Juice drink. I wish I’d realized I was allowed to take it with me on the plane. Oh well. We got on the plane, and took off. I had a lot of fun watching out the window for a bit and following where we were on the little map in the tv-thing. I saw the lights of Boston. It was great. I talked a bit to the lady next to me, but then she moved. I finally went to sleep for a little bit. I know I slept, poor Betsy didn’t. I was awake when we flew over England, and I recommend this to anyone going after me. BE AWAKE FOR THE FLIGHT OVER LONDON. It was amazing, pure and simple. 

It’s now Wednesday if anyone is keeping count.

Getting through the border and customs was a very easy. I gave them a copy of my scholarship letter and my acceptance letter to Swansea, answered a few questions and went through. The line to get there was long, but I didn’t mind it. I couldn’t stop smiling. I was IN LONDON, why in the world would I be annoyed? Yeah, I was tired and my carry-on was heavy, but I am blessed with this opportunity and I wasn’t going to waste a minute of it. SMILE, EVERYTHING IS AN EXPERIENCE. We then got on the Heathrow express to Paddington, bought my ticket to Swansea (which was cheaper because I bought a youth BritRail pass that gave me a discount) and then a taxi to our hotel (The Waldorf!!)

Our hotel room wasn’t ready so we sat in the lobby and kinda crashed in some chairs until it was. You have to realize by this point I’d been awake for 26 hours with only naps on planes to get me by, and four hours a sleep the last time I’d been in a bed... I was a lot better than Betsy though, so I managed the nice guy who brought us out luggage and stuff. British pounds are weird. The two pence coin is the biggest and I keep thinking it’s the two pound coin. I don’t remember who said it on the list, but I agree, A COIN PURSE IS A MUST. Sorry for so many things in all caps, but I think that’s the best way to remember what to tell the next people.

After an awesome nap we got up and went to Lester Square and bought discount tickets for Jersey Boys! TAKE THE WEST END MAP, it’s a life saver! We walked through Covent Garden Market on the way to Lester Square and a saw something I wanted to buy Sarah Elizabeth. It was a booth of bags and shirts and other things that said “Born to dance” on them J We had time before the show do go to dinner and so we walked around, trying to find something little vegetarian me could eat. We found this awesome Asian restaurant that was completely vegetarian! It was really good. Oh, so WATER ISN’T FREE AND FREE REFILLS DON’T EXIST. I had to be reminded of the water thing more than once.

Jersey Boys was fantastic. I want all the songs they sang in the show in their original format, I think that would be neat. I’ll be writing a more detailed review of the show for Dr Robyn and if she okay’s it I might post it on my blog as well.

We wondered around London a bit before going back to the hotel. There I took a shower, we had tea and figured out what we wanted to see on Thursday and I crashed.

Thursday

I’d set my alarm for 9 and after waking up at 9 I set it for 10 *grins* I’m sure this sounds familiar to Kaitlan and my mom if no one else ;) At 10 I did get up, grabbed my computer and went to do a few errands. I’ve decided that opening a bank account in the UK is a good idea, instead of having to continually pay some percent to withdraw my money. So I go to Barclays (which is a partner with my bank in the States, BoA) and not only change over the American cash I have with me but ask about opening an account. I can’t open one at a location if I want to have an account for less than a year, so I fill out some paperwork, realize I have no idea what my address at Swansea is going to be and so take the paperwork with me to finish and then give to the local branch when I get to Swansea.

I’m hungry by this point and so stop in a little café to get some amazing hot chocolate and a croissant. I have it as “take-away” (instead of take out) and go back to the lobby of the hotel. It’s there that I start this and check my e-mail and facebook. I send a few e-mails and type this out, but don’t finish before I need to go wake up Betsy. It’s noon now and we need to go get our tickets for what we are seeing. We like the idea of a matinee of The Pitman Painters and an evening performance of War Horse.

Unfortunately there are no discount tickets for War Horse and we end up seeing Backbeat, a musical about the Beatles. After getting out tickets we go back to the hotel and have afternoon tea! It was wonderful. Tea and scones and a little chocolate tart thing. I love the idea to take a break during a busy day and just sit and enjoy some tea. I wish we could do that in America. That America was so… rushed and hurried. Mind you, I think I’m physically incapable of walking slow, or talking slow, so I don’t know if I’d survive that…

LONDON IS NOT FLAT. I didn’t realize until Betsy pointed it out to me, but the reason my legs hurt from all the walking (even though I walk quite a bit back in the States) is because London is not flat. Do not wear heels if you plan on going anywhere, the cobbles are very intense here. I love how close everything is, as well has how small. The stages are very small compared to the stages of Broadway. Orchestra seats are called stalls, the mezzanine is the balcony and they serve liquor and ice cream during intermission.

Pitman Painters was very interesting, the main themes were about art and who can be called a painter and the like. I liked it, and I’m annoyed at myself for finding it hard to stay awake. This is not a comment on the show, but on how tired I was. I think I got about 90% of the show, but I’m still annoyed. It was a production by the National Theatre which Betsy says is like a “good housekeeping” seal of approval on a show. 

After the play, I went back to the hotel and crashed for about an hour. Then Betsy and I went through Covent Garden Market to grab some food from the booths. I liked the little spinach turnover I got, but apparently hers wasn’t as good. We walked around a bit and then went to McDonalds so she could try and get wifi for her phone. The McDonalds was very weird, but basically the same.

We went to Backbeat, which I enjoyed, but being the hardcore Beatles fan she is, Betsy didn’t like it as much. I also really liked the staging and the set changes and things, they were very well done. After the show I went back to the hotel and Betsy went to do something… but I crashed so hard I don’t remember much at all.

Friday

I woke up this morning at 9, got dressed and went to the little shop next door for food. I got a lovely chai latte and a greek yoghurt. I went back upstairs, watched the news with Betsy a little bit and then we hugged and said goodbye. It’s a little sad, but I’m okay. I don’t think it’s really hit me yet.

I got a taxi to Paddington Station and I am now on the train to Swansea! 

1st of January 2012 - ONE WEEK!!

Hello everybody! Lucinda here!

So this is my blog, where I will be documenting my trip to Wales! Welcome! If you've stumbled here by accident  let me tell you a bit about myself. Those of you who know me, you are more then welcome to skip this! Hi! My name is Lucinda Stambaugh and I'm 21. I've been at Northeastern State University for three years and I'm a senior now! I am a double major in theatre and English and have an amazing opportunity to study abroad in Swansea, Wales for the spring semester! I am so blessed with this opportunity and this blog is so I can tell every one back home (in Tulsa/Tahlequah, Oklahoma) about what is going on in my life while I'm in Wales and hopefully a few other places!

Okay, with that out of the way, now on to the real reason for this blog! My trip to Wales! Oh, man I'm so excited and nervous. I've decided to try and blog at least every Sunday, maybe more if I have time :)

I have nine days before I leave. I have packed one suitcase, but looking at it now, I know I'm going to re-pack it. I'm balancing trying not to bring too much and bring enough for the variaty of the weather... My mom's best friend Betsy is amazing and going to meet me in Newark, NJ and fly to London with me. We're going to stay there for three days and see London for a bit. I'm so excited! Betsy's given me a packing list that makes a tone of sense. With the list and the things I know Caleb and Danielle have left me, I'm not too worried about forgetting something.

My plane leaves at 7am Tuesday the 10th. I'm spending Sunday afternoon/evening and Monday day in Tahlequah. If this is where you live, this your last chance to see me before I leave. I have to meet with a few people and double check things with people at NSU. This means I really on have six days left in Tulsa! Oh my goodness... So much to do, so many people to see and things to pack... I better get started!!

Namaste,
(The spirit in me honors the spirit in each and every one of you)
Lucinda

P. S. I swear these will get better as time goes on!