Package of Amazing!

It is Melanie's birthday today! She is 21! They grow up so fast... Happy birthday Melanie! Wish I could be there to celebrate with you : )

So I woke up today around 11:30. The plan was to go to campus and hand in my paper, ask about travelcards at the post office, get lunch, and go grocery shopping. After checking my email, the plan became hand in the paper, ask about travel cards, pick up a package!!!!!!!, get lunch, and go grocery shopping.

So I got to campus at exactly the wrong time when everywhere but the post office was closed for lunch. So I went to the post office and the only questions they answered were that no, they didn't sell travelcards there so no, they couldn't help me. So I got lunch and went back to the room and messed around online until 1:30 when everyone would come back from lunch. Found out that the prompts for the Modernity essay are STILL not posted so basically I'm just wasting these two free days. Anyway, back to campus.

Picked up the package at the post office which was rather larger than I had been expecitng : ) I took it upstairs to turn in my essay and then went back to the tower to see what in the world was making the thing so heavy. Turns out the sheer weight of awesomeness was what did it. Kai and Steph were good enough to include a list of contents so I know I won't leave anything out. First off, they included some colored pictures, as well as a chibi adventure, which have brightened up my room considerably. I was just recently bemoaning my lack of posters to relieve the prison cell atmosphere. They also included two coloring books and a big box of crayons, so guess what I'll be doing until they post those essays!!

Food items included the largest bag of jellybellys I have ever seen with lots of cherry : ) yummm. Also, a box of koala yummies which are hard to find even in the states and certainly don't exist here, a box of pocky because it's awesome, laffy taffy, jolly ranchers, reese cups, gum, and starbursts. Either I'm coming home fat or with extra candy : P More likely the former. Oh, also Peeps to get me in the easter mood!! Non-candy food was Ramen, which they do not have out here - they have similar products but let's face it, Ramen is Ramen. They sent chopsticks with the Ramen so the two Asian exchange students in the flat can make fun of me : P Also, instant microwave rice, fruit roll ups, and cherry tea. The tea is my favorite brand that I only just discovered here - a brand called Twinings. Kai says you can only find it in Disney World in the states. Phoo. Can't wait to try the cherry though. Oh, and they included hot chocolate too, which is good becuase the stuff i took pictures of wasn't so great. Oh, and most thrillingly, they also included a can of campbells soup. I can't wait to eat that. The soup here is just not as good.

In miscellany, one pirate duck and one dinosaur which, as reccomended, became a ninja. I made it a mask to commemorate the occasion. The pirate duck's name is Arrrrgo and the ninja dinosaur's name is was going to be Davey but then I remembered that he's a ninja... oh what to do... so I named it Javey : ) I made Arrrrgo a ship since I made Javey a mask, and now I have a lovely pirate-ninja war going on in my room : )



Unsuspecting pirate duck.....



....suspects nothing...



Death from above!



Arrrrgo is ignorant of his plight!

Yeah... I didn't go grocery shopping today : P With all that food I probably won't need to until I get back from break! And anyway, it started snow/raining and got cold so I stayed inside and gave my room a good cleaning. Then I colored a picture from the Disney Princess coloring book! Yay!



Ok, it's not my fault they drew Ariel looking slightly hungry. Why yes, the caption DOES say "nom nom nom". And yes, those ARE fangs. : )

Let's see... in other news... i want another cornish pasty. The end.

surprise package!

I definitely woke up thinking I had missed my alarm this morning - but it was just that I don't have the myth lecture Monday mornings anymore. I had some pretty entertaining dreams last night, including one wherein I finally received the package Emily sent me...

Modernity lecture was not particularly amusing, despite Clare's assurances that parts of Kafka's Metamorphosis are really quite funny... but it was my only class, so that was ok. It was a lot warmer today, and my cough seems to be much better as well. I wonder if that's connected.

Anyway, when I got back to the room after lecture, I remembered my dream, which made me realize I had forgotten to check the post room one more time for the package. I also had to go pick up the new course packet for myth class, so I went back out and did that. The new course packet is pretty thick and does not look at all interesting, but we shall see. Then I went down to the post room - and they did have the package! I was pleasantly surprised : ) I took it back to my room and opened it, rather curious as to what it was. The label said 'book' (wow I just realized that there are no double quote marks on British keyboards... I'm typing this in the library...) but that didn't tell me much. I opened it, and it was a beautiful copy of Neverending Story! Seriously, this book is very pretty. I'm trying to refrain from reading it for a few more weeks so that I'll have something entertaining to read on the flight home, but it is very tempting. So, thank you Emily for that most thoughtful package : )

Then I had a nap, and did some recreational reading. Around five thirty I went out to the library (where I am now) to do a bit more research for my presentation on Thursday. I am now ready to present (I've got a presentation Thursday and another one Friday... I hope I don't get them mixed up (oh I just found the " button. It's above the 2 where the @ sign would be on American keyboards. I've learned that British style papers don't use ", but only ', so that must be why. But my professors have said it doesn't really matter - they'll just know I'm an American : P) because Cherokee creation myths really have nothing to do with travel plays... or at least, not much).

Oh, also, there was a spectacular sunset today. The campus grounds looked amazing. And it would seem that the top floor of the library is just the place to go for great views, because... wow. You don't often get such rich, saturated color. There was a low fog today - I think that might have helped.

I'm about to go check out the Star Wars trilogy from the short-loan desk... I've got a thesis all prepared in case they ask me to prove it's for academic purposes, but really, I don't think they care that much : P Then I shall get dinner and some ice cream and proceed to stay up til absurd hours in what is technically the morning.

The End.

packagepackagepackage

For some reason this morning I woke up around 8 AM. There was no noise in the hall and I didn't have a class til 2... the only thing I can think is that the sun woke me up, because it was a surprisingly cloudless day today, and my curtains really do nothing to keep the light out.

Well anyway, I went back to sleep. When I did wake up I ate a tiny lunch and began the reading for tomorrow. I was surprised by its length... so far for Early Modern Culture we have only had excerpts, nothing I couldn't finish in a night. This time we had a 68-page (that's English printer pages - larger than 8.5x11) travel journal, written in 1590-something. It was rather boring, and, I am inclined to believe, 60% or more made-up. I read 29 pages of it before I had to go to class, determining to print the rest out because I couldn't handle staring at the screen that long at a solid block of text (paragraphs hadn't been invented when this was written I guess). Right before I left, I checked my email, and lo! My package had arrived!! Excitement.

I went to class and discovered that I had done the reading for next week by mistake. Ah, but it's Oulipo, which really means randomness, so no one could tell and now I'm done for next week.
Sebastian actually showed up for class today and we parcelled out bits of the presentation so that we won't actually have to meet again until the day we present in class. Yay.

After class, I went and printed out the rest of the boring travel journal. Then I went and joined the sports federation and archery club... then I went to get my package!

Contained therein were my workout pants (just in time for Lent), fuzzy toe-warming socks, a spare cell phone battery, clothesline, a booklight (thank goodness!!), a back-up booklight (that is to say, string), and a lot of food... oh yes, various tasty American goodies... on Ash Wednesday. Quite the trial. Tomorrow, I will get fat.

Ash Wednesday Mass was tonight at 6, which was weird because I'm used to going in the morning and having ashes all day. Good thing it was this late though, because man, they are serious about their ashes around here. Rather than just having the ashes in a somewhat indistinct smear across the forehead, they mix the ashes with holy water, making them into a black paste, with which they draw a cross identifiable from rather a distance. It was interesting explaining the meaning of the big black cross on my forehead to my flatmates when I got back to the dorm for dinner. I mentioned something about England being mostly Anglican, and was quickly corrected. England is mostly atheist. Well, at least they are the nice sort of atheist and not the militant kind.

After a small dinner I took a shower... goodbye ashes after only about two hours... Then I sat down to try to read the rest of the boring travel journal. There really was far too much, so I just skimmed for the interesting bits, and was done rather quickly.

Tomorrow is an early class and some yummy American candy : )

The end.

PACKAGE!

Myth class was funny today. The professor tried to show us some slides near the end of lecture. He brought in this ancient carousel slide projecter, and actual little film slides. And he had no idea how to work the thing. We viewed many upside down and sideways friezes of the Orphic Mysteries. And no, he did not explain why, if they are supposed to be mysteries, someone went and did a bunch of friezes of them...

My second class was the one i had for the first time today. And I STILL have not met the professor for this class. Apparantly, he is also the Dean of Something, and he's so busy that other people generally just take his lectures and I should talk to the TA in charge of my seminar. Sure. Whatever.

After lectures i went to go get my package!!!!!

I found Central Stores without a hassle for once! And when I got there they told me my package was in the post room.... figures. So I went to the post office, and they told me I had to go to the post room, which I had thought was the post office, but apparantly not. The post room was a little tougher to find, being in the basement of... some building. I found it eventually, showed the lady my ID and waited eagerly for her to find my package!!!

She couldn't find it. Luckily some guy working there was like "Oh hey I found it" just from overhearing me say my name. She had overlooked it because Robin was spelled with an i and not a y, and she was looking for one with a y >.< Good thing the kid was working there, or I might never have got my package!! ... !

I took it home and opened it, rather curious as to what was inside this thing that was larger than i was expecting...

There were various medications, cough drops, band-aids, neosporin, American candy (yay!!!), some hooks to hang on the door so i can hang my coat up, clothespins, kleenex, packing tape, a book light (thank goodness), a water filter pitcher (surprise!! wow!!) and also, my pig!! (also surprise!! yay!!)

I was really, really, really excited to get the pig. I missed it. It's hard to sleep without it. I know, I'm like, five. But now my bed has something other than white on it. I really am just thrilled. I can't wait to sleep tonight : P

After I got over the excitement of the package I settled down to do some reading. Chatted for a bit. Some writing... yep, that's my day.

...


PACKAGE!