The Lake District (Windermere).

Haiku-a-day:

Feb 27^th

Restless night of sleep,

Kleenexes galore about

the room.  I want health.

((Psst, also, pictures of the Hogwarts Express are posted on the entry entitled "I rode the real Hogwarts Express."  You should go and check them out after reading this post!))

Yesterday was the Lake District trip.  The Lake District contains some of England's largest lakes.  It is also where poets like Wordsworth and Coleridge wrote their poetry.  We spent the day in Windermere, which is excellent.  So beautiful.  Even just the drive up was soooo pretty.  I've put some of my photos from the drive up on here as well so you can see why I love the English countryside so much!

The day began earlier, as usual.  I went with Roxanne, Leah, Vanessa, Melissa, and Stephanie.  (Vanessa is the only one in our group not from UW-Madison).  We bussed out around 9AM, though we were supposed to depart at 8:30AM.  We arrived about 11AM and immediately got tickets to go on a river cruise.  Before we went on the 70 minute cruise, we stopped for lunch at a quaint little shack and got hot dogs and chips (french fries).  After eating, we boarded the boat.  The 70 minute tour (for there was also a 40 min and a 90 min) seemed to be the best option.  It meant getting to see Ambleside.  At first the weather seemed decently warm, but when we got onto the water, it got really cold!  The wind was quite intense and it started to rain.  Still worth it though.

When we got back to shore, we stopped at a coffee shop for hot cocoa (with cream!), then it poured hard for about 10 minutes!  It was almost out of nowhere for the sun had begun to come back out again.  Once the rain had stopped, we decided to explore the city a bit, stopping at various shops, including The World of Beatrix Potter.  Beatrix moved to the Lake District when she had made enough money off her books, so the town was full of Beatrix Potter trinkets.  

We made our way around the hilly city and found a footpath leading up a large hill where the views were supposed to be spectacular.  We didn't get all the way up to the top, but we made it half way and it was lovely!  (Muddy, but lovely).  When we had finished, we stopped at a Tesco, picked up dinner, and headed back to the busses.  

I wasn't feeling so good the whole day, but I'm glad I went.  I can totally see why Wordsworth and Coleridge loved living there and writing there.  It is a very inspirational place.  

This photo and the one above it are views from the bus.  Beautiful countryside.

 At Windermere.  So many birds!  I pet a swan!

L-R: Melissa, Stephanie, Leah, and Roxanne.  On 70 minute boat cruise.

 Climbing the Orrest Head footpath--beginning the climb.

 Part of the way up.

 Wonderful view looking beyond a rock wall.  Sheep in the distance.

 Rock walls are everywhere!

Lovely.

I don't want to be sick.

Haiku-a-day:

Feb 26^th

Lake District and colds

don’t mix very well. Maybe

sleep will do me good?

I'm not feeling very well today, so blogging is going to be cut short.  You will have to wait until tomorrow to get pictures of the Hogwarts Express in York and my trip to the Lake District (Windermere).  Hopefully I will be feeling well by then.  Keep me and my health in your prayers!  I feel terrible.  =(

I rode the real Hogwarts Express.

Haiku-a-day:

Feb 25^th

Today I rode the

real Hogwarts Express.  Yes, that

is right.  Be jealous.

This afternoon, Roxanne, Leah, and I (I say this a lot, but that is because we are traveling buddies!) went to York!  This week in York has been Wizard week.  They offered wizard shows (though we didn't see any or come across any) and a chance to ride the REAL Hogwarts Express.  That is right, the train used in the movies!  The train that Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, and Emma Watson actually rode.  Amazing!  When we got to York, we headed straight for the train.  I mentioned we went in the afternoon.  Leah and Roxanne had class and I ended up needing that time to resubmit my short story.  My friend Karl Martin pointed out to me this morning that the email had changed for the short story competition as well as some of the requirements.  I resent my story to the new email and then looked at the requirements.  They changed it so that you had to turn it in via email AND in person.  Keep in mind the deadline was today, so I was quite angry with them.  This meant that I had to go online, put money onto my print card, go to the Parkinson building where the nearest computer cluster is, print all 11 pages off there and take that to the student union help desk where I was supposed to fill out a submission form.  Soooo much work for such a short notice.  Well, I went to the Parkinson building (I know this is a divergence, but bare with me!) and after waiting (I kid you not) about 20 minutes for my computer to start up and load everything, I realized that I had forgotten to send myself a copy of the story.  I tried accessing it through my sent emails, but it refused to load.  So I called home and asked my flatmate if she could go into my room, go onto my computer, find the file and email it to me.  I had left my door unlocked thinking I'd only be gone a short while.  Well, my flatmate goes to open my door and it's locked!  A maintenance person had locked it!  I know this next part is even more of a tangent, but I'm going to tell it because it's my blog!  =)  This locking out business happened to me yesterday as well!!!!  Two days in a row is ridiculous.  Basically, yesterday two maintenance men came in to test everyone's smoke detectors.  Well, apparently the guys thought I wasn't home (I was in the kitchen making lunch), and they LOCKED my room.  Picture this with me: I'm done eating.  I go into the hall, up to my door and it's locked!  My keys are in there as well as my phone, my computer, my shoes, etc.  So, I borrowed one of my flatmates' keys and shoes, went to the front office (located outside of the St Mark's Residence area, that is why I needed the keys) and find out that the office is closed!!!!!  However, outside the door, there are posters giving numbers of staff in there is an emergency.  One of the numbers says something about having key issues.  So, I memorized that number, headed back to my flat, borrowed my friend's phone and called the number.  A staff member was able to come over about 2 minutes later, so that was good, but the situation overall is ridiculous!  It is not the right of the maintenance staff to lock our rooms. End of point.  So....back to my story.  My flatmate is not able to get into my room to send me the story.  I must go home and make the trip all the way back again.  This done, I take my story to the help desk and the woman says they are out of the submission forms.  Murphy's law.  Of course!  So that is why I am glad we did not leave until the afternoon!  This whole business took forever!

Well, now that you know why we all left late, I shall tell you that we got to York around 2:45.  The Hogwarts Express stopped accepting people to get in line to ride at 3:00.  =)  We practically ran there!

It turns out that we were some of the VERY last people to get in line.  Literally, behind us there were only about 10 people or less!  We just barely made it!  There were plenty of people ahead of us though.  When we got in line, a sign posted nearby said "From this point, wait is 1 1/2 hours."  We didn't wait that long, but I think it was still a little over an hour.  We spotted Dumbledore and Harry Potter in the crowd!  I got a few pictures of them too.  They are awesome.

The ride itself only lasted about 5 minutes, but it was well worth the hour wait because now I can say that "I rode the real Hogwarts Express!!!!!!!!!!!"  Yup, total bragging rights!  

Afterwards we headed to a cafe for a while and then wandered around the city a bit.  We went into another church, walked through a very cool outdoors market, and found the (closed for the night) Vikings Festival.  It was a very good day.  

Ok, so, tomorrow I am going to the Lake District and must be up very early, so I shall not post pictures today.  But you should check back soon.

 Our first view of the Hogwarts Express!

Roxanne and Leah in front of a sign that says "The queue from this point is approximately 1 1/2 hours."

Our tickets.

Blurry, but beautiful.

 Leah, Roxanne, and I in front of the real Hogwarts Express!

Lovely!

 Roxanne with her Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone book.

 HARRY POTTER and DUMBLEDORE!

 View from the back of the train.

Inside compartment.

Submissions in, now I must wait.

Haiku-a-day:

Feb 24^th

Submitted my work

to four sources. Hard part now,

waiting to hear back.

Today was a day of museum tours, post office trips, letter writing stints, and short story and poem editing.  So much to do and so little time.  It's already after 7PM here and I have yet to start reading the 100 pages I assigned myself for class (in order to finish on time).  And I still have to get my butt in gear and do my online computer class!  I can't believe I'm saying this, but I kind of wish I wasn't going to York tomorrow and the Lake District on Saturday.  I love traveling, but I'm getting kind of nervous about getting everything done in time.  I have an essay for the computer class due next week; an essay in English due the week after; and a presentation in the same week as the English essay.  On top of that is all the reading I have to do for everything.  Plus, (remember, in my blog intro I said I'd probably rant!  I'm just staying true to it!) for the essay in my online class, you have to know material from week 7 in order to complete it.  We're in week 5 right now and the essay is due in week 6!!  This means I'm supposed to do ample work.  And considering I still need to do everything from week 4...

Help.

Also, thank you to everyone who has sent me a letter!  I received a letter every single day this week!  I feel so loved!  =)  Responses to be mailed shortly.

Now I lay me down to sleep.

Haiku-a-day:

Feb 23^rd

Yawning and reading

is what I’ll be doing as

soon as I write this.

You can't say I'm not honest!  ; )

Today has been successful in that I have nearly read 100 pages in East Lynne.  I still am quite enjoying the book and can't wait to see how certain plots unfold.  Sometimes I refuse to read the back cover of books because they reveal too much.  Today, I took a short glance at the back of this book and the very first line gives away a HUGE plot twist.  I can't believe it!  I am 244 pages in and this plot twist from the back has not happened yet, so why would they think it's okay to put it on there?  Absurd!  I have not read any more of the back cover other than that.  I refuse!  =)

Beyond that, I cleaned my room (yes, it does seem to get messy quickly, doesn't it?!) and did some laundry.  And, of course, I went to my one and only class of the day: English.  We discussed the only American author we're reading this semester: Louisa May Alcott.  We read her short story "A Whisper in the Dark."  I liked it, though the end of the story which was leading you to believe it to be a happy one ended on an ominous note.  Since we're on the subject of Louisa May, I might as well advertise that Little Women is one of my favorite books and is well worth the read if you haven't yet done so.

Ok, now to be true to my haiku, finish reading the end of the chapter I'm on (while yawning of course) and go straight to bed!  I've got to be up for tomorrow's field trip to the Henry Moore Center for the Study of Sculpture for my Museum Studies class.

Light painting in St. George's Cemetery.

Haiku-a-day:

Feb 22^nd

Crunch time is hard to

deal with when you are busy

meeting new people!

Haiku Rant

I swear I will

have to create

a new poem scheme

made out of just

four syllables

per line because

every time

I try to write

a haiku I

find that lines are

easier to

come up with when

they only have

four syllables.

(this “poem” not

representing

a very good

example, nor

to be confused

with a Than-Bauk

which has a rhyme).

First of all, thank you to everyone who has sent me letters!  They are much appreciated!!!  =)  I love getting mail!  

It's very odd to think about how close I am to being done with this whole semester.  Think about this with me for a minute (this thought occurred to me about a month ago).  Classes began at the very end of January.  We have class all of February and all of March.  The entire month of April is Spring Break.  When Spring Break is over, we have ONE week of regular classes in May, followed immediately by a "Reading Week" (where you write essays and study for your exams), and then you have 3 weeks of finals.  I have 4 classes, 1 final for all.  Guess what, that means that I have TONS of free time then!  To sum up my thought: I will be here for ~6 months, and out of those 6, 2 will be spent doing school!  Isn't that something?!  What a hoot!  (Michelle, I hope you liked that.  I happened to glance over at the card you sent me [that I received today!] and that inspired me to write that last line!)  

For those of you not yet aware, I had a major let down a few weeks ago.  I found out that I would not be getting a summer internship at the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, D.C.  Their library internships, it turns out, are only being offered right now to graduate students in SLIS (School of Library and Information Studies) and photography majors (1 open position for this).  So, I believe I will simply extend my time in England.  There is a group of people who are putting together a trip in late June to go to the biggest art fair in the world (or so I've been told) which is held in Switzerland, so I believe I will go to that.  These plans are tentative right now of course, but I believe extending my trip will be the best option.  I paid for my flat in Leeds until July 5th (or some time around then), so I might as well get my money's worth, right?!

Today, besides doing a TON of reading (I am 126 pages into my 2nd 600 pages novel for English), I took a break to go to a Leeds student club.  My friend Sara and I have been going to the Leeds University Photography Society.  They begin by giving a lecture on various things related to photography, then have a question and answer time, then go to the Terrace for drinks.  Last week the lecture was on the rights of photographers (photographers being anyone with a camera, not just professionals!).  Tonight we learned about light painting, then took a "field trip" down the street to the cemetery attached to the campus.  They chose the cemetery because it was close and decently dark.  It was quite neat to see so many people grouped around various areas of the grounds making odd, jumping or waving movements with flashlights (or "torches" as they called them!) and cell phones to get a cool turnout on their DSLR cameras.  There were probably around 50 people, I would estimate.  The society is huge!  Sara, myself, and our new friend Kiara, made light paintings for the first time.  We began with simple shapes (squiggles, hearts, circles, etc.) then progressed throughout the night to body art: one of us would stand in front of the camera and another person would hide behind them taking a bike light and tracing the body's figure while the last person took the photo.  It turned out to be really cool.  And though it was a cold night, it was worth learning something new and meeting new people. 

Sara making an 8, me a heart.

Sara making a circle, Kiara a heart.

Kiara making squiggles, me a fish.

I wish I could make the photos bigger, but facebook is mean and has made it much harder to take photos from them (the pictures were not taken with my camera, so I don't have the original files).  

I love being a Creative Writing major.

Haiku-a-day:

Feb 21^st

I live, breathe, and dream

creative writing. Thank you

God it’s my major!

     Today I wrote a short story.  It is unedited as of right now, so the title is currently Finding Hope.  I wrote it for a short story competition for Leeds's Culture Week.  The winner will receive £50 (~$80).  I would LOVE to win.  =)  The story is about a little girl who is sent from her home in London, England to live in America (Madison, Wisconsin) with her aunt Hope during WWII.  The little girl, Allegra, is quite shy and doesn't speak to anyone.  Living with her aunt, Allegra is encased in a safe world of love and comfort, and eventually finds her voice.  It has a happy ending.  It sounds cheesy and it probably is overall, but if cheesy wins me the competition, then I'm totally fine with that!  The criteria of the competition is this, it must be a short story focusing on your culture.  Those are very vague and broad rules.  I'm not sure how many people are entering or what my chances are, but it would be quite lovely to win a short story competition in England. 

     In similar news, I have submitted poems to the UW-Madison's Lit Fest.  However, I know that they have a couple hundred submissions, so my chances there are slim.  And I believe I will submit some poems and maybe a few photos to the Journalism magazine's competition that ends today.  (I suppose I should get on that soon!)  'Tis the life of an English major, always trying to get published!  But the more I submit, the more I'm likely to get accepted.  Cross your fingers everyone!

     Also, just curious, how many of you actually like my "Haiku-a-day"?  (I mean in general, not just for today!)

A trip to Cambridge.

Haiku-a-day:

Feb 20^th

Sometimes plans are meant

to be broken and sometimes

plans simply just fail.  

Harry Potter

Must Harry Potter

movie marathons be so

truly wonderful?

     Yesterday I spent the day in a place in England I have always wanted to go: Cambridge!  Originally named after the bridge that cross the Cam river, Cambridge dates back before the Roman Empire.  It is a college city containing the second oldest university in "England and the English speaking world" (Wikipedia) (yes, I just cited from wikipedia!).  The University of Cambridge is ranked first in the world in the 2010 QS World University Rankings (again, Wiki).  

      Our journey began yesterday morning at 8:15AM as Roxanne, Leah, and I headed out through a snowy Leeds to the Parkinson building on campus to catch our coach bus.  The ride there was a little over 3 hours.  We arrived a little short of noon and set out across a foggy, wet Cambridge to enter the city center.  After taking pictures of Queen's college and the famous Cam River, we, and the larger group of friends that joined up with us, stopped at a restaurant to eat lunch.  I ordered a lasagna with chips.  It was the most interesting lasagna I've ever had.  It was good, but everything seemed to melt.  I could taste the noodles, but if I tried to pick them out, I wouldn't be able to because everything melted together.  

       After lunch we headed to the King's College Chapel.  The building from the outside is quite lovely, but the inside is rather typical.  It did not strike me as anything other than "another church in England."  That is not to say I disliked it, simply that after seeing great places like Minster, Westminster, and the Liverpool Cathedral, this cannot compare in the least.  

       Next, we toured the gorgeous grounds of King's College.  They take their gardening seriously.  The lawn...perfect.  No flaws, discolorations, uneven ground--perfect.  The buildings of the college were lavishly constructed.  I love the feeling of walking through a place, knowing it is centuries old, seeing standing history...amazing!  The entire city was like that.  Almost every building seemed to be extremely old.  

       We visited St. John's College (not a very long stay there), then went into the Great St. Mary's Church, and the Round Church.  Both were quaint.  Quite small compared to others we've seen, but each possessing cute features such as small doorways or domed ceilings.  My friend Eric and I went up to the tower of Great St. Mary's Church.  Though we were not all that high up, the view was still amazing.  From the top, we could easily see all of King's College, part of Queen's, a bit of St. John's, the Cambridge Market, and plenty of Cambridge local life (houses, shops, etc.).  I'm sure the view would have been even better if the fog had not hung around everything, but it was still lovely.

       After leaving Great St. Mary's, Eric and I got the chance to speak with a Cambridge student!  The guy informed us a little bit about how school was run over there, where students lived, where classes were located, etc.  This was one of my favorite parts about this trip.  There is nothing like learning about a place from someone who lives there, goes to school there, and has a totally different view of the city than you.  I was lucky enough to have the chance to speak to a second Cambridge student later in the day!  After Eric and I rejoined part of the larger group (who had carried on while we were in the tower), we set off to find the market.  On the way, we found Jesus Lane!  While waiting for people to take pictures with the sign (because who can pass up an oportunity like that?!), I had the chance to speak to a man wearing a suit with a black cape and a blue sash.  I enquired about what his outfit meant.  He told me he had just graduated!  He said that graduating students have 3 (or 4?) different colors sashes.  There was (at least the ones I can remember) white, blue, and red.  Honestly, if there are more, I didn't hear them.  This man said that the blue sash he wore meant that he had just received his PhD!  The other colors meant undergrad an masters, I believe.  It was very neat talking to him and seeing so many Cambridge students in this outfits.  We certainly picked a lovely day to go there!

       We detoured into a Swedish candy store while on our way to the Fitzwilliam Museum next.  The candy store was huge!  It was 2 stories tall.  I didn't get anything, but believe me, I wanted everything.  (I did buy Turkish Delight at the Cambridge Market though!  It was the first time I'd ever had it.)  The Fitzwilliam Museum was very cool.  Unfortunately they didn't allow any pictures inside, but I took some neat ones of the outside.  The museum itself is one of the coolest ones I've seen so far.  It was like a mixture of the British Museum and National Gallery.  It had paintings, statues, an Egyptian exhibit, pottery, etc.  So much.  We definitely didn't have enough time to see everything in it.  I could have spent hours there.  This was our last stop before heading back to the buses to go home.  

      Afterwards, my two pals (or should I be British and call them mates?!) bought frozen pizzas to (cook and) eat while watching Harry Potter.  A great way to end the day!

  View from my window of the snow in Leeds.

  The Cam River!  And hey, there's a bridge!  =)

  More Cam River.

  Cambridge street.

  Creepy architecture. 

  King's College Chapel in the distance.

  Inside King's College Chapel. 

  Grounds of King's College.

  More King's College.

  We went into a gift store.  I found these.  I want them.  (LOTR chess pieces.)

  View of King's College Chapel from the Great St. Mary's Church tower.

  View of Cambridge (St. Paul's College) from the tower.

  Foggy Cambridge.

  Turkish Delight.  I bought some!

It's been a long day.

Haiku-a-day:

Feb 19^th

Some days I just love

the unadulterated

sound of mere silence.

I went to Cambridge today!  As usual, I shall give details of the trip tomorrow, since I am quite tired tonight.  Goodnight!

For Naiola.

Haiku-a-day:

Feb 18^th

Remember the past,

the loved ones lost and long gone.

Treasure the good times.

Today is the 2 year anniversary of my Grandma Naiola Marvel's death.  She died of stomach cancer, and I would like to dedicate this post to her.  She is still missed by her family.  

In happier news, tomorrow I head out to Cambridge for the day.

A silver lining?

Haiku-a-day:

Feb 17^th

Defeat is a state

of mind, not of being so

keep your head up high.

Somewhere Over the Rainbow

As bluebirds swiftly

glide through patchwork skies of gray,

sunshine parts the clouds. 

Well, some of my plans were unexpectedly foiled today.  Not in too harsh a way, but enough so that I'm a little stressed.  It turns out that the Hogwarts Express week doesn't start until Saturday.  Our tickets to spend the day in York were for Friday.  Yessirybob.  So, after discussing this oversight with Leah and Roxanne, we decided on a different day to go (next week Friday instead).  I called National Express, finally get connected to a real person and just as I was about to give the guy my card information to switch reservations, everything became very silent.  My phone ran out of minutes.  I kid you not, I was horrified!  I bought my phone through Orange, so a few seconds after the call was dropped I got a text from them saying "Hey, you have £0.61 left on your phone!!!"  (so maybe they didn't include the exclamation marks, but still, it seemed too jolly for what had just happened).

I borrowed Roxanne's phone, called the number again, waited for the robotic woman on the other line to stop telling me about offers that I didn't care about, and was finally connected to a new person.  After explaining everything to this new person and giving him all my information, he tells me that he can't amend the tickets online, that I'm going to have to go down to the coach station and switch everything in person!!!  That means walking for a half hour into the city center to change the tickets!  And it has to be done tomorrow morning (before our coach actually takes off) otherwise our tickets will be useless and unable to be changed!  So, now you can guess what I'll be doing tomorrow.  On top of that, I will have to "top up" my phone with minutes.  

However, as my haikus say, there is always a plus side.  I am not defeated.  Since we won't be going to York tomorrow, I get one more day to try to get some homework done!  Silver lining I suppose.  

I want to travel everywhere.

Haiku-a-day:

Feb 16^th

Making plans for the

future to travel the world.

Well, England at least.

Today was the first day out of the entire semester that I had to go to 2 classes in 1 day.  My Sensation Novels of the 1860s class only has 3 lectures for the semester.  The rest of the time it's only going to discussion (called seminar here) once a week.  Class went pretty well. Participation doesn't count towards your grade at all here, but the professor makes sure that we all speak.  

Good news!  I finished reading all 633 pages of The Woman in White!  I had to have it done for English this morning.  But guess what...now I'm onto East Lynne by Ellen Wood (a.k.a. Mrs. Henry Wood).  This book is 624 pages long.  Yep.  Every novel we read for this class is extremely long!  There are short stories as well.  For next Wednesday I have to have "Whisper in the Dark," a short story (29 pages in PDF form) by Louisa May Alcott, read (I already completed that this afternoon).  I enjoy the short stories though.  The first one we read was William Harrison Ainsworth's "The Spectre Bride" which was only 6 pages in PDF form.  They are short gothic fictions that really grab my attention quickly.  Seeing as I am a Creative Writing major and want to write short stories, I feel that these have actually helped my knowledge of short stories and given me ideas for ways of describing things in a subtle and very useful manner.  So far I am liking East Lynne better than TWiW.  We'll see how I feel about it in the future!

I was somewhat productive today, too, in buying tickets to travel around.  I bought tickets to go to York for the second time for this Friday.  Why, you may ask, would I want to go back instead of exploring another place?  Try this:  BECAUSE THE HOGWARTS EXPRESS IS GOING TO BE THERE AND I WILL GET TO RIDE IT!!!!!  For only £2 too!  Quite cheap!  Coach tickets for going there only cost £3.60 for both there and back.  Super cheap to have great fun for one day. 

The second thing I did was buy tickets for the very next day to go to Cambridge!!!!  I am super excited for this trip.  I have always wanted to go to Cambridge.  

The third thing I bought was a ticket to go to the Lake District for the weekend after.  Yes, my weekends are full of traveling.  This is the life!  The last two trips are only £15 and £18, so I figured that's a good deal, why pass it up?!  Also, I might be extending my time in England.  There is an amazing trip being set up by my new friend Victoire to go to Switzerland for the biggest art fair in the world held in the middle of June.  She says she can set up the trip so that traveling via plane, train, eating, admission into the events, and the hostels will cost us less than £100.  In my eyes, that's a pretty good deal, all things considered.  We'll see how things pan out in the future!  Adieu for now.

 

Unique.

Haiku-a-day:

Feb 15^th

Sometimes it is good

to stick out like a sore thumb.

Let your light shine on.  =)

A Valentine's Day dinner.

Haiku-a-day:

Feb 14^th

Friends are what make life

livable, enjoyable

and worth enduring.

Since it is Valentine's Day and all, I have decided to put up extra poems.  Yay for you!  =)  And don't worry, for those of you who don't care about poetry, there is a real update of today's events after the poems, so feel free to just scroll down.

A Valentine

Love follows its own

twisting path through life to get

to true harmony.

(The following poem was written over a year ago, so bare with me.  I just thought it should see the light at some point!)

The Music Man

Dear sweet music man

please play a song for me for

I long to hear life

budding from eddies

across a deep blue sea like

passion raging me

onto new worlds of

adventure and freedom, though

softly staying course

to rhapsodies of

reality and fiction

sweetly balanced here

across dreams. Your sound

shall resonate forever

in my heart. Do play!

(Click here to listen to the song Clair de Lune while reading.)

The Rain Knows Clair de Lune

Oh beautiful rain

in the sunlight comes

blown on my window pane

by soft flourishes through sun’s

smiling, playful game

of get-wet-soon.

My heart is stunned tame

that the rain knows Clair de Lune.

Ok, now onto the real update!  =)

Today my flatmates and I made dinner together for the first time since living together in England!  I had the idea a little over a week ago that we should plan out a meal and spend some time together.  There ended up being 7 of us: (my 4 flatmates are listed first) Roxanne, Rachel, Vanessa, Chelsea, Leah, and Jess.  

We, as you should have already read, went grocery shopping yesterday to make enchiladas and more.  And, as you are also well aware, it was a painful journey back home.  However, after today, it was worth it!  This morning I was in the kitchen by about 11:00AM.  I washed all the dishes, vacuumed the kitchen floor, and wiped down the table and chairs.  I need to have things clean and in order to concentrate first.  By about noon, Roxanne had returned from a last-minute trip to the store to get the one ingredient we forgot yesterday (shortening -- for the pie crusts).  When she returned, the two of us set out to make our pies.  Roxanne made a raspberry-blackberry pie and I made my first homemade pie ever (apple).  It took me about 3 hours and 15 minutes to make which is longer than it should have taken, but our oven is a gas oven and is obviously quite old, so it refuses to work well.  It was also hard to guess at what setting I should turn the oven on to seeing as the main oven is set in marks such as: gas mark 4, gas mark 5, gas mark 6, etc.  I searched online to see if I could find a temperature converter.  I found 3 online sources and they all said something different, so I went with the site that had the lowest setting, gas mark 5 (just in case the higher ones burned the pie).  

Around 5ish, the rest of my flatmates and myself, along with Leah who came over early, began making the rest of the dinner.  Rachel made mashed potatoes and guacamole.  Leah made a salad with strawberries and pea pods.  Roxanne and I made the pies (obviously) and the enchiladas.  Vanessa bought wine and Chelsea helped us with the baking. 

Everything turned out superb.  Absolutely superb.  The food was delicious and the pies! absolutely stunning.  I love pie.  A lot.  I bought ice cream to go along with it, so dessert was complete!  Don't worry, you will get pictures!  

I am very happy that the 7 of us could hang out and spend Valentine's Day together.  Even though the majority of my day was spent in the kitchen and I hardly got any homework done whatsoever, it was a lot of fun and well worth it.  This was also the best meal I've had here that wasn't made in a restaurant, so I can also take pride in the fact that I made something myself that was good tasting and good (more or less) for me!  Best Valentine's Day so far!  ¡Feliz día de San Valentín!  

  Roxanne's pie in progress.  My pie...still to come!  Let the baking begin!

  My pie!  Almost ready to be put into the oven.  Just needs a little milk and sugar on top.

  The final product.  Not as neat and tidy as it was before, but still beautiful! 

  Me with my first pie!  Not a bad job I'd say!  ;)

Roxanne with the pies.

Roxanne made a heart with her pie.

  Leah and Rachel preparing food.

  The salad.

  Enchiladas!  Vegetarian on the left, meat on the right!  

  L-R: Chelsea, Rachel, Leah, and Roxanne.

  The main meal!  Enchiladas covered in sour cream, guacamole, salsa, salad with strawberries and pea pods, and mashed potatoes.  All this = yum.

  Dessert at last!  Absolutely delicious.