I decided to post some older pictures that I have from the various places I've been. I can't believe I'm leaving here a month from today. That just seems way way too soon. I'm not ready to go yet at all! A month from today I fly off to Dublin, though, and then onward back to Oklahoma a few days later. I'm going to miss so many people so badly! Not that I'm not missing people back home right now, and not that I'm not ready to see many people from home again, but I'm just not ready to leave! Time is just really flying by for me here.

I've been preparing for law school lately, which is just crazy. I can't believe that I'll be doing that next year. I've been corresponding with a human rights attorney in London since that is what I'm interested in. She's being quite helpful to me! Applying to law school is such a stressful process, but it makes me feel like a senior in high school again or something. It just really takes me back to applying for college! Hopefully I end up at a law school that is as amazing as RSU has been for undergrad. I really hope I find a place that I love as much as RSU! I'm going to be applying for my internship in Uganda soon, too, as soon as the applications are online! I can't believe I'm enrolling in my last semester of school, too! craziness!

EEK! so I'm off to Paris a week from today! I leave late Thursday night! I have a meeting for it on Monday! So exciting! This time I'm going with a huge group of people, which is neat. It's through the student union here. They went to Amerstam a couple of weeks ago, but I didn't go on that trip. Couldn't pass up Paris, of course, though! I plan on getting my hair cut while I'm there, too. My friends and I are going to the Louvre and on a bike tour of Paris, which will be awesome! This is my first real trip with a huge group of people since I've been here, too. Edinburgh was just four of us and Venice was just little ole me! Venice was amazing, though. Waking up in sunny Venice (when it was supposed to be rain) and finding out that Obama had won was just a once-in-a-lifetime, indescribable feeling!

Blah..I need to go to city centre and do a little shopping for various things, such as band-aids! (or plasters, as they're called here...) ugh but it's raining (of course) and I just don't want to go out in the rain again today! It rains so much here! rainiest city in the UK!

So everyone should know that today is the second annual "to write love on her arms" day. it's a great organization that everyone should know about and read up on!

Well I'm off to brave the weather!

venice

aaah I am now back from Venice! I had a blast! words can not describe how amazing that place is. it's like a little microcosm or something. it's a bubble that is practically isolated from much of the influences of the world. I love it! you can not compare Venice to any other place because it's so profoundly different. I'm proud of myself, too, because I didn't get lost! I went by myself and didn't get lost at that. everyone was warning me that getting lost is just part of it.

I stayed in a very interesting hostel. It was really small and used to be a museum. There were only about seven of us there at any given time. It was absolutely gorgeous and was all marble. The people who ran the hostel gave us breakfast and dinner every day so that was awesome! I met some really cool people and hung out with them while I stayed there (they all got lost, though, getting to the hostel for like 2 or 3 hours).

it was supposed to rain while I was there but instead it was like 65 degrees every day and so sunny! I loved it! it was like a mini summer break. Now I'm back to the cold and the rain, though. No..I'm actually glad to be back so it's ok. I've come to love this place and think of it as home!

Yeah I had a great, pretty inexpensive little trip to Venice. I would recommend that to anyone. It was my first time on the Continent. Defintely awesome. I feel so proud for going alone and not speaking the language or anything. yay bravery!

Now it's just 2 weeks until Paris!

happy halloween!

hope everyone is having a great halloween! things have been very fun here. there have been tons of things going on for halloween! they don't really decorate or make as big of a deal of it here as in the states, though. it's my favorite holiday so I was wishing for some more like festive decor at places!

so just a few days til the election! yay! I'm getting everything ready for Venice so I've had to do a ton of homework to get ready and I'm having to take a test early and stuff. this school is so great for people who like to travel, though, because they work with you so much when you're gone and everything. it's really great.

well anyway I have more Edinburgh pictures!

edinburgh!

so I had a blast in Edinburgh. and I'm going to venice next week! elections are a week from today too so hopefully you have all voted or are going to in a week! obama 08!

anyway, so yes Edinburgh. We stayed at the Globetrotter Inn, which is probably the best hostel in the world. I'm not positive about that because it's the first one I've ever seen but still...it was pretty dang amazing. The view was awesome from our hostel and the place was just so cool! There is a photo up there among the pictures of the view from our hostel; it's of the Firth of Forth, which is a body of water...sort of like a bay or something. anyway it was so cool to get to see the water from our hostel and we're pretty sure we saw Nessie that first day we were there...of course, we had been up since 4:00 am...so maybe it was just a duck or something....

I absolutely loved the city! I was actually more impressed than I thought I would be. We went to two museums, saw the awesome castles, and did the Scotch Whiskey Experience, which was wicked cool. It's like a tour that teaches you about how Scotch Whiskey is made and like the different areas that it comes from and then they put you on a little trolley type thing and you go through a tunnel and yeah it's just really neat. it was only like 7 pounds and was definitely worth the price!

there is a store here that..ladies...if you ever come over here, you must check out. it's called Lush and it is freaking amazing. it's like bath and body works to the 10th power. my skin is so soft right now! I'm recommending Lush to you all! also, Primark...it's super cheap! Primark and Wilkinson's have become our friends haha. lots of cheap stuff. like an equivalent of wal-mart or something.

So the new Snow Patrol and Lovedrug CDs have come out and everyone should check them out! these albums are amazing.

I will have more pictures of Edinburgh up soon!

edinburgh tomorrow!

so tomorrow my girls and I are heading off to Edinburgh! yay! tonight is karaoke again! so fun! I've been like a crazy madwoman trying to get all of my homework done since I'll be gone all weekend. it's been pure craziness. but I'm offically finished with all my homework and it's only four so yay. thank goodness for no class on Thursday lol. but yeah I've basically had no life all week and it's been lame. especially since so many people have been sick but I havent been sick yet! haha knock on wood! but yes my completely healthy self has been stuck in front of my computer all week doing homework. boo! but it's ok because it's all over now and I can go laugh at people at karaoke tonight and then we're off at like five tomorrow morning for edinburgh! I plan on taking a ton of pictures! I've been charging my camera like crazy but I feel like my converter is killing my battery charger because it's not looking like it's charged yet....grr. it better not be or I'll be freakin ticked! haha
I would very much love to go running but it's raining. isnt that just the way it always is? it's actually been clear and beautiful weather almost all week except on monday when I had plans and now today when I would love to actually go run and not just do homework. blah. no fair.
anyway I'm off to go clean or something! I don't even know what to do with myself!

aaah fun trips!

The pictures today are of my backyard. The sky was so pretty that day. Also, I went to the movies with one of my friends and watched Burn After Reading. Amazing! Afterwards, we went to Eddie Rockets and ate delicious burgers. American burgers better than most places in America! haha. Also, that food up there. yeah that's some amazing food that my friend Jenn made. We eat dinner together all the time and it's always amazing! One of her flatmates had his birthday the other day. the big 1-9 haha and we had a party for him with a pinata! it was super fun!

so on Friday, I'll be setting off for Edinburgh! yay! we're going to have so much fun! then like two weeks later, I'm going to VENICE! yay! then about two weeks after that, PARIS! then Freiburg, Germany, the next week! my final trip will be right before I go back to Oklahoma when I go to Dublin. I'm super excited for my five big trips haha. I've certainly gone a number of places in the UK since I've been here, though. There are so many more places I wish I could go, but, oh well. I can't go everywhere here and I'm getting to see some of the most amazing places and places that I've wanted to see forever so I'm very happy with what I'm doing and just feel lucky to be over here at all.

This week was pretty low-key. I've mostly just done homework and cleaned and watched movies and other low-key things haha. I also went into town with one of my friends to look for halloween costumes and found a few cute things but nothing in my size that I want. everything is too big! grr. but also, I couldn't even try things on and I definitely want to try on my costume haha. But yeah, I've had mucho homework this week and weekend because I know I won't be here next weekend and I need to get ahead right now. Most of my homework, though, is from my online Oklahoma classes, since we don't really have homework here.

pictures, trips, and mumbles

This weekend my friends Carla, Allison, Jenn, and I went to Mumbles to see the pretty sights. It had been a couple of weeks since I had gone and I wanted to go again so yay for that. The four of us are also going to Edinburgh in about a week and a half or so and we're also going to Germany in November! A week before the Germany trip, though, I'm going to PARIS! yay! I had a trip to Milan and Venice sort of planned but it didn't end up working out with all of our class schedules so that's ok. I do want to go there, though, and also to Barcelona. They have so many good deals on flights here that I'm sure I can get a good flight. One of my friends is going to Gibraltar, too, and has asked me to go with him and I want to so badly. That's a more expensive trip, though, so we'll see about that. I booked my flight home :( sad. I'm leaving here December 13 and am going to be back in OK on December 16 because I'm spending two days in Dublin before I go back home. It was cheaper than flying straight home from London! haha I am a travel genius folks haha.

Yesterday I had an interview and some pictures taken for an article about Oklahoma. It is to help promote the relationship between Swansea University and Oklahoma so I was more than happy to help out with that!

I'm going to be volunteering with the American Studies office here on campus. They needed an intern or a couple of interns and were offering academic credit but I already have a more than full schedule so I said I would do it for no credit. I'm going to help out with a fair that they're having in November and will be making presentations for British students who are going to America, as well. Also, I might help out with things in the office from time to time. Seems like it will be fun and it's certainly something to keep me busy!