Okay, I'm sorry. God, I suck at life. I really really mean to update more. Life has been getting in the waaaaaay. Damn you, life.


So, I don't even know where I left off at. Basically in the past two weeks it's been crazy hectic. Christina and I went to Magdalen College last Monday, pronounced Maud-len, since CS Lewis taught there and worked there and stuff. That was cool. We just took a bit of a walk through the baby-sized campus and talked about class and the books and life. :D Then she told us we would have no class this Monday and I was like: Say whaaaaat because that meant that I would have a four day weekend, and since I had just gotten back from a week of classes where I, studiously, stayed home and did work and saw Theo. I basically decided I was leaving for SOME COOL PLACE off in the Continent and quickly looked for generally cheap flights so I could sneak off for four days. Looked at Istanbul, talked to Dad, looked at Italy, prepared for Milan during Fashion Week. The rest of that week was pretty boring, just getting my shit together for my 7.15am flight on Friday, which meant I had to catch the 2am bus into Gatwick which was soooo early in the morning, I didn't bother going to sleep. Anyways.


Milan. It was good and bad. I went by myself which was, yeah, I'll admit it, stupid on my part. I mean, it wasn't a problem safety wise, which my parents would disagree with, but like, the trip would have been way more enjoyable if someone had come along. It was boring at night and it was too quiet. I mean, I got to see everything that I  wanted to see, but eh. I'm over travelling alone. I'll bring someone along next time I jet off. Which will be next next weekend. :D Anyways.


Friday was suuuch a long day. I got into Milan itself around 11.00ish, and then tried to find my way to the hotel, gave up, got a taxi, checked in. Tried to decide between a nap and doing something, and I decided to plan out my weekend. Did that, walked around the area near my hotel (instead of the prostitute/pimp-ridden hostel I initially booked that my mom went apeshit about), tried to find my Metro stop and stupidly went to two bus stops before realizing the blue line was, in fact, not for the Metro. Got a slice of pizza, read some of my Crime Fiction book and paaaassed out.


Saturday was really nice. I woke up early, had breakfast at the hotel, and then skipped off to try and find this big flea market that I heard about online before I left. Couldn't find it, gave up, went to the next place on my list. I went to this amaaaaazing chuch, San Ambrogio, in the SWern part of the city. It was all brown brick and old school Latin phrasing and it was so pretty. It had a ton of little naves that I took pictures of and it was honestly the coolest place evar. I dunno. I wish I was good at math, because I would so have been an architect otherwise. <3 Yaye for old pretty buildings. Then I got back on the Metro and took it up to this other church that took me ages to find, San Maurizio. This church was entirely covered in frescos. Oh. My. God. It was soooo beautiful, and I use that word sparingly. Like, the fact that it was being restored was not the point. It was covered floor to ceiling in these amazing works by all these different artists. I'm not sure, but I think it also had the Da Vinci in it? It was all covered if it was, but I was completely flabbergasted. It was amazing. I'll have to link you up to the pictures I have up on Facebook. After that I went into the central stop to see the D'uomo, which is supposedly the biggest example of gothic architecture in Europe? I would believe it, anyways. This place was huuuuuuuuuuuge. The outside was totally astounding, and the inside was legit badass. I totally don't have the words to describe any of these places. I took a tooooon of pictures. After the D'uomo, I sat outside for a bit because there was this cool little Carnivale thing going on that involved a lot of confetti and a bunch of silly string and pressurized soap bubbles? This awkward Egyptian guy came over and started chatting me up for like, an hour or something (I wore my heels; smart move) and then tried to follow me as I left. Errrr, then he did the European double cheek-kiss for an era which I had to literally pull out of, and then he asked for my mobile number. Have to admit, I said no not very nicely and speed-walked away. God, why do I attract the creepers. So, then I went to look for Leonardo's Horse, which I couldn't figure out, and got myself a falafel panini and went to my hotel. Finished my book, started Frankenstein, talked to Theo and Mom, and went to sleeeeeep.


Sunday was wet. I went to the Cimiterio Monumentale first, and totally forgot it was a Sunday, hence the hordes of people. Took a huuuuuge number of amaaaaaazing pictures. I'm a geek, I loved it. It was so totally gothic and properly damp and creepy and there were all these owl and crow noises. It was my gothic experience that Emily and Catherine always wanted. After that I went to this castle in the middle of the city. It was cool. I didn't bother going inside, but the outside was cool. A regular, Italian castle, plopped in the middle of this industrialized city. <3 I enjoyed it. After that I had a couple museums to go to, but I only went to the BA-VA one that was like, a palace inside this one storey house? I dunno, but it was really hardcore cool. No pictures and you had to lock up your bag before they let you look around. I was surprised. It was cool, though. I got to see what they put inside their houses if they had money to blow on stupid things like hand-crafted ivory cutlery sets. After that I was tired and went back to the hotel and had a nap. Read some of my book, got some more pizza from the same place as before, went back, read more Frankenstein, texted Theo, called Ma', went to bed.


Monday was pretty boring. I could have left Sunday night and been okay. I stupidly left all the little things for Monday, and was done seeing them around 11.30, so I took the 12.00 bus into the airport and sat around until my 9.20 flight back to Gatwick. I should have checked to see whether there was an earlier flight, which there was, and gotten back home sooner, but I didn't. I missed the earlier bus by like, five minutes because these asshole Americans that didn't speak English were holding up the immigration desk that I had to go through, basically saying I left the country for a weekend, thanks, let's move on. Waited around for my bus, talked with the boyfriend, got the bus back, and made the last N7 bus through Oxford by about eight seconds. Yeeeeees, win. Got back, ate food like a crazy person, talked to Mom and Dad and Theo, coooonked out.
 

The rest of the week is gonna be pretty boring. I have to hash it out with Theo about this weekend, since I'm sneaking up while his parents are away in A'dam. <3 Fun stuff. I said I could come up Saturday morning, but honestly. I've got this cough, I miss him, I might lay it heavy and whinge and bitch to get in Friday night and just hide while his Dad's friend kips over for the night. We'll see. I really wanna see him no matter what, but Friday is what I want, basically. And I need to book my flight to Dublin for next next weekend. Christina and I are going for St. Patrick's Day weekend and are staying with her cousins? Relatives? I dunno, but they're family. So we'll do that, and then I might go back up to Bewdley for the weekend since I have papers due in the next two weeks after that for Gothic and Crime Fiction and Modernism. But I gatta get to class.


Peace.

Okay, so. These past two weeks have both been a bitch, hence the inability to post. I've probably had a collective ten hours of sleep in the past five days or so, maybe twelve to fourteen if I include the times I passed out accidentally and then woke, realized what I had done, and do more work. And I have to find time to start writing this paper for the Seminar Series- four thousand words on Gay Rights & the Legal Properties (Prop 8, etc).


I've had a presentation and four essays due in two weeks, basically, most of which were assigned less than two weeks previous to their due date. I finished my abortion paper Thursday morning to turn into class at 12.15, and then I finished my Crime Fiction paper last night that was due yesterday. I have another two thousand words on Yeats and the theme of youth throughout his poetry due for Tuesday, which I'm going to have to find time to write, between having Theo around. I'll get it done... some how.


Speaking of the boy, I need to leave in about an hour to walk down to City Centre to pick him up at 12.30 at the Oxford Rail Station. I figure I need to stop off at the library on my way down, and I wanted to hit up the ATM before I went to go see him. I dunno what his plans are for the day, but we have whatever he's got up his sleeve going on today, and then I figured we could go down to City Centre and walk around to see the buildings tomorrow afternoon, and then write the majority of my paper between now and Monday morning, when we're going to catch a 10.01 train to London, transfer to a coach, head to Brighton for the day, and come back that evening (about 11p). And then we might go back to London on Tuesday and go all the dorky touristy stuff and then hit up a museum, and probably hit up some of his family in the afternoon/evening. We'll play it by ear. Kaitlin and Christina have both lit out to go to Madrid and London, respectively, to meet boyfriends. Sigh. Make it 12.30 already, can't you?


Right, and I saw the Careers Lady yesterday about postgrad schools in the UK. I brought her my list of 16 big name schools, three or four of which we cancelled out pretty quickly (dodgy, not campus, not great schools, etc). She showed me a couple good sites I'm going to have to browse through and then figure out which campus to apply to (Oxford & Cambridge have different 'campuses' around the city? It's quite weird. Think of something like Penn State Reading, except the Oxbridge campuses are like, three buildings and they are all smashed together. Each has a different kind of ...concentration, to a certain extent. Most offer all the different degrees, but it really depends on what you're looking for, I think. It's a bit confusing) and then schedule times to go and meet with those schools before I leave the UK at the end of term (Ma' and Dad let me push back my plane ticket a week). And it appears that as a postgrad student, I will not need to take examinations of any kind. HAHA. Fuck you, GREs. I win at life. Liz also said that applying to Oxford isn't a stupid thing to do, if I keep my grades where they currently are and if I could get to Italy next year, that would be icing on the proverbial cake. Evidentally while Oxford has high standards (hiiiigh, high standards...), I'm totally an eligible candidate. And I'm trying to look at a university that will let me do a taught MA (one year), and then continue to a MPhil/DPhil/PhD (two/three years), both in Classics. I figure that with a double major in my undergrad as Classics and English, I won't have a problem getting into a publishing firm, but then if I was offered a teaching position at a University, it wouldn't be something to sneeze at, exactly. We'll see. I've got two more years before I jet off to finish my education out here. Oh right, and this is my "list," I guess.

3: Oxford (England), Cambridge (England)
2+: St. Andrews (Scotland), Warwick (England), Nottingham (England)
2: Durham (England), Leeds (England), Newcastle (England)
2-: Edinburgh (Scotland), Birmingham (England)
1: Lampeter (Wales), Swansea (Wales)


So, I guess I'll check out the top five a lot more closely, and do my own personal grading scale, and then look at the subsequent universities, unless something REALLY pops out at me (ChristChuuuuuuuurch... *drool*). But we'll see. St. Andrew's is kind of an ironic school, since I've previously attended a St. Andrew's (and they have golf... Which I should have probably expected since they are Scots. Dad would be proud). Part of me is thinking that it might be a sign. Either way, I'll definately look at the majority of these schools.


Anyways, I guess I'll check out some of these sites and waste my last half hour before hitting the road. Eeeeeeeh!

..Oh my gawd. I love it. I usually just ignore these little writing block things in the corner of my home page, but this one really just takes the cake. Honestly. I am so in love with Flight of the Conchords and honestly, if I COULD get tickets to a show, I would be there three hours early, half crazed, and dragging my equally-fanatic boyfriend with me. Oh man.


Down to business (haaaaaaaaaah, puns). Who is cuter: Bret or Jermaine. Well, I don't think I could honestly say which one I found more attractive. Cuter, in my opinion, is more of a looks thing, and with that I would have to go with Bret, simply because he appears younger to me, and he's got this adorable expression on his face, pretty much all the time (based upon videos of shows/gigs/concerts and, of course, the HBO series). Which is sad, because I think he's married and might have kids. I should know this stuff, but ah, well. Now, if we were to have a straight competition (TO THE DEAT-- juuuuust kidding), I would have to create several "hotness" categories. Like, general dance moves, creative ability (lyrics & music), hilariousity (stfu, it's a word), brains, awkwardness, appearance, appeal, and.... uh, that should be it, I guess.


General Dance Moves. Well. I caught up on the second season last night and after watching the 'Sugalumps' portion of the second episode, I really have to give this one to Jermaine. Bret, I'm sorry, the sexy table moves were bangin', but Jermaine really took the cake.
 

Creative Ability. Now, this one is much much harder. I'm basically going to have to go on who sings which parts of the songs. Business Time is pretty heavy in Jermaine, but then again, Bret sings some FABULOUS lines in various songs (Jenny, If You're Into It), but then again, Jermaine sings 'Bret, You've Got it Going On'. Agh. I honestly don't know. They can both win in this category, solely based on 'The Humans Are Dead.' Bret's Binary Solo very much ties with Jermaine's Battery line. You know it.


Hilariousity & Awkwardness. Okay, get over it. I'm combining categories because it fits. I'm going to have to go with Bret, hands down. His extreme awkwardness is always very awesome, and leads into my being amused with him eighteen out of fifteen times. So, Bret gets both of these.


Appearance & Appeal (Combo again. Kiss it). Mm. Hard. Bret's got the younger guy thing going on, and those adorable sweaters. But then, Jermaine has the whole older guy thing in his favour. Ach. Do I really have to pick?