Scotland is wonderful

I went to Scotland over the weekend and it was fantabulous.  Seriously.  I landed in Edinburgh on Friday, and was picked up by Elaine and her lovely Mini-Cooper.  [For those that don't know Elaine, she worked at Girl Scout with Alexis about 5 years ago or so.  She came and visited De Soto a few times that summer, and then in 2004 Alexis and I visited her family. ]

The best part of the weekend was getting to be in a home again.  As much as I love my little ol' dorm room here in Southwest London, spending time with a family was great.  Elaine and her parents were (as always) warm and welcoming.  Elaine and I went swimming at her local gym, and then she took me to St. Andrews.  This is the town that has the legendary golf club where many PGA tournaments have been held.  It is a very cute old Scottish town, with                        

old buildings and great shopping.  Saturday was topped off by dinner at a Scottish restaurant named "The Bothy" (I think).  Here, I had Haggis! This is the traditional Scottish dish, which was actually very good.  You can't actually think about what is in Haggis, and I'm not telling. But, if you'd like to know, just click here.  Don't get grossed out, though. 

On Sunday, before flying back to London, we spent the afternoon in Edinburgh, most notably on Princess Street. Specifically shopping.   But, hey, with the Edinburgh Castle looming nearby, it was almost like a history trip.  

It was back to the grind on Monday though as classes resumed.  I can't believe how fast three weeks goes by.  Luckily, I now have only two more weeks of classes and agency.  Unluckily, I have four papers due between now and them.  So, with that said, I should run. If I don't post until May, well, now you know why.   

Enjoy your April Showers! 

Happy Easter

Happy Easter Everyone! It is Easter afternoon here in jolly ol'England, though the weather is decidedly not Easter-like.  It actually snowed this morning, which is, I hear, very unusual. It didn't stick, but still made for a nice effect. 

It has taken me so long to update, because I have been very busy.  As of my last post I had just started working at a Starbucks here in London.  Since then, things have been going full force.  I spend two days in class, two days at my agency, and two days at Starbucks.  Which, (if you do the math) leaves me one day free. I always feel like I have to pack everything in that one day--appreciating that I live in London, and trying to do London-esq things.  Thankfully I am now on Spring Break and have a few weeks off to relax and get caught up.  

I started my Spring Break off with a few days in Paris.  I finally made it to France, the country whose language I learned for so long.  I have to say that while I have done a disservice to all my French teachers for forgetting too much, Paris was absolutely beautiful.  We've all seen the Eiffel Tower photographed and in movies so much, but it is brilliant in person.  I also saw the main sites (Arc De Triomphe, Champs-Elysées, Louvre, etc), had dinner in Montmartre (where Amélie was filmed and the home of Sacre-Coeur), and did a little shopping.   

I am now in the "homework" portion of my break, and I have much to do in the next seven days. Some papers to write, interviews to transcribe, and research to do.  My reward will be a trip to Brussels and a visit to Scotland to visit Elaine. Whee!  

Other than that not much is going on.  I am enjoying meeting new people at Starbucks--I work with people from Poland, Slovokia, Hungary, Japan, Korea, Philippines, and France. (Oh, and even one person from England).  I have a lot of fun with them, and hearing about their countries is great.  

That's all I have for now. I'll let you know how Brussels and Scotland are, and how much homework I finished!  Wish me luck on that front.  

I always want to thank everyone for being part of my Virtual Birthday Party. I know it was a month ago, but it was a great party!  

As always, I miss you.  

Virtual Birthday Party

If you want to be part of the party just add you're very own comment!

In anticipation...

Hello, and I once again must say sorry for the lapse of posting. The weeks are just flying by, faster than I realize. I am firmly entrenched in classes, and have gotten one major presentation over with. It wasn't too big, but it was worth 30% of my grade, so I spent quite a bit of time on it. I am also now successfully employed at Starbucks (once again). This store is much bigger and busier than the one in Leavenworth, and hopefully I will get to meet lots of new people.

Well, as most of you know my birthday is Friday, and to top it off, as I was born in that great year of 1978 (on the very day Leon Spinks beat Muhammad Ali, in fact) I will be the big 3-0. All things considered, (and this is considering I've been dreading this birthday for 2 years), I'm not freaking out too bad. In fact its given something for to reflect on for my  reflection class' journal (we meet fortnightly--I love that word). Since I don't want to have to re-reflect, but since I am officially a blogger (no matter how lame), I decided to put an excerpt from that reflection here. I'm probably crazy, but for whatever it's worth, here it is, a peek into the crazy nearly 30 world of me:

Now, I know all those things people are saying: 30 is the new 20, 30 isn’t old, age is only a number, etc. The truth is I basically agree with them. I just think that with 30 comes expectations, both on the part of others and the part of me. I’m honestly not sure where I thought I would be at 30, when I was 15. I don’t really think I thought about it. I was a teenager, and in high school, and that was when that was all that mattered (did I actually just write that monstrosity of a sentence?). It’s really just that now, I do think about what I’ll be at 40, and boy it includes a lot of things.  And it’s a lot of want for only 10 years, and since I haven’t managed to put the whole package together in 30 years, at times it is hard to think I’ll do it in only 10. I’m not unrealistic to think that even if I achieve all  of it, I will be 100 percent happy all of time. Of course I won’t, no one is, but I am also enough of an optimist to think that I can achieve "it all". What I’m truly scared about is not only not having this in 10 years, but waking up an realizing it all ain’t going to happen. I’m not there yet, but this birthday is a bit like a whisper telling me to step it up.

The thing is right now, I’m pretty happy with where I am. I’ve worked hard to get to a better place in my life, about how I feel about me and where I am headed. So, in some ways February 15, 2008 will just be like every other birthday I’ve had. I know I am loved and cared for, and on this day its gets to be about you, and that’s ok. I’m sad that I am so far away from most of the people I care about, and that the 30th blow out party I would have had, will have to be a 31st blow out party. But, I’m in London getting a degree, which will help me find a job, a career, in a field I am passionate about. This is the paradox I find myself in. There are times when I just don’t care I am going to be 30. In fact, secretly, I might even kind of like it. I complain about my wrinkles (the ones that are already there because I have been fortunate to be able to laugh most of the time, and the ones that I know are coming) a lot, but sometimes I think they are pretty.

So, there are times when I truly (and truthfully) think I could say, what if I just stopped obsessing about turning 30. Surely, the two years of my worrying about this point have been “more painful” than the actual event will be. I don’t suspect that I’ll feel much different than I did on February 14th. I know that the expectations causing me to freak out, are mostly mine, and the ones that are “society’s” I can’t worry about. I just need to take a deep breath and keep moving forward.

And just to prove I really am the same old Sara, no matter what age, a few weeks ago I fell off the sidewalk and wiped out in the middle of London. In front of a ton of people. I wasn't hurt, just (as usual) a little embarrassed.  Clearly not enough to keep from repeating the story though! Ah, well I think some things will never change.

Alrighty, well I will post again, perhaps a 30th birthday update. We're touring Parliament (Not in honor of my birthday, just because), having some dinner, and going out for drinks.  

I'll miss you all very much. 

Kickin' it in London

Well, it has been a little while since I posted, mainly because not a lot has been going on. I've been here in London for about 3 weeks (my how time flies), and haven't really been doing a whole lot. I finally was able to go to my agency, Tender, on Friday. I think I will be getting to work on some VDay stuff, so that's cool. And it makes me harken back to my college days, and the Vagina Monologues. It's the 10-year anniversary of VDay, and they are doing some pretty cool things in the States (you can see here).
Other than that I have been to a few classes, done some homework, and done a lot of walking around London. I've been to Central London several times, plus a great Mexican restaurant in Notting Hill. On Sunday, I went to Brick Lane, which is the home of curry in London. It was a a great area, with a lot of street vendors, and people just out and about. London is an absolutely huge city, with so many different ethic groups, I think it would take years to explore. But, I'm doing the best I can.
I must say it is quite a different experience to that of Jamaica, and it is taking me a little longer to see need. I know it is here, just as there is need in the United States, and any other developed country. It is just that in Jamaica, the poverty was always in your face. I suspect once I get involved in my agency some more I won't have trouble spotting the need.
Beyond that I don't have much knew to report. I am updating some of the picture links to the left. I have a new iPhoto websharing program, so I am uploading pictures using that. It is a better version of the Photocasts I tried to do in Jamaica. They will also be on Picassa for the time being, until I run out of space. But, they look much prettier in the program.

I think that's about all I have for now. Hopefully my next update will be more, um, exciting.

Jolly Ol'England

Hello!

It has taken me a little bit to get up a new post, but I have been very busy.  Alexis and I traveled around Jamaica for my last week getting home on December 23rd. After enjoying a relaxing few days, things got crazy.  I went to KC to see Monica, Debra, Kymberly, Justin, et al., as well as Alexis' new place.  Then it was back to De Soto, and St. Louis for my last five days, including Anne-Marie's graduation party the first weekend in January.  All of this is quite boring to read about I'm sure, but it's my rather long winded way of proving how busy I was. And I did all of that as a lead up to my apology that if I didn't get a chance to see you over the holidays I am sorry.  I wanted to see everyone, and I simply didn't have enough time when I was in St. Louis to see many people.  I guess you all will just have to come to London! 

Speaking of London, I am all moved in and starting classes tomorrow.  I am at Roehampton University in Southwest London, south of the Thames.  I am near Putney, Barnes, and Wimbeldon.  It is about 30 to 45 minutes from campus to the area where the London Eye, Houses of Parliment, Big Ben, etc. are.  I have been into Central London twice since I have been here, as well as Putney and Hammersmith, both which are short bus rides away.  

The campus is quite beautiful, though I have been seeing it through the haze of rain.  The rumors are true: it does rain quite a bit in London. It also gets dark by 4 pm and it is cold.  I can't report on classes yet or my service yet, but I will find out more about both tomorrow.  

I think that's all I have to report for now.  The internet is much more reliable here so I hope to meet my one post a week goal.  We'll see.  

I hope everyone is enjoying the new year, and remember you are all welcome to stay with me in London anytime. 

Happy Frakkin' New Year

Happy 2008 everyone!  Have a safe, productive, and fun year! And turn 30. (Oh, that may just be those born in 1978).