I would have gotten someone else to make that phone call...

I can't believe how terrible I am at keeping this thing up to date, time goes so fast here! It's less than three weeks until I my repatriation (not that I'm dead, but you get what I mean), and I have to say I'm excited to come home and see all my friends and family! Yet again I have had a busy few weeks, although the partying has dropped off to zero thanks to the ridiculous amount of work I now have to do (thank you Writing classes....). I've done everything from being on T.V. to buying jeans that are once again too baggy, and the occasional day trip or two in between. Unfortunately I can't remember half the stuff I've done so I'm hoping my photos will give me some kind of inspiration or this will make no sense. Not much different to any conversation with me I suppose.

A few weeks ago I took a weekend trip to Boston with Ciara, Annie, Cat and Kayla. Ever the Australian, Kayla decided she would try to sneak in without paying(or try to book the bed when we arrived), but alas, non-Aussie "hostelles" have at least some security measures, and ACCESS WAS DENIED! However, when the staff realised she had just been kicked out by her boyfriend, their hearts melted and all was good with the world once more. The next day we walked the central part of the Freedom Trail like good little tourists, and I realised that

1) The Boston Tea Party may go a long way towards explaining why American Tea is so watery

2) Old gravestones all look like they have Jack Skellington drawn on the top of them.

We also hit up the JFK museum, which was as beautiful as ever, and took very attractive pictures of ourselves on the waterfront outside. Another ride on the "T" train thingie brought us to Harvard, which to be honest wasn't as impressive as I'd thought it would be. We did arrive at night though, and we didn't know what we were looking at anyway (case and point; we thought the dining hall was a church). That evening we went to see Paranormal Activity 2, a genuinely hilarious experience when you watch with three terrified friends. On the walk back we also saw Fenway Park, which looked decidedly boring. Baseball= blargh. Sunday was shopping time, all seven hours worth, and it was beautiful. Expensive, but beautiful. Words can't even express how much I love Boston, but they can come pretty close. I LOVE BOSTON!!!! WOOOOOOO!!!!

The weekend after was Halloween, and the beginning of the end for my madcap partying lifestyle. On Friday we all dressed up as the Six Deadly Sins (Sloth was in bed when we went to collect her) and partied it up carriage style. Haha. We all looked decidedly awesome, thanks go to Morgan for lending me a dress, woooop. The next day we went to see the musical "Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson" on Broadway. It was absolutely brilliant; the set design was fantastic, the music and comedy were pitch-perfect and I actually learned a tiny bit about American History. I definitely recommend it!

The following weekend (I think?!) was our trip to New York and the U.N. Aside from having the worst tour guides known to man (insulting us for taking photos? Well it's that or we start stealing the seats from the unimportant countries, so get over it), the U.N. was interesting enough. After that Winnie took a load of us down to China town for lunch, and it was tastyyy :). We spent the rest of the day browsing around Little Italy and Soho, doing some shopping and eating yummy yummy cheesecake. We met up back at Grand Central, and after a long coach journey got back to campus where we went out partying once again. Unfortunately I was so tired I didn't have the best time, and I've not been out since. SOB.

A couple of weeks ago I and a good forty other people went to be in the live audience at a taping of the Jerry Springer show. We were picked up in the "Jerry Bus" (a.k.a. a Peter Pan bus) and whisked away to glamorous Stamford CT, where the show is now filmed. I sat on the front row, but luckily wasn't in shot too often as Mr. Springer had decided he was going to make Ciara and Melissa famous (creeper....). Nonetheless, I for some reason thought it was a good idea to pull a weird face at the camera, so yay for my stupid mug now facing limitless reruns on the tv and youtube. It also appears I am incapable of clapping like a normal human being, but in the three hours or so of filming I think the practise did me good. I can't lie, every time I had to jump up and shout "Jerry, Jerry" I died a little inside, I've never been so uncomfortable betraying my own principles. But there was nowhere to hide, so I clapped along like the spineless worm I am. When I go back to stage my rebellion, I'll make sure I have something to hide behind.

There's more, but I figure if you've reached this point you're probably wishing I'd shut up right now, so I'll save that for another time.

Peace out xxxxx

I'm really clumsy and sometimes I forget I'm holding things

Well, I've been here just about two months now, and it's been hectic! The work load is pretty insane, seeing as I actually have to do the reading! And now that I am once more a contributing member of society (a.k.a. employed) I have to say I'm really struggling to fit in all those extra naps I need to function at any kind of above-bacterial level. I haven't updated this in such a long time so I'm going to try and remember everything I've been up to, but with the state of my memory I'm sure I'll forget something...

1) I have been to a lot of mediocre parties with some slightly-better-than-mediocre friends. I realise I haven't particularly mentioned the fact that I have made friends here (for those of you familiar with the depths of my unpopularity, you'll be pleased to see that the tally has risen slightly, although proximity could once again be a major factor). We have the bants and we sing about gum trees quite a lot, and I truly feel a citizen of the world when I realise I have friends from just about every English-speaking country. Never any foreigners though..... ewwww. JOKE. I like foreign people :)

2) For any of you who didn't notice, I accidentally became a world-famous rock star a few weeks ago. Well not really, but I did get invited to play on stage with All Time Low. I was just sat (by myself because my 'friends' abandoned me for non-existent sushi) way off from the stage and apparently All Time Low had heard us messing about and called me up in the middle of the show. Awkward, but cool none the less.

3)I went to Six Flags New England.... IT WAS AWESOME!!! I love theme parks anyway, but on the day we went the whole park was booked out for an LGBT event so there were no lines for any of the rides. We all looked very attractive by the end of the day, and although I accidentally lost people when I forgot they told me where they went, a good time was had by all. The adrenaline junkie in me was very happy, even if it did make me realise how annoying I am when I want to go on the riiiiiides... petulant child.

4) Americans generally fail at throwing parties. Really, they are just terrible. American dancing is nothing but bump 'n' grind, and I don't know if it's just me, but when I go to a party I want to dance! I want to do the Robot, the Macarena, maybe even the Mashed Potato, I don't really want to watch two people bum each other on the dance floor. No offence. The music is also terrible, nothing but generic r'n'b and Hip-Hop; we went to an 80's party, and the only 80's song they played was Culture Club......... then back to the generic r'n'b. However, regardless of the terrible party music, we always manage to have a good time! The best night has to be the Trailer Trash party held in an actual trailer; I really feel like I've been accepted into the American way of life.

5) This weekend I went on an overnight hiking trip to Mount Bear, CT. It's part of the Appalachian Trail, and although it wasn't the biggest mountain, it was pretty tough carrying all our equipment in backpacks for miles. The trail was a bit of a wildlife fail; we only saw two frogs the whole time (one of which was tiny and very cute, and the other was either drunk or dying). I also, being the elegant and graceful creature I am, managed to slide slowly and painfully down an 8ft rock face because I didn't realise my legs were too short for me to climb down. I like to think that the fact I looked a lot like a poor man's Mufasa, sliding into a stampede of.... well an empty forest path, at least lent some dignity to my suffering. My pride (LION KING PUN! HA!), however, was further dented by the fact that the people behind me decided to just walk around the rock. Good one for pointing that route out to me sooner guys...

6) My room mate is an absolute moron. Seriously, she can't even read. I handed her an article from the paper and she stared at it for five minutes before asking for the cartoons. I can't believe they put me with such a fool when I specifically requested that I share with someone who shared my love of existential philosophy and Moliere. Needless to say, I have entered a formal complaint with the residence staff, and until they resolve this unfortunate situation I will be subjecting her to a series of cruel and insensitive practical jokes which I hope will scare her into leaving. Although that would mean no more late night singalongs to Queen and Alanis Morissette. Tough decision....

LOVE YOU REALLY!


Peace out :) xxx

I should be at the gym right now.

So I'm finally in the US of A. Nine months in the making, it feels quite strange to look out of my window and see that the other side of the pond looks pretty much the same as the side I came from, just with actual sunshine! I've had a fairly hectic week; a weekend seeing the sights in NY and then orientation here in Storrs. I've met some amazing people and done some cool, strange, and bizarre things, and even had the occasional adventure along the way.



Our first night in New York we went to the Empire State Building which was amazing. The whole city was lit up below us, and I took many terrible photographs. We also had our first look at Times Square, which is absolutely mad. It was such an exciting place though, and I loved the atmosphere with Broadway and everything else that goes on there.

The next day we went on the Circle line tour around Manhattan, which was hot and humid but pretty interesting. Then we moved on to the real reason we came to New York- to visit 30 Rock. My pilgrimage to the home of Tina Fey will go down as one of the greatest achievements in my life so far, even in spite of the fact that a bird pooed on my arm. I also bought a very stylish "That's a Dealbreaker Ladies!'' T-shirt, which I hope to be buried in.

That evening we went to see a brilliant production of West Side Story in Times Square. Out last full day we spent visiting Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty. It was strange to read about the immigrants who had struggled so much to get to America when my only struggle was with a mountain of paperwork, but then they did accept 98% of people who came, which I doubt they do nowadays. We also saw Wall Street, the building work at Ground Zero, and a big ol' splodge of AMERICA!!! on the side of the stock exchange.

Our last night in New York we went to Stand Up NY where we were told Judah Friedlander (aka Frank from "30 Rock") would be headlining. He wasn't. But we still had a fantastic night, mostly involving Matt being abused by the comedians for being young, and a mad Russian woman who kept shouting out and interrupting until someone else very politely told her to SHUT UP.

Since arriving in Storrs I've been pretty busy with orientation presentations, free ice cream, Wal-Mart and holding various types of sea life. At the (terrible) football game yesterday we went and sat with the goal patrol whose job it is to abuse the opponent's keeper while they play. Quite harsh, but amusing. Not enough to distract from the football though, so we ran away and got loads of free stuff from the Block Party. One thing I already love about UConn, they like to give you things :). Something a little weirder is the freshers party thing we went to last night. It was like a giant street party, but with no real point. Lots of drunk people falling around though, so just like last year I guess.

I can't really be bothered to write any more atm, what with having a little bit of a life, but I'll update soon. Hope you're all ok and having a great summer :)

One small step...

I'm a bit stumped about how exactly to start this blog.

The whole point of it really is to keep track of everything I get up to during my year in the US, but it seems a bit too much like plunging in at the deep end if I don't start writing until I arrive in August. Not that I can really write much about my life at the moment; sitting watching some weird and slightly boring Michael Douglas film in my joggers hardly makes for a fascinating read. I'm just hoping that writing something, anything, will help reignite the spark of creativity within me that was so thoroughly doused by seven years of secondary school. Technically, as an English student I should probably be perfectly happy to reel off some inspiring piece on just about anything, something I think this post has proven fairly untrue. But I'll keep trying until inspiration sneaks its way in and finally makes me write something half decent.

For now, I'll just settle for not being given a Mcjob, and watching Vicar of Dibley repeats while the dog avoids me.

Sometimes I think my life is just too exciting.