Day 36

This morning started with a shower and breakfast with the girls before running off to my philosophy lecture and seminar. All throughout the 4 hours of classes and in-between time I has worrying out of my mind. At 2:00pm I was headed to the piercing and tattoo parlor with Jen and Kate. The piercer had stepped out to lunch, so we just waited until she returned. She took us up to the room and asked who was going first. I volunteered because it is always just easiest to get it done with. I had Jen holding one hand and Kate holding the other. The piercer told me to close my eyes and take a deep breath and she stabbed a needle through my nose. OUCH! It was painful, but I had built it up so much that I had anticipated much worse. She had the small tube through my nose and was getting the bar ready while asking me how it felt and all that could come out was little noises of 'wow that hurts and I can't believe it actually happened, now get this tube out of my nose.' Next was Jen's turn to get her second holes, then Kate got her cartilage pierced. We were all a little shocked at the pain and lack of a gun. We headed back to campus to waste time then picked up Kate's assignment. As usual, I was playful with many shenanigans on our return to Castle Leazes, so I pressed every elevator button, which, even though they were both fully aware, Kate tried to get out on the wrong floor. The three of us parted to our rooms, then recollected with the other girls of our hall for dinner. Esther also has her nose pierced and was asking me all about my experience with it. Since after dinner I have been in my room. I got a facebook video call from Jaz and my nieces... so adorable. Kaylee kept poking at me on their screen and Becca timidly hid behind her doll but had to make sure she could still see me. 

Tomorrow I don't have classes until 2:00pm, so I get to sleep in plenty. 10:00am breakfast with Jen.

Day 35

I have now been here 5 weeks, and what a great 5 weeks it has been. Jen, Kate and I are so close; tonight we had Ben & Jerrys while watching more Very Potter Musical, and tomorrow we have a surprise bonding adventure. Today was so beautiful, it had to be between 55-60 degrees Fahreneit. I had 3 hours of class today. After Philosophy and Ethics I walked back with Eric the Stats major from Chicago, I was in just a tank top, him a t-shirt, and we walked past all these people still wearing their heavy, winter coats... what is wrong with these people? I returned to campus for my last two hours, where I learned that my decrypted phrase 'htwoo' was in fact correct, as dumb as it may seem. When I returned, we went to tea, some sort of pasta with chocolate sponge and custard for the pudding. Then, Kate, Jen, and I were attached for the rest of the night eating away one of their boy problem and laughing hysterically at Draco rolling around on the ground.. we decided that we would probably start doing this in each other's rooms. I had a good, uneventful day. Tomorrow will be a big, exciting day.. that is, if I don't chicken out! Goodnight everyone <3

Day 34

After going to bed far later than I should have, I was exhausted all day, but I made it through my two lectures. The first one was made easier by the interactive activity where three groups had to transmit a number from the person in the back of a line to the front without speaking or looking. It was pretty fun. Then I had Number Theory, which I love my professor for that class; he is always so chipper and quirky, it makes me smile. I returned to my room to talk with many people back home and start my Diff EQ computer based assignment... and I got 100% right!!! Then it was time for a nap, about 30 minutes. Jen returned from class, so we headed over to dinner. I told the girls I was too tired to go out tonight, but they didn't like that, so I told them I'd go, then returned to my room and watched Doctor Who (for Jenna). When I walked in the room at 9:00pm they were only slightly shocked that I had not changed. I sat around and listened to music with them. I ran to my room for a skype date with Matt, and also got to talk a bit with my best friend Tucker! After skype, the girls said I had no excuse to stay in and made me change in 3 minutes, so I did, to get away and distract myself a bit. I had fun, dancing with 3 Jens and Kate. Right before we left, however, there was a guy dancing near us who looked like a younger Matt I have seen in pictures, and, for some reason, it just made me break down and cry. The girls brought me back to Castle Leazes and now I'm chilling in my room, heading to bed soon. Four hours of classes tomorrow...

Day 33

Today was very relaxed, well at least that's how I hoped it would be. I slept until 1:30pm because of getting in so late and not sleeping much in the hostel. As a result I didn't get started on my homework until 3pm, stopped for a skype date with Matt around 3:20ish, then resumed my homework until 7... all the while doing the same stupid problem that I was assured the professor would refuse to help anyone with. I finally got an answer, fingers crossed for extra credit. Then I readied myself for pub quiz, though still looking proper sloppy. We were ready to have a winning team tonight. Kate and I headed over there, and avoided being seen by an annoying guy who invited himself to play with us the previous week. We were happy to have my UMASS friend Will and his Scottish girlfriend Laura join us, then unfortunately, the annoying guy invited himself over again, with a friend this time. All the while we were waiting for Jen and Irish Matt, who never made it because their date ran late. I got a few questions this time, like Monopoly and Pearl Harbour. As Kate and I headed back to our corridor we saw Jen and Matt returning from their date, so we harassed them. Then we went to Jen's room, us three girls, only to be joined by Matt half an hour later. We just chilled, talking and listening to music. I came to my room for another skype session with Matt, then we all returned to Jen's room for a bit longer. Early morning tomorrow... let's hope I don't sleep through my alarm.

Day 32

Jen and I headed down to the bus pick-up by the train station around 10:30 pm. We had a bit of a panic due to the bus being 20 minutes late. Then we had a 2.5 hour ride to Edinburgh, lucky for us we sat right in front of the obnoxious lady who was on and off with her daughter Amy who kept asking where the mother was; I was so close to reaching around and telling her "AMY! It is pitch black outside the bus and we have no idea where we are. Now stop calling!" We arrived in Edinburgh not long after 2:00 am, then we hailed a taxi, someone stole it, so we hailed another one. We made it to the Belford Hostel where we had our first Scottish Accent misunderstanding. The way the innkeeper said "pounds" it sounds exactly like "pence." Heading into our dark 8-person room we could not find where the beds were labeled after quite some time of running our lit up mobiles around the room and disturbing the others sleeping. As a result, we decided to just take one of the empty beds and share it, that way we only took one person's bed if we were wrong. As it turned out, we were wrong; some people came in later than us and said "these girls are in my bed," but they let us continue sleeping, or faking in my case. We woke up around 9:00 am and took pictures of our church hostel and checked-out. We wandered towards the castle, noticing along the way how very different and beautiful the city of Edinburgh is. We stopped at a Starbucks for breakfast with a breathtaking view of the castle. We went up to the castle and wandered through a few shops while waiting to meet up with Elsa. It was 14L and a long queue to get into the castle, but it was the inspiration for Hogwarts, so it was well worth it. It was huge, with so many historical portraits and artifacts, museums and a cathedral. It was here where I decided to start spontaneously planking and getting pictures of it. To see all of these pictures, I will direct you to my facebook, where they have their own photo album. After the castle it was time for my most exciting part: THE ELEPHANT HOUSE! This is a cafe where J.K. Rowling had been seen writing Harry Potter. We ate lunch here and used the restroom before leaving, where so many people have written on the walls thanking J.K, so naturally I did as well, and I wrote it from the UVMQ team. We headed over to the National Portrait Gallery of Scotland to roam around and eventually meet up with Ashleigh and Anna. Then we headed back to Ashleigh's hostel to grab her backpack. Along the way we checked out various shops, walked through St. Andrew's Square, and we later stopped for dinner. Of all the restaurants and pubs on the street, we managed to find and All-American restaurant.. but we were too tired to find another place. After dinner we made our way over to the bus stop where we killed two hours. They were entertained by my planking in any place they proposed, including Jen's lap. I did this on and off for about an hour, so they got comfortable braiding my hair and we all played cards on my back, including me. It was all very fun. Before the bus came we wanted to run to the restrooms, but found how they ridiculously charge you to use them... stupid. We were all so ready for the bus ride back and then the walk to our dorms. It was a fantastic day! And now I am still exhausted.

 Our Hostel converted from a church

 HOGWARTS! or the Edinburgh Castle

 Beautiful Edinburgh

 Inside the Castle

 We got to see the Scottish Crown Jewels and the Coronation Stone

 Part of the castle

 Planking on a well in the castle

 Edinburgh Castle!

 MY FAVORITE PART OF THE U.K.!

 <3

 Scottish bagpipe band

 Outside the museum

 Planking in St. Andrew's Square

 The Tower of Edinburgh

Planking in the bus station

Day 31

Well, last night, after posting my blog I got to skype with Matt. It was the best skype session we have had thus far. He made me smile a lot. This morning I had an early breakfast and made my way over to my Cryptography homework tutorial, then Diff EQ class. These two hours seemed to drag on, but I returned to my room as soon as I could to take a nap. I think I slept for an hour and a half; it was nice. I made a peanut butter and banana sandwich for lunch then made my way to Kate's room to chill with her and Jen. Standard stuff happened: I put her objects on her outer window ledge and Jen and I napped on her bed while Kate wrote a paper. I had to leave the nap before actually sleeping so I could go to my cryptography class. When I returned, Jen was actually sleeping on Kate's bed. I also came back to the dorm to read my name on the parcel list! It was from my second family! Thank you, DiMasis!! I got a beautiful bracelet, pen, pencil, bendy-smiley guy, Vermont soap, and an inspirational sticker. I absolutely loved it! Our hall of girls went to an early dinner, then we each separated for a bit for alone time. I packed my bag for Edinburgh. I took a shower and went to Jen's room to hang out with her and Kate before we moved to my room. We have a loving, yet hostile relationship, but it's all fun and games. Off to Edinburgh tonight! Our bus leaves at 11:10 pm and we will get there around half 1am. Goodnight! x x x

Day 30

Today was quite chill. I had breakfast with Jen, then headed over to my Philosophy and Ethics seminar. I really enjoy those seminars because they are so small and the topics really make you think. Today we looked from both the consequentialist and nonconsequentialist point of view.. though either way was just as depressing because you couldn't save everyone's lives in the situations. I returned to my room afterwards to attempt to nap, but I got too into another Starkid play on Youtube... it's so funny. I wandered back to campus for my other philosophy lecture and a Diff EQ lecture, which wasn't too bad today. It was actually pretty interesting and I fully understood it all. I came back to my room, dropped off my stuff, and barged into Jen's room. We had fun discussing a possible trip to London for a few days in the end of May.. though it will depend on a few things 1) $$$$ and 2) my exam schedule. We went to dinner, Kate, Jen, Louise A, Katie, Esther, and I. Lasagna and apple pie, YUM! Afterwards I relaxed in my room listening to my new CD, "Love For Your Ears," compiled by Corrie. Jen came in and just sprawled on my bed playing on my iPod. Then at 8pm, Kate and I went to a free comedy show in the bar downstairs. It was very funny, at least what I understood was. A few of the comedians spoke too fast and I didn't understand the British reference, but Kate was laughing pretty hard, so it must have been good. I came back to my and am just chilling some more. Tomorrow night: EDINBURGH!

Day 29

Another day where I overslept... I either slept through my alarm or the volume of my iPod was off. Either way, I was so thankful I made breakfast plans for 9:00 AM with Kate and Jen. I woke up to a kicking on my door giving me just enough time to get ready for class if I skipped breakfast, which is what I did. Today I only had my Faith, Reason, and the Cosmos lecture then seminar. In between I worked on my Number Theory proofs.. I may not need to go to the drop-in class this week. Speaking of Number Theory, I got a 29/30 on my first assignment! :D I stopped buy Tesco to buy a loaf of bread for the peanut butter and honey sandwich I ate for a late lunch. I did my laundry, which is quite an amazing feat for me because I just hate trekking all the way down to the laundry room. I then watched Glee... twice. It was so intense the first time that I needed company and Jen wanted to watch it, so we did. What a great episode, so many good songs. Esther, Kate, Jen, and I went to tea; I had some sort of pasta, it was pretty good. I returned to my room and drew, joined Kate and Jen in Kate's room, then came back to my computer to check facebok only to answer a skype call just in time. It was Matt and Gayle. I had an absolutely wonderful conversation with Matt, he is getting to be more himself, which is making me very relieved. I returned to Kate's room very chipper and, as some of you can see by the facebook pictures, attempted to made myself comfortable in her bed, attempted to climb out the window (not even possible), and spontaneously planked across a chair. Now it's time for bed and hopefully I will not oversleep tomorrow.

Day 28

I've been here 4 weeks already, wow! Today was pretty low key. Jen and I went to breakfast as late as we possibly could. I had 4 classes, 3 of which were my math classes, which were easy as usual. I returned to my dorm to find my name on the parcel list! My parcel from Jenna, Corrie, and Gabi had arrived! I have never felt so cared for and I just cannot even express the amount of love I have for these girls. So many wonderful gifts in my birthday/Valentine's Day parcel: Cards from each of them, a Disney animal coloring book, disney princess crayons, a Princess funpack, lollypops, a jar decorated with all things england, M&Ms, and two CDs, lady gaga and boys who make your heart melt with their voice. I am so thankful for these girls and they made me so happy; I am so lucky. After my alone time with my parcel, I called Jen in and we booked bus tickets and a hostel for a trip to...(drum roll please).... EDINBURGH!!! Leaving Friday night, returning Saturday night. Kate came in as well and we all jus chilled in my room, listening to music, hitting each other with things, coloring, and talking. We watched the first 3 parts of A Very Potter Musical, and we will continue, but it was time for bed. I did not get to skype Matt today, but I know it was a busy day for him and he was exhausted. Instead I watched a video of him singing that he had made for me.. over and over again. <3 Overall, I have had a fantastic day, I wouldn't trade it for anything.

Day 27

I woke up to a very sweet message on my facebook wall that made my day. I went to breakfast with the girls, then had a 2 hour lecture, turned in my cryptography homework, and had a Number Theory lecture. After turning in my homework I heard a few guys in my class discussing how their decryption produced a gibberish word, which made me feel comforted with my answer that did not make sense. I ran over to the Combined Honour's office to sign in on the international students census, I guess so our home universities know we haven't run off around Europe of something. I met Jen and Kate at the arches on campus and we began our shopping adventure. I needed an outfit to wear out, Jen needed a shirt to wear out, and Kate needed some groceries. With Kate being the closest to a local, we gave her complete control over where we shopped. We walked into the mall, she saw a store with cute dresses in the window, and she said "Let's go in here." She had never been there before, but it was a very good call on her part. I told the girls I would try on anything they wanted. I ended up trying on 6 dresses, and I saved my favourite for last. When I emerged in the last dress the girls were like "That's it! That's the dress you're getting." Then we made our way over to Kate's favourite store to find a shirt for Jen; we made her try on 12 different things. Shopping with the girls was so much fun. Kate led us over to 'Poundland' which is like a dollar store... except everything is a pound. For lunch we got sausage rolls, then we headed back to our rooms. I skyped with Matt briefly, napped, then went to dinner with the girls. I showered, then danced around while getting all dressed up. Before joining my friends in Jen's room, I had a family skype since it was President's Day, and I got to see my poor Sophia in a pick puppy cast. Still Sooooo Cute! Kate, Jen, Ashleigh, and I had fun dancing, taking pictures, and just goofing off (usually led by me) in Jen's room. We caught a taxi to the club Florita's and had a wonderful time dancing until about 1:30am.

Day 26

Today was really quite chill. I slept in, ate breakfast, then spent a few hours working on proofs for Number Theory. A couple are quite hard and I have yet to finish, but I have 3 of the 5 done for sure. I made myself some pasta salad for a late lunch/early dinner. Later, I sat around and hung out in various combinations with Kate, Jen, and Esther. For a while it was just Kate and I who had stolen Jen's phone and we had some fun changing her settings and background. Then around 7:30pm Kate and I headed to Pub Quiz to meet Jen and her Northern Ireland friend Matt. Another Canadian guy was there, so he joined our team. Between the 5 of us, we got 23 out of 40 questions!!! We came in 4th place! So close to winning a prize! We will get them next time! After that, something had brought up the question of whether or not I knew all 50 states, to which I said yes and on a good day all the capitals. I was challenged to writing them all down... and don't you know I can only think of 49 for about 30 minutes until thinking about it was killing me. So I looked at a list... I missed IOWA! guuuhhhhh! I totally could have done it if I had a blank map to label them all. I returned to my room and sadly realised I had missed a call from Matt. I was so thankful to be called just a bit later. I had a lovely skype session with Matt, what a sweet boy! After skyping, I returned to Jen's room where I hung with her and Jen.. sitting in weird positions and changing her facebook status.

This is a pretty standard night with the girls..

Day 25

Today some exchange students and I took the train from Newcastle to Durham to continue our touristy activities. First, we went into the Durham Cathedral. You could not actually take pictures in the cathedral, but when you went through to the center and green you could. And of course I did... because HARRY POTTER WAS FILMED THERE! Well, parts of it. It is commonly the hallways they walk through outside and where Harry walks through the snow with Hedwig in the Sorcerer/Philosopher's Stone. It was truly magical. Also, within the cathedral is Professor McGonagall's classroom, however, we did not get the chance to see it. We wandered towards the Durham Castle and discovered where to buy our tour tickets. Then our hunger got the best of us and we headed to a pub. I had a delicious lunch.. a great change from the Havelock Hall food. We made our way to the tour and got beautiful pictures of the castle from the outside, however no pictures were allowed inside. It was an architecturally stunning building. Our tourguide was a student from Durham University named Tom and he wore a robe. At first I enjoyed considering him to be Cedric Diggory with the girls around me, then we realized Tom Riddle was much more fitting. After our tour we ventured downtown to the markets, some of us bought some delicious homemade fudge; I also got a very simple bracelet with a four-leaf clover charm hanging off it. After more wandering and a bit of intense discussion in Starbucks we caught our train home. I returned to a meal being cooked for me, I just need to chip in some money, which I gladly did. Thank you Louise for the wonderful home-cooked meal. Then, Kate, Jen, and I decided to watch HP and the PHILOSOPHER'S Stone... and everytime they mentioned the stone I was required to say "Philosopher's stone" since my stupid American version referred to it as the Sorcerer's stone. Jen and I had mainly wanted to watch so we could watch each scene carefully then shout "We were there today!" when appropriate. Mid-movie we paused so I could skype Matt. And at the end of the call I got to talk to my Best Friend... Tucker!! It's been a long day, and this is all I have to say, so here are a lot of photos:

 Leaving the trainstation

 Thinking.. though I'm not sure why anymore

 Ticket to Durham!

 My train.. very pretty colours

 I see a castle!

 A church silhouette..

 and the church.

 Durham!

 The Durham Castle and Cathedral

 The Durham Cathedral and river

 A princess on her way to her home(castle)

 Cathedral

 The Castle!!

 It was said that sinners could bang the knocker to be forgiven for their sins.

 HARRY POTTER

 HARRY POTTER

 Most definitely Harry Potter... these little witches have gowns on.

 The massiveness of the Durham Cathedral

 Gate to the Castle

 Castle Entrance

 The Castle Keep.. Durham University students actually live in there.

 Clock on the Caslte

 Our tourguide Tom (Riddle)

 Streets of Durham

 Marketplace in Durham

 Statue

 Owls!

Half of us..