“A year from now you will wish you had started today.” -Karen Lamb

A year from now seems like a really long time even though I know it isn't. I was talking with my dad today, saying that I was remembering living in A&I back at UCR, and how that doesn't seem like very long ago, when in reality it was four years. Looking ahead at the next ten months feels like forever. Time is funny that way. 

A little more Durham Beauty 

 Speaking of time and its funny ways, can you believe I've already been here a month?!! SO WIERD. It's a been a rollar-coaster, and this week was a good reflection of that. I was sick as a dog for a good portion of it, and my professor kept asking if I needed an ambulance. Okay, seriously, did I look that awful? Plus, please, I feel like crap, stop calling attention to me in the middle of class when I'm trying really hard not to cough up a lung onto my desk. Six days later, and I finally feel like a person again, and besides that rough patch, this week was actually pretty good.

So, being sick, naturally I ran out of tissues. I went out to
buy some and found these Cluedo (Clue for all you Americans) tissues.
They are creepy as heck but seriously, how do you NOT buy these?

                                       

A lovely tea and cake outing with Belinda.

                                     

I finished my first grad school assignment, hooray! It's formative, which means it doesn't count for a grade but tells you what you need to work on and for me, is an introduction to the British grading system. Apparently here a 70 is fantastic work, while at home it's a C-. This should be interesting. I also got the rest of my projects for the term sorted (I hope) so I have a stepping stone to go forth and conduct research...starting tomorrow.

I took the weekend off. The week was pretty uneventful, besides the fact that a guy recognized my UCR sweatshirt for what it was. He ended up being from LA, and we were both very excited. This weekend was amazing though. Friday night, it snowed. And when I say it snowed, I mean it SNOWED. White blanket in the morning. There were a few flurries earlier in the day on Friday. When I was sitting in the dining hall eating lunch, someone mentioned it was snowing outside and I flipped out. I pushed my chair back with a great squeak across the wood floor, grabbed my keys, and ran out the door in front of thirty plus people yelling, "Don't laugh at me!!!" Which of course they did. It was totally worth it though. And when it snowed hard that night, I went out twice. Once I took Belinda but she, being Canadian, was less than thrilled. The second time was after midnight and I went into the courtyard alone. It was quiet and dark, and the snow was falling in the silence. It was nothing short of magical.

Luckily the snow didn't affect this week's football match, or should I say, rematch? We played Ustinov again in the knockout round, finally getting our revenge for that 2-2 draw two weeks ago. We won 5-2 (two goals by me-yah!). We are finally coming together as a team and everyone gets along so well. It really is lovely.

 Lastly, yesterday I went to the Durham food festival with Belinda, Sabrina, and Andrea. It was freezing cold, but an absolutely gorgeous day. I found sourdough bread, which was way more exciting than finding bread ever should be. I ended up with two loaves of bread, an Italian pistachio dessert thing (which, despite my inability to identify it, was very tasty) and a bottle of ginger wine. Plus some cookies and a brownie for a couple friends who couldn't make it. It was a lot of fun.

Did I mention that I got to hold an owl.
Yeah, that happened. 

Oh, and side note, I went to a meeting for the MCR (Middle Common Room), for officer elections. I made the mistake of asking what the secretary does out of curiosity,  so I am now St. Mary's College's MCR secretary for 2012-13. Why do I do these things to myself?

Ginger wine, sourdough bread, and sea salt,
rosemary and olive loaf. 

Pistachio canole type thing. 

Oh and just one more thing (said, of course, in a Peter Falk voice) I realized you guys haven't seen my room, so here are some pics of where I will be spending a good portion of my year.

My beautiful bulletin board filled with my beautiful friends and family.
Oh, and Harrison Ford and Shakespeare posters.



At least I get my own sink, which is nice. 

Covered with books, typical.