I "slept in" today, waking up at about 10. I probably could have kept sleeping until early afternoon, but I have some stuff to get taken care of this morning. Days agenda:
- Actually get out of bed and my PJs
- Walk downtown, take care of some banking issues (see below)
- St. George's market (because i cant not go)
- Short run (maybe not, again see below)
- Core Workout class 1245-145
- Library alll afternoon
- Make delicious dinner with some friends (spinach and ricotta cannolini or eggplant/goat cheese stuffed pepper? yummmmmm)
- Big Lebowski is playing at the Queens Film Theater (woo, i've still never seen it)
- Perhaps a few pubs
So yeup, so last night I was in a funk. It wasn't really homesickness- I've had that before (girl scout camp when I was like 12?) This is just more of a general exhaustion. After Amsterdam, I was physically tired in every way. Then this week I realized just how much school work I have to get done in the next month, which was kind of a shock.
Schooling here is a very weird system. I have literally had zero assignments or ways of being evaluated so far this semester. Basically on the first day of each class, I was given the topics of 2 major research papers that I had to do before leaving in December. 6 papers in one whole semester? Big deal. But now that I'm starting them and realizing that each one could easily take 2 weeks of dedication to do (and do well...), I am running out of time. ALSO, I very much have the travel bug. I am in Europe for 6 more weeks, and the more things I see the more I realize I haven't seen. I still haven't explored Ireland at all (well the Giant's Causeway, and a morning in Dublin), and I really wanted this trip to be dedicated to exploring my family's past and the culture that my grandparents lived with. I was planning on doing a big road trip with my family when they came, but now I have to kind of fill in the weekends with what those plans would have been.
Also, right now is the "reading week" for the Social Sciences majors. This means that all of the political science, pysch, sociology, anthro, history, international affairs, etc (basically everyone I know) has the week off so they are doing big trips all around the place (a week in Spain, Paris, Prague, Italy..to name a few). As a science major, I don't really get a reading week though, so campus is very quiet and sad right now.
SO on that note, I'm planning a little trip for myself. I invited Anna and Anna, and I hope they come because traveling with a buddy is always best, but I'll still go even if they don't think they can.
I don't have any classes Wednesday afternoon-Sunday this week so I'm thinking of seeing a bit of Ireland. I'll take a bus from Belfast to Dublin then transfer a bus over to Galway. Galway is supposed to be the "most Irish" of the cities in Ireland, with brightly painted pubs and traditional music. I'm pretty sure that the actual Irish language is still even used there. The Cliffs of Moher is definitely at the top of my list of things to do while I'm here. I remember growing up on Marco Island and seeing pictures of my family members in front of these cliffs and just thinking that there could be no cooler place in the world. I definitely think I have seen crazier things this year, but going to this place would have a lot of sentimental and personal value for me.
So next weekend...it's happening.
On another note, what the heck BANK. Last night I tried to use my credit and debit cards , and ALL got declined. I called the bank, and they had no idea what I was talking about or why they were not being accepted. I only have about 4 pounds in my pocket right now, so I hope this all gets square away. I'm walking to the Barclays bank (bank of america's uk partner) to try and figure this out. Having no access to money in a foreign country is a annoying feeling, especially when I owe like 3 people money right now.
SooOOo, I'm not sure what a charlie horse is, but I think I got one last night. Actually, no, Google is telling me that a Charlie horse is a cramp in the thigh. BUT, last night I woke up with the most intense cramp in my calf that I have ever experienced. I actually had tears, and I could not make the pain stop for the life of me. After about five minute of rubbing my calf and trying to flex my foot, the pain subsided a little and the muscle just felt completely exhausted. Now this morning it feels like my whole calf is a big bruise. I went to a pretty intense spinning class yesterday and ran about 5 miles the day before, but I thought I did enough stretching after. Afterways, I'll try to stay off it the next day or so.
Alrighty, thats about all. Last night was kind of uneventful. It was Dominika's birthday, and she made a killllller homemade cheesecake and this strawberry shortcake thing (I stuck with the cheesecake..). Everyone indulged a little toooo much, but I did a crazy workout earlier in the day so I was starving. So good. It was cute. see.
I was thrilled to find this amazing piece hanging on the wall of Dominika's kitchen. No one knows who put it up or where it came from...but NONE of the Europeans know what it is at all. They were especially confused as to why I thought it was cool at all...or why i had a song about "business time" stuck in my head the rest of the night...
Then people went out to a party at Mount Charles (the graduate student dorms), but I ended up watching a movie with Patrick and Lindsay at his place. That was just the kind of night I needed to fix my funky mood.***Okay this is now 20 minutes later because my computer just randomly died*** >:(
About once a day now, my computer just dies. It runs pretty much fine otherwise...Slower than it used to be, but it is about 3.5 years old now. I just backed up my philosophy paper and my Amsterdam pictures to my external before finishing this post. I will be beyond words pissed if my computer decides to go to laptop heaven before this trip is over. Really, the last thing I can afford right now. oof.
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