Thoughts From A Train

Ok so the title is fluffy and pretentious. I’m going to go ahead and blame the book I just finished reading, it’s called “Jane Austen ruined my life” and it’s pretty awful; badly written, weird concept, historically and culturally inaccurate, the whole nine yards. But I still read it cover to cover and am a little disappointed it’s finished, because it’s really romantic and gushy without being excessively sexy, because it’s fulfilling my saccharine sweet tooth, because it’s mind numbingly easy to read, because it feels good to be reading something which isn’t for school and because there’s something about reading on trains which is oddly, but satisfyingly, romantic to my mind. (Actually there was one more thing I wanted to moan about; all the ‘British’ characters sounded like they had sprung from turn of the century London – what? Who even talks like that anymore? Although luckily there were only about three ‘British’ characters in the whole book, which was odd considering it was set in England...)

I actually tried to write some of my Children’s Literature paper, the only thing I didn’t manage to get finished due to my ridiculously badly timed illness of epic proportions. Luckily I managed to get a medical extension on it, although not without some adventure. Because clearly at this stage nothing can go simply, why would life be easy? My professor wasn’t responding to my email and I really needed to know whether I’d gotten the extension and therefore should panic, or not. So I went to the English office to see if they had a better way to contact her, they didn’t so the chair of the department just asked me how long I’d like to write the paper, I suggested the 10^th of January and then he sent off a storm of emails. I still haven’t actually heard back from my professor, so I’m not actually sure whether she’s realised why my paper hasn’t come in yet. Although on saying that we’re supposed to email them in. Still, one would think that if we were supposed to email in our papers she would have to check her email in order to see whether mine was there or not. 

I’m not too sure how much sense I’m making. I didn’t get a great deal of sleep last night. I stayed up last night trying to get as much done on my paper as I could while other people were still working. I sat with Violet and the other Ellen in the library, and whilst I wasn’t hugely productive, I now only need to write 7 pages rather than 10, and I got to spend some time with my friends. I was hoping to get a little more done however, since now realistically I’m going to end up writing the paper over J-term, which I was really trying to avoid. I was hoping to be able to bum around and not really do too much work over J-term. Although on saying that the readings for my philosophy class has been posted online already for me, along with strict instructions that I should read and consider the materials carefully and come up with intellectual things to say about it. (I might have paraphrased ever so slightly...)

Anyway, so I’m on a train. The trains seem to follow the old cliché that everything in America is bigger than things at home. I have so much legroom it’s pretty epic, and the seats seem to be made for phenomenally fat people.  I have a power socket and internet, albeit very unreliable internet, hence why I’m writing this; not much internet require. The best thing however about this train is that it’s just like trains you see in old movies; it’s all tall and we’re plunging through the darkness and there’s an enormous orange moon and I feel very content. I always forget how much I love trains. I think they might be my preferred method of transportation.  There are such fantastic people on trains. I’m sat behind a group of Australian travellers who are all on iphones and ipads which seem to be so much better at capturing the dodgy internet connection than my dinosaur of a Dell, which incidentally I’m starting to think is on its very last legs. And on the other side of me is a couple, the girl is playing violent computer games and the guy is knitting the world’s longest scarf. The Mount Holyoke Woman in me approves of this failure to conform to gender norms. 

So anyway this marvel of modern technology, the peak of travelling comfort is whisking me away to sunny Boston, where I have to do fandagoing with the Boston T in order to make it safely to chez Ink-pad where I’m spending the night before hopefully flying off to old Blighty for a couple days of Christmas and New Year’s malarkey and real life British people and mince pies and vegetables and fruit and my duvet and actual real life Y chromosomes! So much excitement. Lucky I’m only back for 10 days really or all the novelty will go to my head. (I’m going to interrupt myself to say that knitting man has the oddest knitting technique I have ever seen. It’s like a cross between knitting and crocheting, it’s fascinating. I’m trying to figure out what he’s doing without looking like I’m staring at him...) 

I just noticed that this blog post is actually 100 words longer than what I’ve written on my Children’s Literature paper so far. How depressing. I also realised that I haven’t eaten for a very long time. I mean it’s only nine and I had lunch at 12. But I’m used to seriously regular dining hall food. 10, 12 and 6 without fail. Those first two meals are actually much too close together. Perhaps that is not too healthy? Regardless. Three regular meals. So right now I’m REALLY REALLY HUNGRY! So I’m hoping we’re nearly there now.

Wow. That was amazing. Just as I typed that I was hoping we were almost there the lady announced we were five minutes away. Makes me wonder, if I’d typed that sentence an hour again, would it have had the same effect? 

(So I was going to put a bit here about how I American trains were inferior to ours, because they were patchy, infrequent and equally late, but it transpires that despite leaving Springfield almost an hour and a half behind schedule we swung into Boston merely two minutes late! INSANE! The train can do magical time bending type things. So really American trains win! Coincidentally American subway systems are also superior – on the T in Boston they have phone signal! Can you imagine! I wonder how they do it....)

Home is where the heart is.

** Disclaimer - this was written in several pieces and therefore might not flow well or make sense, not too much of a change from usual **

I only have a week and a half left at Mount Holyoke this semester, I'm flying back to Guildford in exactly 12 days, this has produced the fascinating sentence: 'I'm going home on the 21st and then coming back home on the 2nd of January.' How does that even make sense in my head?

 

I've been thinking about writing this post for a couple of days now, but was finally prodded into action by the most lovely package I have ever received from my gorgeous friends in York. Usually there isn't much than can make me cry, except you know, a good book, or a soppy film, or a really sad story, which might jerk the occasional tear. But this had me literally bawling. For a good 45 minutes. It was one of the most lovely things I have ever received, even though it was just an envelope with a random assortment of gifts, cards and letters, it contained more love than I could have ever hoped for. /end soppy stuff.

That and the fact that from now on sleeping doesn't really look like it's on the agenda until Friday, let alone writing blogs, and I haven't even written about thanksgiving yet. Also the sheer amount of work is worrying me a little and when I worry I procrastinate like a pro. Still I think it's doable. I mean really it'll have to be, I don't have a great deal of choice. And it's only 2 10 page papers and a portfolio. What's the big deal? Hmmm. 

So anyway, recently it struck me how many places I call home.The first time I really noticed how easily I start calling a place home was in South Africa, when I realised that I was calling a tent which moved every day home and it escalated somewhat from there.The obvious place to start is Guildford, where I have lived almost my entire life, but recently I can say that I have added York, Plymouth MA, and the craziness that is Mount Holyoke College to my list.

I'm going back to Guildford on the 22nd of December this year, in time for Christmas, I have to say I'm looking forward to being home, Christmas on this campus isn't very Christmassy, despite the lights on the Commons and the Gates, and the odd Christmas decoration which has found it's way into the dining halls. I haven't been to any carol services, I haven't seen any carollers, no mince pies have been consumed at all, no mulled wine, no excessive Christmas music. No nothing. Christmas is going to be very short this year I think.

(I'm not going back to York for a gosh darned while, but hopefully I should be headed back for Cricket Presidents, worry not gang!)

The most fantastic thing about being friends with the world's shortest person (read: Half-Pint / Emily) is that I get to lay claims to her FANTASTIC family. They made me feel so at home, it was lovely. (see what I did there? I linked it to the title... ooooh! I'm a smart cookie!) Although Thanksgiving seems like it was a while ago,  I have to say it was one of my favourite American things thus far. This is probably in part because it contained a excess of my favourite things ever to do: sleeping and eating. I have literally never seen so much turkey in one place in my life. We had one huge 40 pound turkey and then another smaller turkey which was smoked, and then sweet potatoes and yam, and mashed potatoes, and beans, and stuffing and bacon and cranberry sauce (which I made myself!!) and I think more things which I'm forgetting about. And then ,when I was sat trying to contemplate how I was ever going to eat again, about 8 pies came out!!I have to admit that I sadly failed at eating everything on my plate. But I ate the pie for breakfast the following morning...

And the last place I call home is this crazy place called Mount Holyoke College. It is like an inverse universe where phrases like heteronomativity are used as though feminism is going out of fashion and liberalism is a way of life. Not to mention the fact that mono (which is what Americans call Glandular Fever I believe) is going (pardon the pun) viral, every other person seems to have it. Possibly because with the advent of the COLD we have recently been experiencing, us singletons are becoming a dying breed, as a friend pointed out "it's getting to the point of comic ridiculousness". However, despite the cold, there is still NO SNOW. Which is also ridiculous considering the amount of snow that England and in fact the rest of Europe is experiencing at the moment. Mount Holyoke trying to be differnet again! (This makes it sound as though the snow comes up to the Mount Holyoke gates and then stops, this clearly isn't the case) Still I'm holding out for a white Christmas back home, if I manage to get there that is...

In other news I'm still dying slowly in a corner, but I have every intention of waking up tomorrow fully healed. (I've been saying this every day for a while now, it's not happened so far - but I have a good feeling about tomorrow...)

Exams?

I recently realised I hadn't sat an actual real life exam since A-levels.
Which was a long time ago.
I haven't done this revision thing in a while. 
EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEK!
Not to mention the fact that I'm sick.
Like actually, being pumped full of anti-biotics type sick.
Yup. I win at life again!
In other news there is a super sized blog post of seriousness coming. This is just a filler while I freak out about finals.
See you on the other side old chaps!

Why I love my Old English Professor: Reason 682

His 4 week projected final paper work schedule:

Week 1: Find and isolate topic.

Week 2: Drink tea, eat biscuits and think.

Week 3: Bibliography and rough draft

Week 4: Shape material into brilliant paper.

Needless to say I'm looking forward to week 2.

In other news I have mastered the art of putting up my blinds without assistance. Not just a pretty face!

(Ok, I've accepted that my life is neither adventurous nor exciting, I think you should do the same...)

Thanksgiving is coming...

The turkey's getting fat, please put a penny in the poor student's hat.

(I was told no Christmas until after thanksgiving, so I'm modifying...)

So tomorrow I leave on exciting Thanksgiving adventures! I have no idea how I'm going to make it back from aforementioned adventures, but I've totally figured out how I'm getting there, and it's going to involve a car, an underground thingy bobby, a train, and then another car on the other end! Oh yes! I feel like a mighty intrepid type explorer! It's all pretty exciting, I actually arrive before Half-Pint does, but it's all good! There will be real Maine potatoes, and Turkey and a bunch of other American type things, but I'm sure this will all come in a later post.

Right now I'm all excited because I've figured out there's a 'Stats' tab on my blog and I can see who is reading it! Well not exactly who, I can't stalk you, but I can see how many people are looking at it, where they are from (by country) and what browser they are using to read my random ramblings! For example I now know that 4 people visited my blog yesterday, 187 people visited this month and in all time 489 people have read about my life. I also know that this week 51 people from the UK, and 37 people from America read my blog, which is fairly interesting, but I also know that 10 people from Canada and 2 people from South Korea stopped by. This is fascinating, because I don't know how these people came across my blog, and prompted me into further research. Transpires that in the history of my blog, I have had 14 Russian readers, 12 Swedish 3 French readers, and one lost reader in Germany. I understand the French ones, I know French people, but I don't know 12 Swedish people (plus many of my Swedish friends don't actually live in Sweden) and as far as I'm aware I don't know anyone in Russia or South Korea.  Or actually Canada for that matter...

Needless to say this is inflating my ego, even though I'm very aware that the majority of these people probably came across my blog entirely by accident, and didn't read anything before they left, and probably have no recollection of seeing it at all. Nevertheless, it is spurring me on to post more often and to generally be a funnier, more interesting person, which is what you've all been waiting for anyway I'm sure.

Anyway I should get back to my mountain of papers and other thanksgiving preparations, such as packing and doing laundry (as you can see my bid to be interesting and lead an entertaining life is going well!)

There are two things I should never do...

and they are a) tell myself I'm going to have an early night, and b) take my laptop to the library. 

I have told myself I need an early night every night this week, thus far I have failed to make it to my room much before 2. I really don't understand how this happens. Well I do, essentially I get distracted by people and end up talking until way too late. This isn't exactly a new phenomenon, sleep is a fairly inconsistent part of the Mount Holyoke experience from what I've observed, however with the work load consistently ramping up and thanksgiving break nearing, it's getting a little hairy. 

I actually have a bone to pick with those 1621 pilgrims, I think they went out of their way to make my life more complicated than is strictly necessary. While I'm all for giving thanks and all that jazz, it basically means I and the rest of civilisation is trying to get to Eastern Massachusetts Tuesday/Wednesday and then back again on Sunday. This makes it very hard to figure out how to get there and back, and whilst I'm looking forward to spending my first All-American Thanksgiving in Plymouth, the home of thanksgiving, it is proving to be somewhat of a logistical nightmare. Not to mention the fact that really I don't have time for frivolities because every single deadline EVER seems to be around now. This is not fair; my professors are all American, they knew this was coming, I never saw it approaching and then it suddenly arrived and I have been thrown into depths of panic. ish. 

However this brings me onto point 2 of my two things I should never do. I am currently in the library. I was going to write my two page paper today. Clearly this is not happening. Instead I have written long emails to people in England, I have written a blog post, and I have written (arguably) witty comments on facebook pictures. Not a paper in sight. Which is an issue. A fairly sizable issue really since I have this 2 page paper, and a 5-7 page paper due this and next Tuesday respectively, and a translation and a quiz to prepare for. And a sodding four day break with no library right slap bang in the middle. It really is most inconvenient!

Not to mention the fact that all my Sinterklaas things are in the post from England, and I'm pretty sure that Thanksgiving is going to involve postal workers having a break, which means that most likely my things won't arrive and I shall have a sad, sad, strooigoed-free sinterklaas for the first time EVER and I shall cry and cry. Vespers is actually on Sinterklaas, which is probably a good thing, since in my experience no work ever gets done on Sinterklaas since I spend the day feeling homesick. So instead I shall spend the day running around like a headless chicken, and I'm sure it'll be much more productive. Hopefully I shall still have time to watch Alles is Leifde, which is a personal lonesome, only dutch person around, tradition of mine. Perhaps in the morning. 

The only other issue with the approach of Vespers is that I have yet to actually master the pieces, which is an issue, since I do need to be able to play them in the concert. I've got the Bach Chorale and Joy to the World down (if you could see my music you'd see why, even I can handle a couple of crotchets and the smattering of accidentals) and about two thirds of the crazy other piece. It's the last third that I'm worried about. Since the bit I haven't got is the tune bit, which would be helpful to you know. Play. Still it could be worse, we could be playing the Borodin, in which I have SOLOS. Seriously? What kind of crazy composer gives the second clarinet solos? I'm supposed to play helpful harmonies, the odd long note and spend the rest of my time, well counting rests, not playing solos. This was not in my job description!

Anyway. I'm going to move out of my desk with my laptop, as this is clearly of limited productivity, and go work somewhere else. Hopefully with more evident output. Toodles.

Wait just one minute!

I forgot to blog about something of momentous and extreme importance! LISA CAME TO VISIT! Like actually from England. Well clearly from England, because that is where she lives, but it was so very very exciting! Unfortunately the Valley is a pretty dull place, and there is not much to do, particularly since I still had homework and quizzes to do and therefore was not at the peak of my fun! Still we had a good time hanging out in the library. I'M JOKING! Well, actually, we did hang out in the Library, but I'll have you know the library here is very beautiful and historical and has very comfy seats.

We also went on other exciting adventures though. We went shopping at the mall, and to Northampton, and went to pub night and a Blanch Party. Lisa also went on solo missions to Amherst and Boston, and we hung out and stole food from the cafeteria. And went on walks around campus to see the lakes, and we went to the village commons. You know, all the important things to see and do in South Hadley. Oh! And one night we ordered sushi and tried to watch Glee, but the TV wasn't playing ball, so it was showing the picture and playing the background music but you couldn't hear the actual dialogue. It was very bizarre. And we hung out in the library, and in my dorm room, and did homework. Because we're cool like that. 

Regular readers of this blog, will recognise my adventures with Lisa to include much shopping (let's be honest, Lisa probably one of the only regular readers of this blog - so I'm just telling you that whenever Lisa and I are in the same place shopping occurs). This time was no exception. I successfully bought a really nice polo Ralph Lauren sweater/jumper (depending on where you come from), a vest/body-warmer/Gillette (ditto) a couple of t-shirts (one of which from Holister, I feel so in with the kids) and most importantly my Advent calender! This year, since I bought it so early and therefore had limited choice, I went for a slightly less religious themed one, with Santa and toys and small children. However, in an unusual twist of fate it has chocolate in! Oh yes! I'm pretty excited!

Which allows me to segway nicely (or perhaps not so nicely) into a short moment of excitement about the fact that DECEMBER IS COMING! This means several things: 1. Thanksgiving break! 2. Sinterklaas. and 3. Getting ready for Christmas. I shall address these in order:

1. Thanksgiving break starts next Tuesday! Which is exciting! I'm going back to Plymouth for the break and hanging out with my fake American Family in Eastern Mass. We're doing exciting things like a turkey trot, and eating our body weight in food and hanging out with extended family. 

2. Sinterklaas is fast approaching, but because thanksgiving falls between now and Sinterklaas I'm not too sure when I get to start listening to the songs or becoming excited about it all. My mother went to Holland this weekend and bought me Sinterklaas things, so maybe I'll start when it all arrives. I'm prettttty excited!

3. Christmas! YAY CHRISTMAS! I have Christmas themed knit wear and everything! I love Christmas! My cousins and aunts and uncles and grandmother will be there, and it's all so exciting! I'm told mince for mince pies has been made as well as Christmas cakes!