Saw the Rest, Pledged the BEST, Go PHI MU!!

WOW!! I'm soooo excited! Just spent the last hour facebooking and stalkernetting every single one of the new Phis (is that bad?... I'm not sure...). All I can say is...

Great job ladies!!! I didn't know a lot of the girls rushing this year, but we got every single one of the girls that I had met and thought were awesome last semester! I can't wait until next semester when I can get to know all of these Phabulous girls!

Also, there were two girls rushing this semester (*cough* janna and christy*cough*) that I adore and it's great to finally make "official" what everyone already knew... that they were Phi Mus. I mean... Janna spent more nights in the four pack than certain other girls who will remain nameless. Plus, this solves the problem of who was going to have to dump their boyfriends to take Janna to formal. Now she'll get to bring her own date and the dance offs can continue... ;)

So... yeah, more proud than ever before to be a PHI MU! :-D

the profile, away message and facebook updating may begin...

where is the email??!!

It's almost 10:00pm here and I still don't have an email... my poor corridor mates... i am going to keep bugging them until i find out who our new Phis are...

right now, i realllly miss being at the house... gathering around the phone and listening as the names were called out was so incredible, as was the bid dinner afterwards and the porch scene :-(

just call me Brittany "ace basketball player" Spencer

my entire post was just lost - it was long and witty and the greatest post in the world

GRRRRRRRRRRRR!

also GRRRRRRRRRRR to the fact that it's 8:32pm and there is still an hour till the new Phi list gets sent out

productive saturday :)

Went for another run and tried to take some pictures of the scenic landscape... unfortunately I'm a retard and didn't bring fresh batteries, so it didn't quite work out. I really need to plan better because not only was it a pain running with a camera, but the sun was just starting to set on the ocean and the sight was breathtaking. Oh well, picture taking can be my impetus for running tomorrow.

Remember how I never set foot in the gym back home? Well... now that I can't go without paying, all I want to do is go to the gym. Me!! Go figure. Fortunately the weather isn't too cold so running outside is fine, but seriously... This is so like me - I never want something until it's unattainable.

I also spent a small fortune to do my laundry this afternon. One load of wash is $3.20 and the dryer costs $2.00 for 12 minutes. I boycotted the dryer and now my entire room is filled with wet clothes that I am letting drip dry on hooks, backs of doors and shelves. Boys were walking by and they had a full view of my under things... super.

After the craziness of last night, I think tonight is going to be pretty chill. There is an American Football team party that we might pop by (mostly because I want to be around normal boys for a bit) and then it is going to be a wine and movie night for the girls. Napoleon Dynamite, Ice Cream, French Wine (at only $3.00 a bottle) and gossip! I can't wait :)

finally... i must confess that i have found a new way to procrastinate online: at the top of this site on the far right there is a button you can click on that says "next blog." you click on it and it randomly takes you to another blog. it's oddly addictive to see what you come upon. some are really wierd (the guy on that one has a fetish with getting fat) and others are really interesting (this one is from an American who worked in the White House and is now in Iraq). either way, it's my amusement of the moment :)
*Warning*: you may come across innapropriate ones! Just skip by them quickly and don't blame me!

i shouldn't make apost now...

but I will anyway.

Tonight, we went out to the bars on campus. A brand new one just opened and they were having a big RnB night. The music was pretty awful but the atmosphere was wonderful. I tried taking pictures but everyone I gave my camera to was too drunk to take proper pictures. Now that I am back in my room and have loaded them onto my computer, I notice that only one picture actually turned out ok. The rest are of the floor, half of people's faces and two pictures were actually set on "movie" instead of image so I have two three second films of stupidly grinning people. Wonderful. I've posted a few of the reject pictures below.

Tomorrow, when I'm in my right mind, I'm sure I'll take them down, but for the moment, I feel odly compelled to post...

this pic is from the beginning of the night... i started out the evening by tripping and pouring my entire drink on people i had just met... everyone decided that the best way to deal with that embarassing episode was to drink more :-P




take four... (it took four shots (two of which turned to be movies) to get everyone in the pic) i still look hammered


kate was worse than me...

"Y'all right?"

At least once a day for the last three weeks, one of my corridor mates would stop in on me in my room or in the kitchen and say "Y'all right?" The exact words were hard to figure out at first with the accent, but eventually I was sure that they were asking me if I was alright. I thought maybe they were concerned over whether or not I was adjusting well in the beginning, and I thought to myself "Oh, how nice, they are making sure I'm okay." After the first week though, every time they asked I always felt like I must be looking really "tired" (i.e. like crap) or something for them to keep asking if I was all right. As a result, I kept giving long answers to justify the state I was in.

I'm so daft. Turns out "Y'all right?" is a greeting. Like "what's up?" or "what's going on?" When someone at home asks "what's up?" they never actually wait for an answer, it's just as perfunctory as "hey" but gives the slight illusion that you care.

So... if a Brit asks if you are all right, they just mean "Hi", they don't want to know your life story.

i have too much free time

There was a week last semester where I had eleven meetings, 13 hours of work and the usual schedule of classes/homework/studying. I know some of the other talented phi mus can handle schedules like that with out any problems, but it was a bit much for me. It was after that week that I really started looking forward to coming to Lancaster. I assumed it would be amazing because I wouldn't have to be on the exec board of any clubs or have a job. My only real commitment would be school and fun.

Unfortunately, I just can't motivate myself to read the 3,000 or so odd books I am required to and, without a bazillion meetings, I have nothing to do during the afternoon. I've actually started to run again. As in, outside. Like exercise. It can't possibly have anything to do with motivation (i have none) and I'm not looking to impress any of the fruitcakes over here so... I think it's due to boredom. It's kind of amazing really. The other day I ran down near the supermarket (fortunately I didn't have any money or I would have stopped and bought some chocolate just to balance out the running) and then around the whole campus. I was able to check out the picturesque countryside and even some cute little sheep. I even saw the ocean! Gorgeous.

I think I will be tired of this idleness very soon, but, for the moment... cheers to boredom

i messed up the template

disregard everything i said in previous posts about having figured out templates. i lied. i managed to screw up the fun one i had before and had to switch back to this one.

on the upside, i figured out how to add a counter so that i can now keep track of whether or not anyone bothers to read this.

i think the late nights, constant rain and poor diet are getting to me and making me sick. rather than add a nice post about the last few days, i'm going to bed early (9:00pm) and will put something in here tomorrow. :)

Classes

After two and a half weeks of classes, I finally have a complete schedule that I am pretty sure will transfer nicely to Case. Thus, I am now able to comment on the classes that I am taking and can reassure my parents that I am indeed going to class.

Ac.F 311 - equivalent to Acct 301 - One two hour lecture per week and one 50 minute seminar. The professor is from Italy and seems to really know his stuff. I'm a dork and like accounting, so this isn't a bad class. All of the material covered in the first few weeks was already covered in 300 so, for the first time in my life, I actually have a clue as to what is going on in an accounting class. The professor is no Tom or Julia Grant but he's leagues above a Garen, so I'm optimistic overall.

Econ 314 - equivalent to one of the required Bafi's - Monetary Economics. Taught by this brilliant and slightly eccentric professor who is an authority on Hayek (economic theorist). I love his style of teaching and am actually fascinated by the course... I just wish it wasn't so over my head. I need this class to transfer for the BAFI so I can graduate on time and there weren't any other options due to conflicts so... to get into it... I kinda sorta exaggerated about my economic background. I've only had 102 and 103 and to take this class you needed at least two more intermediate econs... I told the guy I could handle it... I don't have a prayer of handling it. I'm going to have to make some friends in the class and then work extra, super hard (i.e. one less bar crawl a month) just to pass. This should be interesting...

Engl 204 - equivalent to Literature and Language GER - I LOVE this class. American Literature. I should be able to handle this. We are doing the Scarlet Letter right now, AP English, anyone? If I don't get an A, immigration shouldn't let me into the country.

R.Stud 332 - equivalent to Global and Cultural Diversity - Manifestations of the Goddess in India. Absolutely fascinating course. It's all about the role of women in Hindu society, past and present, and traces the evolutions and manifestations of goddesses. Amazing.

I know I complained about the reading list (I will probably do that alot in the coming months), but one cool thing is that you don't actually have to buy any books. Every single book you need is in the library or online. Soooo much money saved! I mean, the cost of my upcoming trip to London is equal to one Accounting book. So, that's cool :)

after 12 or so hours of searching online...

i have finally found a website with lots of fun templates that can be adjusted with almost zero knowledge of html design. i have a negative ability when it comes to making blog skins, so this works well for me.

i picked this one based on a link Lou sent me a bit ago. he is devout follower of all things apple (don't even bother trying to talk to him while he is reading an interesting issue of MacWorld) and told me about the iPod Shuffle (shown on the left). it is Apple's newest in it's line of mp3 players. it's affordable and may be fun for avid exercisers, but i don't think it will be as wildly popular as the previous iPods because it's just not as practical. what happens if there is a song you really want to hear - do you have to go through tons of songs to find it? that's not to say it won't sell well though, i mean, people will buy anything right now that has an "i" on the front of it and Apple knows it. people would probably spend $20 for a bottle of iWater.

anyways... i think i will change skins alot based on mood, events, etc. now that i have figured this out... compensate for a lack of interesting things to read with interesting things to look at! :-)

there's no place like home

Yesterday was the first day of rush and right about now, everyone is probably waking up, putting on matching shirts, checking hair and makeup and making sure that they look just right to hit on girls. I mean... make friends.

Last year, I had a lot of mixed feelings on the formal recruitment process at Case. From certain angles it seemed so superficial and painful. From the sorority girl's point of view, you meet these incredible girls and stress for a week and a half over whether or not they will join your sorority - if they do, you are thrilled and it is all worth it, but if they do not, you feel like you have failed in some monumental way. If you are participating in recruitment, you are constantly worrying about whether or not you will end up in the same chapter with your friends or whether or not you will be able to keep all of your friends after all of the decisions are made.

However, being so far away, I have a little bit of perspective on the whole thing and I really miss it. I genuinely do. I miss being able to meet fantastic girls, but most of all, I miss hanging out with everyone. I think rush last year was when I realized how amazing Phi Mu really was. Any group of girls can have fun under formal, contrived circumstances that involve large quantities of alcohol, but we were having a blast just hanging out. Whether it was hanging balloons, eating food, coloring in posters or making of fun of those ridiculous songs we have to sing... I enjoyed every minute of it. Everywhere I turned there was someone wonderful to make a sarcastic comment to or laugh with. Anyone who has been through high school knows how hard it is to find a group of girls where you can just be yourself and be liked for that.

The only things I liked better than rush were living in the house and Greek Week (mostly for the random fun everyone seems to have).

So... I wish everyone luck today and in the upcoming week and weekend. Not being able to participate, you'd think I would be afraid of the outcome. Actually, that hasn't even crossed my mind because I know that we will come out of rush with the most amazing group of girls at Case... (the ones that are in touch with their inner jackasses, who aren't afraid to make fools of themselves, who can have fun just sitting around the dinner table, who have a certain quality you can't quite put your finger on, but that makes them stand out from all the rest; the individuals who will add another dimension to the chapter, the ones who don't just follow the crowd)... we always do.

that looks terrible, you probably think i'm losing it

i just saw what that picture looks like. it's pretty awful. i guess it's one of those things where "you had to be there" to appreciate it. oh well, that's the last time i'll try and be cute.

i promised myself that i wouldn't get too specific on this thing because i'd rather not broadcast anything beyond the superficial stuff here. i mean, a journal on a website is not the best place for one's innermost thoughts.

however, it's 3:41 am and i'll be a little PDA-ish (by my standards) this one time. suffice to say that i miss the boy, it's wierd to be in a school setting and not spending 10/11 hours with him and i've taken to thinking very mean thoughts in my head about all the happy couples i see. next time i try to do something that he'd appreciate, i'll make sure I use the zoom function on my camera better so that the rest of you don't think i'm a complete and utter psycho who takes pictures of windows with blurry writings.

also, i'll work on getting a better connection to the network so that i can send emails with attachments and not have to rely on this site for relaying pictures.

Soon to be top world traveler...

ok, so maybe not world traveler, but at least ace traveler of Britain.

At Lancaster University, esteemed purveyor of higher education, there is not one, but two travel agencies on campus. At first, this kind of bummed me out because I would walk past these big posters of beautiful people blissfully vacationing in the sunny Canary Islands. They were basically saying "Ha ha, these people are tanning while you walk in the rain and become ever more Casper-like." However, once classes began in earnest, big sandwich boards started to appear outside the travel office, advertising day trips to various parts of the UK. Which, instead of making one depressed, are a source of excitement because these are packages that are very affordable. So... I stopped in, had a chat w/ the travel agent and some of the other international students on campus and now have two trips planned in the next four weeks!

Adventure #1: For 19 pounds (about $38.00), myself and some of the other Americans and Australians will be heading to Edinburgh, Scotland. After a bus trip through the highlands, we will be dropped off early in the morning and have roughly 10 hours to walk around the city and see the old castle, visit museums and check out street markets. To prepare for this trip, I am watching anything on the network featuring Sean Connery and trying to find copies of Highlander (either the movie or USA tv series).

Adventure #2: 3 nights and 4 days in London completely unchaperoned and unencumbered with itneraries or duties. I will be going with an amazing group of people (5 girls and 1 guy, all American) who want to check out everything the city has to offer. Thanks to T, I have an amazing guide book on London with all sorts of great tips so I already have an idea of the best places to go. Everything from Buckingham Palace to Picadilly Circus to Hyde Park will be explored... and laboriously detailed on this bloggy thing later like a mini travel guide. Finally, Sarah went ahead and checked out what's going on at the different clubs so we already have some hot spots lined up for each night. I can't wait!

P.S.: Today, went shopping again in town for food. AMAZING time as usual on the little streets and found an incredible Italian restaurant. I showed astounding restraint and forgoed the delectable, mouth-watering pasta dishes for a savory Salmon salad with pesto dressing (mmmm!). The English sure know how to cook Italian.

After lunch, I saw the funniest thing in the windows of one of the very old houses just outside of the main square: the words "Don't Panic" in red. It was such an odd juxtaposition of stately, old-world elegance and... I don't quite know... modern something or other with a dash of Douglas Adams. I immediately thought of the one person I know who could appreciate the irony of the situation as well as the words and for that boy (who promised he would finally read this once his stupid iBook is done being dead) I took the following picture... I couldn't get the right angle to show the old building, but I got the words and that's what'd he'll appreciate most anyway:



don't worry though, i'm not panicking, i have my towel.

p.p.s: if you've read the book being referenced, you will understand, if not, step away from the computer and read a book and then I won't seem quite as nuts

The Girls on My Floor

Since I am so ludicrously brilliant and figured out how to post pictures to this thing, I figured I would take the opportunity to put up the few pics I have of the girls on the floor and give short descriptions of them. (more detailed, anecdotal descriptions will come at a later date... stay tuned)

Katie: Very smart, down to earth and from Bolton. I can't understand half of what she says when she gets really excited and talks fast. Amazing girl all around.
Kate: Really welcoming and fun to be around. She's the type that can brighten the worst day. She's from Berry (sp?) and also is hard to understand at times. Really great at sharing (she let me borrow her curling iron... and I think it was out of true kindness, not an unwillingness to be seen in public with my frizzy hair)
Hannah: Reminds me alot of Meg Sharik! Kind and has great taste in music and movies. Really fun to talk to, great sarcastic side.
Heather: The young'n on the floor (is still 18 while Katie and Kate are 19 and Hannah and Sarah are 20). She's right across the hall and leaves her door open alot so I feel like she is my roommate. She's very naive, silly and wonderfully awkward. (she and I have a lot in common.)
Sarah: my fellow American. From Iowa. We have tons in common besides nationality and she reminds me of Tara. need i say more? :)

Left to Right: Katie, Kate, Me, Hannah



Left to Right: Kate, Me, Heather (Heather is dressed up for Naughty Schoolgirl Night)



Sarah:


Another fun one of Hannah - completely impromptu:

apparently I am immature and fat

it's late and i am about to fall asleep on my keyboard, but I want to write down word for word what happened tonight before I forget...

SO. Tonight Sarah and I went out to a couple of bars and then the University club out in Morecambe with the girl's football team (i.e. soccer girls). To make a long story short, a few minutes after we walked in, I ran into a couple of the other international students that I knew and was introduced to their British friends. It was really loud and hard to talk as a group, so everyone kinda got paired off.

I was stuck with a 6'5" skinny albino-looking kid. Before even asking what my name was he asked how old I was. I told him I was 21 and he went, "oh, huh, wouldn't have guessed." I wasn't sure what he meant, but I figured I'd continue with the small talk and ask him the same. He said he was 25 and doing postgraduate work at Lancaster. Even though he said this very haughtily, I continued in my efforts to be friendly and asked him if it was difficult to live with 18 year olds. To this he replied that it was fine, but that I couldn't really understand his situation because clearly I "act very young for my age and would relate well with younger girls." I didn't know how to take that comment, so I looked around for someone else to talk to and, finding no one, made an another attempt at conversation. Since he was so tall, I asked him if he played basketball. He said yes and asked if I played any sports. I said no but was thinking about maybe playing basketball. and this... this is where i became irritated... he looked me up and down and said, "Well you would need to work out first." I decided to give him the benefit of the doubt and said "excuse me?" To this he gave me another look over and replied "Yeah, you definitely need to exercise." At this, I turned around and walked away.

UGHHHG! I don't care if I'm 245lbs.... you just DON'T say that to a girl. I realize I am not the same size I was in high school and I would love to lose 10 lbs and look better, but I'm okay with where I'm at. Arrogant, pale boys like him are the reason that not many girls can say the same thing.

This is why I love my boyfriend... on first meeting me, he did not tell me I was an immature heffer.

I am a culinary genius

As many of you know, while living in the house this summer, I existed on a diet of pasta, butter and parmesan cheese. On very special occasions, I would make myself wraps that contained turkey, muenster cheese and mayo. Oh! I also bought lots of tortellini to change things up. Anyways... this was an ideal diet for me: lots of carbs and little effort.

Much to my dismay, it is difficult to do that here because the girls on my floor actually cook real food and get their proper daily allowances of healthy stuff. The past week, I have felt like the odd girl out because I didn't have an entire refrigerator full of wierd stuff like vegetables, meat, rice, beans, etc. My personal food consisted of a jar of nutella (which I ate in 3 days), a giant loaf of bread (ate in 2 days), two boxes of pasta, two boxes of tortellini, assorted kit kats, mint Mn'Ms, orange juice, milk, hummus and carrot sticks (to prove I eat vegetables). Is it terribly obvious that I went grocery shopping without the supervision of adults and without a list?

Thus, to fit in with my British counterparts, I made a proper trip to the store. I bought all sorts of junk like yogurt, rabbit food (lettuce), chicken & turkey breasts, marinade and assorted vegetables :shudder: Then, today, I defrosted, marinated, grilled and, heaven forbid, ate chicken salad with sauteed vegetables.

I think I am going to go into carb withdrawal.

p.s.: they all regularly exercise too, but don't get excited... i don't want to fit in that badly

It's hailing and i can't figure out how to shut my window

it's amazing how the tiniest things can be used as an excuse for why you don't really need to do something. for example, right now i should be trekking across campus to find a professor and get 1) permission to take her class and 2) some guidance on the reading list. I really need to do these things because it'd be good to have my schedule finalized and the reading list contains over 30 separate books as well as assorted journals and websites. However... it's hailing outside and I really must wait until that stops before I can go anywhere. what if I went outside and got pelted in the eye by a hail stone and died? that would just be a waste of my not-very-cheap return plane tickets. also, her office hours are until 3:00, so I should be fine.

for the record, this is one of the more plausible excuses I've used in the past two and a half years of college. there have been numerous stupid ones, but the winner would have to be from my freshman year. i skipped class because of a bad hair day. i woke up in the morning and instead of nice, manageable, wavy hair... I looked frighteningly similar to Edward Scissorhands. if that happened now, i'd probably still go to class, but freshman year i was still preoccupied with stupid things like looking nice. althoough... now that i think about it... a certain roommate of mine skipped class as well because of the obvious stress of looking at my bad hair... she wins for lame excuses :)

Wierd English Thing of the Day: Ridiculously long "suggested' reading lists. If I understand this properly, in the U.K. the emphasis is not on having students methodically go through textbooks and critically apply material that is presented to them by professors but rather on students learning everything for themselves. In each class (even my accounting and econ... grrrr), a syllabus is given and for each lecture or seminar, there is a list of suggested reading. For example, my econ seminar tomorrow has two textbooks, 3 journals and a website to peruse... and that's just for tomorrow.

First Official Weekend at Lancaster

This weekend was pretty amazing, if I do say so myself. Some of what made it so fun is hard to put into writing, but for the sake of my ardent fans (re: my mom) I'll try.... The weekend was a great chance to go out with the girls on my floor and meet alot of other crazy Brits. The following is a recap of my doings as well as my latest observations:

~Friday~
Friday night was my first official bar crawl with my corridormates. As I said in a previous post, these Brits can drink. They take down pints like it's their job and regularly drink giant fishbowls like the one Alex brought for cup night at Filomena's.

The only thing I wonder is whether or not I am a fair judge of heavy college drinking. Case isn't exactly a breeding ground for binge drinkers even though I would probably put my money on select Case guys versus any state college kids. They'd drink 'em under the table and then sit down and ace a final. Although, in my defense with regards to thinking everyone here is a pro drinker, several of the people here are Irish. I have it on good authority that from birth their bottles are filled with one part milk, one part whiskey.

Aside from their affinity for alcohol, which is similar to American boys, their is quite a large subset of British boys that are very different from Case guys. These differences include:

- mohawk/mullet... guys (and their girls) adore the "fashion mullet." I realize this is an oxymoron... nevertheless, this mix between a closely cropped mohawk and mullet is present in about 1 out of 5 "fit" (i.e. gorgeous, popular) guys on campus.

-drag... a couple of the guys here really enjoy dressing up in women's clothing. whilewhether it is a themed event or just a random night out, there are several guys that like to take advantage of the various styles afforded to girls. For exmple, on Friday, the theme for the bar crawl was "naughty school girls." the boys had the option of wearing pimp outfits or school shorts or whatever, but they instead chose skirts, bras and women's underwear from the Salvo shop. ewww.

-style... when not in drag, some of the guys here really know how to dress. i've seen several wearing top designer label clothes or cool indy/thrift store t-shirts with just the right jeans. And... they are always perfectly accesorized and coifed (even the mohawked ones). you never have to worry about them wearing the same hoody/fraternity t-shirt out every single night.

anyways... friday was cool... after the bar crawl the 6 of us girls sat out in the hallway with the mulleted/mohawked guys in the pictures below among others and talked about all sorts of random stuff... we also made some of the boys drink a mix of bailey's and ribena black currrant (not a fun drink... the bailey's curdles almost instantly)... stayed up until about 2-3 am and then passed out :)

~Saturday~
Saturday was pretty sweet as well... went shopping in the town for several hours to find a curling iron so that I could stop being frizzy girl. Alas, my search was in vain as I could only find one curling iron in the whole blasted town and it was one of those stupid ones favored by old ladies with perms. (although... i'm sure Lou loved hearing about my misfortune... a guy would have to be blind to think about hitting on me with my crazy hair).

After the failed shopping trip, we went out to the Sugarhouse, a club in Lancaster town affiliated with the university (because 8 bars on campus and a nightclub in neighboring Morecambe aren't enough). It was, by far, the best place I've been to yet. There were free drinks between 9-10, tons of people, good music and free drinks between 9-10.

I, the girl of two left feet who spent her time down in the warehouse district drinking beer and sitting, actually danced for multiple hours. Me. Dance. Hours. hah! Here's the most unbelieveable part... I was sober! I had one chick drink and then had free diet coke the whole night. Thing is, we all danced in this big group and just acted like jackasses (the girls on my floor would make such great Phi Mus...). It was brilliant. The guys and girls from Friday night all got in a big group and we just jumped up and down to the music. I had the best time and finally got a chance to burn off the loaf of bread, jar of nutella and box of pasta I had consumed in the last two and a half days.

Afterwards, I stayed up until 4am talking with that crazy boy from back home... 17 months (that's 66 more weeks than anyone -even us- gave it)... i like beating odds with him :)

~Sunday~
Slept in forever, talked to the boy some more and then went to the bar. At the bar, I got into a fight with some of the guys about football vs. futbol. Not only did they make fun of American football and say it was for sissies because the guys wear pads, but they said mean things about the Steelers. Oooohhh I gave it to them good.

Now, I'm updating this.

Overall, A for the weekend :)

Figured out how to work pics!! See below :-)

This is a picture of some of the boys that were hanging out on the floor Friday night and dancing with us Saturday night... it's hard to tell from this picture, but 2/4 have the odd mullet/mohawk:


Some of the drag queen boys. There was no themed party. They dressed this way for a night out at a club. Some were wearing women's underwear and stockings. Nearly all of them had frilly parasols. I got this picture off of the club's website and didn't really get a chance to talk to them individually to find out why they were dressed this way...

Pictures

as i said before, the internet here is pretty awful and I can't figure out how to get around the firewalls to post pictures on this site. SO... I made another webshots of pics here. I wanted to put them into the blog so that they could have descriptions and you wouldn't think "those people look weird and the buildings are exactly the same." Although, I realize the buildings will be absolutely boring to all of you, so I will keep them in a separate folder you can just ignore :)

Here's the link:

http://community.webshots.com/user/BrittInBritain

(I know, really original name... I'm just trying to be consistent)

Housing

Just got an IM about housing for next year, so I'll post a bit about where I'd like to live (because it's a whole lot easier for people to read this than actually talk to me given everyone's crazy schedules and the 5 hr. time difference)...

At first, i was a bit thrown off by having this single (or, to be more accurate, walk in coffin). I kept having thoughts pop into my head and I'd start to say them out loud before I realized that I dont have a roommate. I also found it quite strange to be at school and not be on the top bunk. The first few mornings that I was here I'd throw my legs off the edge of the bed and be absolutely shocked that the floor was right there and that I didn't need to find a refrigerator, chair or desk to help me get out of bed.

However, after a week, I am now spoiled and will find it very difficult to going back to living with lots of roommates. So... here's my two ideal conditions: live with as many of you wonderful girls (you know who you are) as possible and have my own room.

Here's what I'm game for:

- House within WALKING distance of campus where I could have my own room. I may have car issues again next year and I don't want to have to worry about car pooling or taking a bus to campus. I'd also probably get another boot because I suck at life and those aren't fun. (if 6 or 8 - i dont know the exact numbers - of us could all get Amanda's house, that'd be the best ever)

- The new dorms would be cool because I heard they have double beds and they would be close to Phi Mu. That way, I could still be on the house meal plan (oh how I miss dinner table conversations and the lovely Nick cuisine... but i'll post more on that later) and would be close to Weatherhead. Also, dorm beds imply extra-long beds and they are also sweet because my toes don't hang over when I stretch out. Here at Lancaster I have a shorter bed and my toes poke out and get cold... I understand people may have trouble with the new dorms because they might be expensive, but I lucked out for various reasons (scholarship, guaranteed job and the nicest parents ever), so if anyone is up for those, I am too.

- Phi Mu house. Disregard the "I want a single" crap. You girls are so fun, I'd probably live in the 5 pack.

- Single on Northside. I know the amazing Tera Davis is doing that right now and it sounds like lots of fun. Again, it would be close to the house and PBL.

- a cardboard box off of Ford. the one everyone made for "Let's Shack Up" looked pretty sweet. i could handle that and, besides, I'm sure I wouldn't have to worry about roommates.

- a beautiful, gigantic mansion in Coventry with a chauffeur. i bet if we gave Amanda till room signup, she could find a rich doctor who'd want to give her his house. i don't have those kinds of skills... but I do some mean vacuuming and would be more than willing to do that in said mansion to earn my keep.

so yeah... that's where I'm at... hopefully I will catch one of you online in the next few days :)

p.s.: thanks to everyone who leaves me wonderful IMs. the internet here is pretty crappy so when I try to IM back with "hi and thanks" either I get kicked off or the person is already gone. thus, i'm not trying to be mean :)

when i get back, i may not be a cheap date anymore

oy vey. it's 2:45am, so to avoid falling asleep on the keys, i'll make this short.

I'm sure I've told you this once, twice or a hundred times, but there are 8 bars on campus and 52 within about 5 miles of campus. It seems that the British don't care one bit about the history that surrounds them or the cultural avenues that are available to them. All they want to do is eat potatoes and drink.

So tonight, I was a true Brit and did a bar crawl with them. I quickly dropped out after I realized just how low my tolerance was and decided that I'd rather watch them all be crazy. Let's just say they'd give Damon and Pat a run for their money...

I'm afraid this is going to be a long one...

It's been a busy two days and I'm going to relate it all right here, so for your reading pleasure, I'll make a bulleted list and you can skip to whichever part you fancy...

- Scheduling. I am currently signed up for one class which may or may not be equivalent to Acct 301. The other two classes I was hoping to get approved for this morning are both full and I am about a mazillion and half people down on the waiting list (okay, so I'm fourth on one and 10th on the other, I like to round up). I adore Case, but if I'm a Super Senior because of this blasted study abroad thing, I am going to stick the bright red nail polish Ms. Anderson so adores up her surgically altered nose. (in case I didn't tell you, the three classes she approved were only offered last semester)

-Office Hours. I went to a professor's office hours today to get into the accounting class I hope is equal to 301. Equivalencies between Case and Lancaster came up because the course which uses the same book as 301 is a graduate level class and off limits for me. Anyways, he had the audacity to madk a snicker about the quality of teaching at Case. Ooh boy was I mad. This hairy old man, poorly in need of a session with the orthodontist on Extreme Makeover was telling me how Case and American schools in general were inferior to Lancaster and then, to cap it off, made a depracating remark about a restaurant in Cleveland. All I could think was, "Your people have had two thousand years to refine cooking and the best you have come up with is baked potatoes and black pudding (congealed blood in pig's intestines). Besides, didn't you get the memo from President Hundert? Case is going to be the most powerful learning environment in the world." Instead of saying this, I just smiled and nodded.

- Clubbing. It turns out that Angela (scary pierced girl) is on another floor of my building and that all of the girls on my hall are absolutely wonderful. Thus, I went out last night with these crazy, fun, nice girls. They decided to show me a few of their favorite bars, so we started out the night at "Varsity." It was a really casual, well designed bar with a bit of a jungle theme. We took some shots at the bar (I think I'm going to have a whole repertoire of tasty new drinks when I get back) and then had a few drinks on these giant leather sofas. They were ever so comfy and I was able to stretch my legs all the way out and only my ankles hung over the edge. After Varsity we went to the Friary, by far the coolest bar I have ever been to. I’m not sure if it was sacrilegious or not, but it used to be a church (built in the late 1700s). It had old stained glass windows and a super high cathedral ceiling. There were balconies and all sorts of fun stuff. It was just an amazing atmosphere. I made sure to get water there. Partly because of the drinks at the other bar and partly because I refused to get drunk in a place that used to be a church. I'm not sure where God stands on being drunk in his house so I decided to play it safe.

-Club Liquid & Fire! After the Friary, we went to Club Liquid. It was pretty standard on the inside as far as clubs go... very nice but nothing special. We met up with some of the study abroad kids that I knew and the group of us all went onto the dance floor. Unlike Cleveland clubs, there wasnt anywhere to really sit, so I couldn't figure out how to get out of dancing. I tried offering to get a round of drinks and standing by the wall, but they wouldn't here of it. So, I actually walked out on the dance floor and "danced." Fortunately, I noticed pretty quickly that some of the Brits were dancing really wierdly. So, I goofed around with the other Americans and we were complete jackasses, making fun of all of the other people dancing. Only thing is that they had no idea we were making fun of them and thought we were quite good. It was really odd, because anyone with two eyes can tell I can't dance.

After a while of doing that, some of us took a break and stood by the railings to watch the crowd. That's when the group of us (an American boy, an Australian boy and an American girl) noticed the oddest thing. The boys were dancing with each other. Now, any girl will tell you that the reason girls go out to dance clubs is not to dance with boys, but with their girl friends. If they meet a boy that is sufficiently cute and decide to dance with them, then that is okay, but it is not the purpose of the outing. I think the British boys do the same thing. (ick!) (As a warning, this is a bit of a generalization, there were boys dancing with girls and tons of boys just standing by the bar, but there were at least 6 groups of 3-5 boys dancing with each other.) They were grabbing each other, pointing at each other and pushing one another against walls. Either they were all of a controversial orientation or this queer eye for the straight guy/metrosexual thing has gone too far in Britain.

Finally, the night ended around 1:00 am when the music started getting softer and yellow hats could be seen bouncing through the crowd. Then, the doors directly behind where we were standing opened up and we were pushed through by men yelling "Fire." Turns out there was a fire downstairs! The weird thing, however, was that the “Fire brigade” got there before people were ushered out. Either way, we stood around outside for a bit and then went walking to the bus station. That part was kind of funny because all of the stick insect girls who were wearing absolutely nothing except barely-there dresses and skirts that left nothing to the imagination were all stuck freezing in the cold with their skirts blowing up! Hehehehe! It was very Marilyn Monroe-over-the-vent except they weren’t as good at keeping themselves covered! I bet they were jealous of my jeans, tank top and blazer :)

ok, that's all :)

Wierd English Thing of the Day: They sell over 6 types of kit kats (mint chocolate, dark, orange, strawberry, white chocolate, regular, etc.) and several kit kat knock offs but NO Hersheys products whatsoever! (How does one get through finals without Hershey's?)

brittany spencer, workout addict

I just spent the last few hours trying to get my schedule all squared away... didn't quite succeed due to carpet malfunctions and vanishing professors, but I was able to run into some of the other study abroad students. When I walked up to them they were all worked up over something, so, in a concerned voice, I asked what the problem was. They said that they were outraged over the gym. Apparently, entrance to the gym is free but use of any of the services (machines, weights, the track, the scale, pretty much everything other than the front doors) cost a pound or more ($2.00 +). The two boys (who are big, football playing, weight-lifting types) said they were really upset and that they didnt know what they were going to do. I started to complain along with them about how unfair it was and said something along the lines of "you are so right. I don't know what I will be able to do either if I can't work out." and then...
I listened to what I had said.
Me? Workout? I guess I am a regular gym rat if you consider that I've gone twice the entire time I've been at Case. Actually, I think this pay for each service thing is a brilliant setup. Now, when people look at me critically for not exercising, I can tell them that it is because I am frugal and not lazy.

hmm... i bet Amanda would pay... :)

I am Scrunchy Girl...

Do you know those girls on campus who, for whatever reason, just seem to stand out a bit? For example, there were several girls in my accounting classes last semester who liked to wear scrunchies. Like, the big, neon type that you used to wear in grade school which doubled as bracelets. While scrunchies are certainly practical (they hold back the hair without breaking it), their time has passed and they are firmly in the "what not to wear" category. I, unfortunately, was one of the mean girls who used to poke fun at the girls that would wear scrunchies and other slightly odd styles such as pleated, tapered leg khaki pants.

Well...

Here at Lancaster, it appears that I am Scrunchy Girl. (Karma is a witch) Everyone is back on campus now and I've had an entire day to check out what people are wearing. All I can say is that I don't quite fit in with my standard Abercrombie wool sweater, jeans and flats. My casual school clothes are just a bit off (and by a bit, I mean alot). Here is what some of the girls on campus wear as outfits:

- Spiked heels, tights, mini skirt, giant belt, polka dot shirt, striped blazer, cashmere type scarf
- Tight jeans tucked into suede boots with straps and buckles all over them, sweater with holes all over the arms and front and crazy colored t-shirt underneath and a messenger hat overtop of their two-tone blunt cut hairstyle
(essentially, they all dress like the funny looking punk people from CIA...)

Now, i'm in no way saying that I ever dressed even remotely trendy at Case, BUT... when I made an effort and wore something to class that I thought was fun, I typically got a compliment. At the very least, I was typically wearing something similar to everyone else and was able to blend with the class. ha. Tonight is the first time that I will be going to a big club... I can't wait to see what they will wear to go out.

Unless I decide to cut up my sweaters or wear boots that make me 6'3", it appears that this will be a golden opportunity for me to stand out in a crowd... in my American Eagle and A&F clothes. Yes, I know how ridiculous that sounds.

Weird English Thing of the Day: what girls wear to class. (see above)

"New" in Lancaster = 1650

Today we got a proper tour of the town of Lancaster and all I can say is WOW! Contrary to popular belief, I did not come to England to do bar crawls and get wasted every second of the day (in fact, haven't had a drink yet). I actually came because I wanted to experience the history and culture of a place completely different from my own. AND, today... I actually got to do that free of charge and free of rain.

I'll try and be brief, but mom insists on full details, so.... we started by touring the oldest church in the area, dating back before 1000 or so and got to see one of the crowns the former Queens of England used to wear. Then, I got to see my very first castle. Before coming to Lancaster, the always amazing Ms. Anderson had told me that I would probably get to go to seminars held by the university in the castle or maybe even take classes there. ha. Her information was a bit off, because the castle is actually a prison, just as it has been for over 600 years. Regardless, it was really cool. After the church and castle, we toured the town of Lancaster and that was incredible as well. Everything is cobble stone streets and old stone houses in the Georgian and Ionic styles. We checked out the old and "new" town hall (built in 1650) and went to tons of stores and outdoor markets. I took some pictures and will post them once I have internet access in my room. The pictures can explain it better than I can. All I can say is that it blew my mind to be able to shop in the same markets that people have been shopping in for centuries.

After the shopping, a group of us went to this quaint little teahouse and I had a French brie, Tomato and Mango panini; seasonal salad, milkey coffee and a scone with creme (all scrumptious and pretty reasonable at about $8.00).

The rest of the day has been spent hanging out and talking with two of the British girls that moved into my corridor and, as far as I can tell, they are pretty fantastic (normal hair, minimal piercings and no glares when I smile at them).

Finally, I bought pasta, butter, parmesan pesto, nutella and bread. Obviously, this was huge. I think I just may be okay here. :)

Wierd English Thing of the Day: It's considered improper to tip in restaurants and is only done by the "most ignorant and common of people."

Here!

ok... so. After three planes, a taxi and more paperwork than I've ever done in my life I am finally here at Lancaster with access to a computer. A lot has gone on in the last three days (I started flying on Tuesday and arrived here at 4pm Lancaster time on Wednesday) so I'll just sum up the interesting parts: (it's REALLLY long... i'll sum it up in a sentence if you don't want to read it: My flight was ok, my room sucks, the campus is full of concrete and the town is beautiful).

- The flights. I only had a few delays and actually managed to navigate both the Paris and Manchester airports all by myself. Didn't even have to ask any stupid questions! :) One interesting thing about the flights was that I flew out of the Atlanta airport at the same gate we flew out of for Cancun last spring. I had a bit of teary de ja vu and decided that it was a good omen. That was a good trip, so this will be a good trip as well. The other semi-interesting thing was that on the 8 hour flight to Paris I sat next to a lady who had a dog on her lap. One of the little white fluffy ones. It was reallllllllllllllllly smelly and kept yapping throughout most of the flight. To be honest, I could have done without it, especially since I smelled like "dog" for the rest of the day. That was okay though because the French smelled very similar.

- My room. Ahh... my room. The pictures of the rooms on the Lancaster website were absolutly gorgeous. Well lighted, spacious, clean and complete with window seat and sink. Hmm... let's just say that my luck came through once again. My room is a tad on the small side (think smaller than a southside single) with peeling paint, a bar across the window (no window seat) and cracks/holes between the bricks that people have put icky toilet paper in throughout the years. Additionally, the $40 bedding pack provided by the university for international students contains a pillow not larger than the one offered on the airplane. Sweet... Also, all of the furniture in the room is bolted in place. This in itself is not extraordinary, but what is truly odd is that there is a faux headboard nailed to the wall. If it were part of an actual wooden bed frame it would be quite nice, but instead it stops above the mattress and there is a 2 inch gap between it and the bed itself. So really, the whole effect is rather ridiculous. Finally, my door is not very tall and when I was trying on my neighbors' big heels, I had to duck my head to get in the room. Again, sweet.

- The people. Pretty much the only people on campus right now are study abroad students and most seem very nice. The girl that lives next door to me is from Iowa State and seems great. We were able to bond over our mutual jet lag, leaving behind wonderful boyfriends and our shitty rooms. I met one of the girls on my "corridor" today. Her name is Angela and she has multiple piercings (bellybutton, several earrings, nose, tongue, eyebrow), black hair with purplish streaks and enjoys applying lots and lots of bright pink blush. I'm sure we will have tons in common seeing as how I have lots of piercings and hot pink blush.
Oh. I went into the town last night with a large group of American girls and guys and we all got food together (paninis, yum!). We saw alot of the British students and, while the boys looked like typical American boys (although more punk and less prep), the girls were in a class all their own. They were either super trendy or super punk. Regardless of whether they enjoyed the designer look or the rebel one, they all had super high-heeled boots or Suede furry things and mini skirts that didn't cover their tush. They also had very little on up top. The six American and Australian girls in the group were all wearing hoodies or sweaters or blazers with jeans. Apparently we missed the memo.

- Money. Everything is soooooooooooooo expensive here. Earlier I worried about not liking any of the food. Turns out that won't be a problem, because I can't actually afford any of said food. A box of pasta, butter and parmesan cheese (my staple foods from the summer and well, life really) at the campus grocery store came to around £7.50. That's not too bad, but since the exchange rate is absolute "bollocks," that equals $15.00. Perhaps it will be better once I find a non-campus grocery store.

- The campus. It's mostly a lot of concrete slapped on the ground in bunches of squares with bits of grass in the center of the squares to form "park areas". The campus is surrounded by beautiful fields, forests and lakes and the sunset is supposed to be breathtaking (if it ever stops raining, I will have to check that out). I think people must have been tired by all of the beautiful scenery so they put up all the concrete to block it out. I can't really tell if it is as big or bigger than Case because the blocks all look the same, but it seems pretty large. One cool thing about it tho is that everywhere you walk there is an awning so you don't get so wet from all the rain. Which is good because I am sure all of my clothes would be soaked right now because it hasn't stopped raining since I got here. At least it's consistent.

-The town. It is soooooo amazingly beautiful. It completely makes up for most of the other difficult adjustments. It is very quaint and has stone streets and several pedestrian only walkways. We took a double decker bus into the town and passed through residential areas and those were adorable as well. There are more pubs than I could count and most of them had great names like "Wheel and Barrow" or "Boot and Horse."

Once it stops raining, I will take pictures and post them here or on my webshots. I don't have internet in my room yet, so getting on a computer requires a long walk in the rain (the sideways rain still gets you even with the awnings), so it may be a bit before I am on IM or am able to post again (this means lots of long posts... sorry!).

I miss everyone lots (homesickness is a witch) :-( and hope you all have a great weekend of partying before classes start!

One last thing...
Wierd English Thing of the Day: Oat Crispies. This is a cereal equivalent to Honey Bunches of Oats. The tag line on the box is "ludicrously good..." I'd buy it to see if it really is ludicrously good, but it's about $7.00.