Rate it on a scale of 1 to 10.

yo

2010-01-12T14:17:00.000-08:00

alright, well. here is in update since i'd pretty much rather do anything else than study. i have one more exam on thursday and then i'm DONE for 10 days or so... no school, no obligations, no nothing! there is talk of going on a trip, but nothing has been determined yet. we all want to go somewhere warm, but apparently warm just isn't happening in europe right now.

since i last wrote i've been quite the busy girl. christmas holidays were a blast, but man... exhausting! traveling every couple of days tires me out - i'm a creature of routine and i lacked that for a few weeks over christmas. i spent the first week or so of my break in ontario with dad an laurel. we had good times, took a trip to the city, ate some good food, had our own little christmas. i also got to see the good friends i made at the plant there, and i realized that even though kincardine basically ate a part of my soul it's not entirely a bad place.

my last day there my friend karen took me to collingwood and we enjoyed the scandanavian baths. if you ever get a chance to go to something like that, GO. it's lovely... warm pools, dry saunas, and - my personal favorite - a eucalyptus steam room. there were also nordic plunges. ack. so cold. but it closes the pores (apparently) so it's an essential step in your bathing experience.

from kincardine i went on to winnipeg where i was VERY domestic. mom and i made christmas stockings and aprons. MADE them. with our own two hands and a sewing machine. it was pretty intense stuff, i embroidered, i ironed, i stitched, i sewed. all things i usually have no interest in but for some reason it was great to keep busy with mom. we had a lot of fun.

christmas eve we drove to moose jaw to hang with denae and colb and the rest of the family. the domesticity continued at the elford ranch - i helped cook (sort of - i mashed potatoes), and i helped clean, and i discovered that being helpful in the kitchen makes christmas go by a lot quicker. now, we all know i'm not really a christmas fan, but if you busy yourself the day kind of speeds on by and it's not nearly as painful as it can be. also we ate a lot. too much. snacks. everywhere. i have developed a serious christmas belly.

from moose jaw i bused it to regina, where i had a quick visit with my nearest and dearest pals, and then i hopped a flight on new years eve and came back to england. that travel day was so so yucky... gross.

here, it's cold outside, but not that cold. i'm ashamed to admit i'm not handling the weather very well here, but i've figured out it's not cause i'm a complete and total wimp it's because england lives in the dark ages when it comes to efficiently heating a building. there is no central heat in any building, and most heaters don't have thermostats so they have to be turned on manually. for example, the heater in my room only runs for 15 minutes at a time. so every time i'm cold i have to push the "on" button and get me a little blast of heat. which isn't so bad, really... except at night. there have been a few nights now where i have to get up and turn on the heater. it's insane. and once you catch a chill there is simply no shaking it. ugh. warmer weather should be on it's way soon, i hope.

post exams there is talk of a dinner party with all the other first year law students to celebrate surviving our first round of tests. i'm really looking forward to it - i've been studying pretty intensely and i haven't been very social for the past little while. we'll likely eat and drink and yell and laugh and then maybe hit the streets of leicester and paint the town red. should be silly. i'll keep you posted.

up-diddly-ate.

2009-11-18T11:31:00.001-08:00

Here we are, only a few weeks before I come home for Christmas vacation and see the family once again. Time has really gotten away from me over the past month, and I can hardly believe it's the 18th of November. Since I last wrote the weather has gotten cooler, but still not cold. I bought a duffel coat. I'm getting more British by the second.

I've been trying to concentrate a little harder on schoolwork, though with minimal success. There are a lot of distractions here - I think it comes from living in residence. It's a lot like when I was in highschool, living in a dorm with all my friends. There's always something to do, someone to talk to, some ridiculous drama to discuss instead of buckling down and studying. That being said, I've had my nose in a book pretty consistently the last couple days and I think I'm getting the hang of some of bigger legal concepts. Whether or not they're applicable in real life, I'm yet to learn. But They're interesting.

I've discovered I hate political and administrative law - they're subjects which are largely based on facts and figures and are terribly, horribly boring. I've been reading my civil justice system textbook for the past hour or so and I've just realized that I've absorbed very little of what I've read. In fact, I'm pretty sure for the last 10 minutes I was just moving my eyes across the paper and thinking about something else entirely. Hopefully I retained some of what I passed my eyes over - it'll be a shame if I have to read the chapter on the Civil Procedure Rulse AGAIN. Gross.

Dad gets here this weekend, which is really exciting. It'll be nice to have family here for a couple days. Even though its only a short visit I'm sure we'll have lots of fun. I'll post again after he's left and fill you in on our adventures. Oh, and next weekend I think I'm headed to London for a day or two to explore the galleries and museums! I'm very excited about that. Other than that trip to York I haven't done much in the way of travel and I'm itching to go exploring. I'll try and take lots of pictures and get some up here. I'm most excited to visit the Tate Modern - art! Culture! Yeah!

I'm off to go have tea with a friend. This is a legitimate study break, I swear.

Bag lady.

2009-11-04T07:15:00.000-08:00

A couple days into November, and I still just have to wear a light jacket and a scarf when I'm out and about. Sometimes I don't even wear socks. I don't miss Canadian winters yet. I'm not saying I won't miss them, but I certainly don't now. The only thing unpleasant about November in England is that the rainclouds are positively sneaky - you can leave the house with the sun shining, step into a shop for a minute and exit into torrential downpour. This happened to me yesterday. I must be more diligent about carrying my umbrella.

Since the last time I wrote things have been fairly uneventful. Attending school, reading lots, hanging out with fellow Canadians... it doesn't sound like much, but it's pretty fun. It's strange how just being from the same country as someone else forms a bond when you're overseas. Many of the Canadians I've met are from such different backgrounds and social circles from me that had we gone to school together in Canada we likely would never have talked. That being said, there are a ton of lovely people here and I'm pretty grateful that we've all been put in the same situation together. Do you hear that? I'm making friends! Fun, right?

For Halloween all the Canadians banded together for a night out on the town wearing costumes. I do not like dressing up - it's messy, time consuming, and often you end up uncomfortable and sometimes itchy. But I was being convinced to try and on the morning of Halloween a friend and I ventured downtown in search of costumes.

Here is a hint - if you want to be something awesome or scary for Halloween, don't wait until the day of the holiday to get your costume together. EVERYTHING was sold out. The racks only had the most awful, synthetic/inappropriate junk left on them and we were pretty discouraged when we saw our options. Luckily, my friend and I were very observant and noticed that many stores now had their Christmas stock displayed. And that is how I ended up wearing a giant Christmas giftbag for Halloween. I was dressed as a Christmas present! Genius. I know. I'll try and get a couple pictures up at some point.

That's it for now... I took a break from preparing for my Constitutional and Administrative Law class to write this little update. Back to learning about the Royal Prerogative.

And no, it's not as fascinating as it sounds.

York

2009-10-21T04:39:00.000-07:00

This past weekend I had the pleasure of traveling to York with some new friends. York is a terribly adorable little town a couple hours north of Leicester and I had a blast there.

We left on the train Saturday morning, bright and early and we got into York around 10am. Our little bed and breakfast was only a 10 minute walk from the train station and after dropping off our bags we headed out to explore the old town. The whole morning we could hear bells ringing and we just kind of headed toward where all the noise was coming from. Turns out it was coming from York Minister, a gigantic church in the middle of York.

We had lunch in a little cafe just outside the front steps of the church, listened to the bells and planned our attack on the tourist traps of York. First stop was the York Dungeon, a haunted house type place that specialized in dry ice smoke and people jumping out of dark corners at you. Here is the gentleman I met outside:

This guy thought he was pretty funny and kept on referring to Canada as "Canadia". He also made a lot of jokes about dating all the women in line and I thought he was actually pretty clever until we were leaving after the tour and I heard him using all the same jokes to the other people waiting to get in. Maybe he was working from a script.

After the dungeon we continued with the scary vacation theme and visited York's most haunted house. According to the brochure, a television crew ran screaming from this house a few years back because a guy said he was choked by an invisible hand. Suffice it to say, we survived. And didn't see any ghosts. But it was still a neat old house, lots of nooks and crannies and low doorways. Our B and B was sort of built the same way, winding staircases and additions all over the place. I find that I get lost in buildings a lot here, even at school. I'm thinking it's cause I'm used to the North American style of architecture, meaning everything is square and at right angles with each other and floors and rooms are numbered sequentially rather than with random letters and numbers (no joke - one of my classes is in a room numbered "n230.0a". It's on the 3rd floor).

But I digress.

So after the haunted house we had some dinner and then went off to meet up with Trevor Rooney, our guide for the Original York Ghost Walk. This was a super neat experience, as Trevor walked us through historic York and told us ghost stories about the buildings and alleyways. We finished up at a pub called the Black Swan which is supposedly VERY haunted. We had pints and Trevor told us one last ghost story. After the room was clearing out some (possibly drunk) women noticed our Canadian accents and invited us to their hotel room, the one they booked because it's the most haunted room in the hotel. There we learned these tipsy ladies practiced Wicca (the light version) and were really REALLY hoping to see a ghost tonight. We didn't stay long, but it was interesting.

Saturday night ended at a local drinking establishment where the 5 of us marveled at the shortness of the locals' skirts and the outfits of the groups out on fancy dress pub crawls. For example, look behind my new friends Kevin and Claire here, and you'll clearly see the lower cheeks of a young lady's bum.

Apparently you can wear a top in this country and call it a dress. Good times were had by all, however, and we went to bed tired and happy.

Sunday we went to the York Castle Museum, which surprisingly had very little to do with castles. They built a mock Victorian town that you can tour around in, complete with freaky statues in full Victorian dress and fake horses and carriages. This museum also had a display about the 1960s music culture and a fake dungeon from the 1700s. It was a very random and eclectic collection.

Before we caught the train home, we decided we were pretty hungry and we needed to indulge in the local cuisine. So of course we went for Sunday roast dinner, and dug into some very delicious roast beef, potatoes and yorkshire pudding.

Yorkshire pudding in York! Does life get any better?

Hopefully this isn't my last adventure... I'm pricing out Dublin next. You only live once, right?

loser.

2009-10-15T07:10:00.000-07:00

Another week of school is nearly over, and I'm finally starting to feel more and more like a serious student. I mean, today I don't have class until 4, but I was up and at school by 10am and spent a good 3 hours in the library reading. Came home for lunch and a bit of a nap and now I'm heading back for class. See what I mean about being a serious student? I spend time there when I don't have to, I attend all classes (haven't skipped on yet), and I take notes and do readings. I have never really acted this way before. It feels nice. It also stresses me out. But probably in a good way.

Leicester is still in the midst of fall weather, which I love. It's cool, but not cold. Scarf and light jacket weather. When the sun is out, it looks like the cover of that Bob Dylan album, and it's just lovely.

I've been feeling a little off lately... not homesick, exactly, but not right. I always get this feeling when I'm in the midst of settling into a new group of people in a new place. When I reach the point where I have a set of acquaintances - not friends, exactly, but people who may become friends in time - I always get this sick feeling when I'm interacting with them. Like everything I say is wrong. That I'm too defensive, or too quiet, or too loud, or I'm trying too hard. It's like I'm on the edge of feeling at ease with people, but before I can truly feel comfortable I have to feel terribly UNcomfortable.

It's awful. I over analyze small conversations, I read too much into things, and I almost invariably leave every single human interaction feeling like a bit of a dolt. Not a nice feeling.

I know it'll pass... inside my head I know that these silly little conversations that haunt me make little to no difference in the lives of the people I'm talking to. I know that I'm actually pretty normal and once I get over myself I can be kind of fun to be around. I know all that. But I don't feel it these days. And that's bringing me down.

So, on a scale of 1 to 10, I'd say I'm rocking a solid 7 these days.

hurr cut

2009-10-08T03:02:00.000-07:00

Wednesday's I'm done class at 10am and I don't have another until Thursday at 4. This is awesome. It's strange to go from being away from home 13-14 hours a day if you count travel time to only being in class for a few hours a day. Right now I'm being a good student and trying to use at lest some of my spare time to study and read, and with any luck I'll keep that up.

I'm getting a little more used to the life of a student, I'm not as nervous as I was last week. I'm still not really into being locked in a giant echoing room with 500 other students for classes, but I suppose I'll get used to that too. I had my first small group seminar, where I learned about the joys of the Socratic teaching method... if that doesn't make you come to class prepared I don't know what will.

Yesterday I went to the Canadian Law Society presentation and joined up. I met a few people, learned about all of the events they hold throughout the year (most of which include some combination of hockey, skating and booze - how cliche), and got invited to a couple of Canadian Thanksgiving celebrations. With any luck, I'll get me some turkey dinner on Sunday.

Today I'm going to get my hair cut, which is terrifying. The worst part of moving is finding a new stylist to trust. I'm mentally preparing for a horrible bangs mishap. It's inevitable. I never luck out with stylists.

Oh, and tonight is the competitions showcase, where we learn about mooting and client negotiating and all the other things we can compete in throughout the year. Cross your fingers that I get brave and sign up for mooting... It'd be exciting to learn some advocacy skills, and hopefully I don't puke due to all the public speaking involved.

That's it for now. Kamara out.

popping out to the shop.

2009-10-03T07:55:00.000-07:00

So this afternoon I took a trip to Morrison's to pick up some stuff for dinner. Maybe the novelty of walking everywhere will wear off eventually, but it hasn't yet. It also hasn't rained yet, so...

At any rate, here is what I learned on my trip:

1. English football fans are, in fact, quite serious about the sport. My walk took me past the football stadium and it was packed and noisy, a little bit scary and a little bit awesome. I'm going to have to go to a game.

2. Crossing the street can be a 3 part affair at some intersections, but after watching some teenaged boys in front of me I've learned that if you wave your arms at oncoming traffic sometimes the vehicles will slow for you to cross. If they do, you are obligated to clap and cheer at the driver. No joke. I saw this happen twice.

3. Diet coke is more expensive than wine, but wine is more expensive than off-brand diet coke. I think my weekend beverage consumption over the next months will largely be determined by the taste of the off-brand diet coke chilling in the lil fridge right now.

4. Crumpets can be bought in packs of 6 and kind of look like english muffins, but not exactly. I bought some. I have crumpets. Ha.

5. British change makes absolutely no sense (ha... cents/sense. get it?). Who has a 2 pence coin? Honestly. and the sizes and colours and shapes have no rhyme or reason to them. The only ones I've got totally figured out are the one pound and two pound coins, and that's only because they look like loonies and toonies.

Oh, and also today someone made fun of my accent. It was great.

calm before the storm.

2009-10-02T07:35:00.000-07:00

I had 4 classes today, which was great. I felt like I did some learning, though most of what I learned was purely administrative crap. One interesting piece of administrative crap: each 5 of my classes is assessed by one final exam worth 100% of my final mark. Neat! No pressure or anything, right?

It's kind of interesting to be in classes with kids who have just finished high school. They're all very appearance conscious and they don't really pay attention to much except for each other and their cell phones. I actually felt the urge to shush some girls today. I am officially the annoying old lady in class who is eager to learn.

I didn't talk to anyone today. I forgot how hard it is to actually start a conversation with a stranger. There were a couple of moments when I was working up the nerve to say something inane to a classmate, like "Are you from Canada too?" But before I was able to force out the words someone else would come along and make a joke or say something clever to my potential new friend, stealing my thunder. Next week. Next week I'll be charismatic and magnetic. Next week I won't keep my ipod earphones in so that I feel safe even though I seem unapproachable. Next week. I promise.

This weekend should be... quiet. I'll buy books tomorrow, do all the reading I need to do. Figure out how I want to organize my notes and things, maybe stop by the school supplies store and pick up a couple of binders or folders or something. Quick UK fact - looseleaf here has 4 holes. FASCINATING, no?

I also have a bottle of wine (which is cheaper than diet coke, which spells trouble) chilling in my ridiculously tiny refrigerator. It's going to keep me company this evening while I watch a movie or perhaps some hilarious British game shows. There's one called "Pointless" which I'm convinced I could win, kind of like I could win College Jeopardy.

Settling in.

2009-09-29T10:36:00.000-07:00

Here is something that I like about the UK:

You know how sometimes you'll eat a single serve yogurt or a Quaker chewy granola bar and you'll think to yourself, "That wasn't quite enough. I wish I had a little more." But you can't really justify eating a second Activia or granola bar cause that would be too much yogurt or snack and you just end up sitting there a little bit disappointed, you know that feeling? Well, it doesn't happen here. The yogurt and the granola bars are probably one and a third the size of the ones from home. And they're both still delicious.

I love feeling satisfied post-snack.

Also, I'm a pretty dedicated coffee drinker in the morning. The thought of having tea first thing in the morning is silly to me, the only thing that'll really get me out of bed is a cup of good strong coffee. BUT... in the afternoons and evenings my fingers and toes get a little cold (I think it's because of the damp) and I'll start thinking about a cup of tea or a cup of cocoa. I'm drinking Cadbury hot cocoa right now and it is delightful. I'm beginning to understand the british tea and cocoa thing a little more than I used to.

School still hasn't really gotten underway, I've just done the whole registration thing and met with a couple professors and tutors. Tomorrow I don't have any classes, so I'll probably just wander downtown and see what I can see. I still need to pick up a printer and a couple of other school supplies, and I'll likely stop at a market to get some fruit and veg (apparently we don't say "vegetable" here) for dinner and lunch the next couple days. I also need to pick up some bandaids, as I've developed a pretty epic blister on my left heel from all the walking I've done in the past little bit. Serioulsy. That sucker is the size of a toonie.

I miss feeling at home, but I don't know if I miss home yet.

here i am.

2009-09-27T12:29:00.000-07:00

So far:
- I live with a bunch of 18 year olds. Oh dear.
- My apartment is small, but pretty decent. Bought some stuff at the IKEA in Nottingham and it's working out pretty well. My closet is only a foot wide though, and this is posing a bit of a problem.
- Leicester is pretty sweet... there's awesome shopping within walking distance (H+M, Topshop, Lacoste, etc.) I'm going to have to budget HARD. The downtown core is closed to traffic, so everywhere is made for pedestrians and it's super cute.
- First day of "school" is tomorrow... just learning about the program and stuff. The subwardens (babysitters for the 18 year olds, essentially) say this first week is really about drinking, so...
-I've consumed a lot of beer and rationalized it away by all the walking I've done.

I'll let you know how school goes.

puke

2009-09-20T16:49:00.000-07:00

If you read the post below you'll notice that I was yammering on about not being worried about a bunch of things, and how my only concern about starting my new life overseas is that I'll constantly smell of browning meat.

Well, the calm that was settled over me as I wrote that post has long since gone and I'm deep in panic mode now. My visa arrived in the mail on Friday so that's one thing off my plate, but other than being free to enter and leave the UK as I please nothing has happened to ease my mind about any of the other stuff I mentioned. Yes, I'm still worried about smelling like meat, as well as a myriad of other things.

I'm really scared, people. And the thing I'm most scared about is the thing I thought I was most sure about up until recently. What if - and brace yourself, as what I'm about to say is going to contradict pretty much everything I've said to you up until this point - WHAT IF I HATE BEING A LAWYER?

What if I spend a TON of money on a legal education only to discover that I can't stand practicing law? Or, even worse, what if I spend a ton of money on a legal education only to discover that I absolutely SUCK at practicing law? I hate being bad at things. Absolutely hate it. What if in two years I have to slink home to Canada with a massively expensive degree, no desire to use it and no idea how to use it properly? WHAT IF ALL THAT HAPPENS? THEN WHAT?!?

I did some number crunching today and I had to stop and put my head between my knees and just breathe, breathe in through my nose and out through my mouth so that I didn't vomit due to the sheer amount of debt I'm putting myself in. Up until this point all those figures and columns felt like play money, imaginary sums moved from column to column, and somehow I magically always had just enough cash on hand to buy those stupid boots or pair of jeans or whatever.

I have no idea how to budget, how to be a grownup, or how stretch a dollar. I'm a hopelessly spoiled and selfish kid and I'm terrified I'm going to show up in England, forget the pound translates to 2 dollars and end up buying ridiculous items from street vendors and Marks and Spencer until one day I wake up and realize that I don't have money to buy the tea that I'm sure to start drinking because I'm going to live in England, after all.

Anyone who knows me knows that I'm not really into touching people, that hugs are reserved for special occasions or if I've been drinking a little, but believe me when I say right now that I need a hug.

I'm going to go talk myself down from this ledge.

red tape

2009-09-13T12:08:00.000-07:00

I wasn't able to apply for my student visa until after I got back from Italy because the UK Border Agency keeps your passport while they're processing your application. It's iffy whether or not I'm going to get my passport back in time for my plane ride to London on the 25th of September.

I'm moving to a place where I'm not going to know a single soul, where I'll have to learn how to be a student again, where they drive on the wrong side of the road and I'm not going to have a clue how to get around and - even though they speak english - the locals' accents can make them difficult to understand.

I'm not going to have the same kind of income I've gotten used to, and returning to a student budget is sure to be difficult. Especially because I'm going to be living in a place that is just a hop, skip and a jump from many of the places I've dreamed of visiting (Greece, Ireland, Spain, Germany)... It's going to be very difficult to be budget conscious.

So. The logistics of my trip are up in the air, I'm going to be lonely and I'm going to be poor. But I'm not at all worried about any of those things. I'm pretty confident that all of the little details will fall in to place. There's only one little issue that keeps popping in to my head on a regular basis and it's so trivial and silly that I can't believe I spend time thinking about it.

Here's what's bugging me lately. I have a studio apartment lined up in Leicester, so my sleeping/living/cooking/eating space is basically going to be one small room. You know how when you're cooking say, spaghetti, or stir fry, and your whole kitchen will reek of ground beef or onions or whatever? And you know how if your stove vent isn't running the food smell will get in your clothes, and you won't really notice until you're out getting a coffee or shopping or something and then all of a sudden you catch a whiff of yourself and you think, "Oh weird, I smell like dinner."

I'm worried that because I'm pretty much going to be sleeping in my kitchen that my bedding and all of my clothing are going to smell like dinner for my entire stay in Leicester. And I don't want to be that girl. I don't want to be the one who walks by and people say "Hey, do you smell shepherd's pie?"

I hope they have Febreze in England.