The Last Post

For anyone who wasn't aware...I AM HOME!

And that is a miracle in itself. I know you all heard about the terrible delays and cancellations going on at Heathrow Airport in London. The basic story is, on Friday and Saturday, London was prey to some pretty heavy snow. It was bad enough that Heathrow was closed for an entire day. I heard tons of horror stories about people I know whose flights were cancelled more than once and were now stranded in London until who knows when? Naturally, this all caused a bit of stress for me. By the time Monday came around (my last day in London) only about 1/3 of the flights were still scheduled, which included mine....BUT that could always change, and at any moment. I was anxious nearly all day and I think I checked our flight status about 300 times. When I woke up on Tuesday morning, we were still right on schedule so Matt and I left for the airport at about 6:40am, for a 10:15 am flight.

Heathrow was sheer madness. There were masses of people standing OUTSIDE of the airport. That's right, people weren't even allowed into the airport unless they were on a flight that was actually leaving. At this point, Matt and I were already counting our blessings. However, we hadn't even reached the beginning of our good fortune. If anyone remembers, Matt and I both used our parents' American Airlines Advantage Miles to purchase our airline tickets. (Thank you, parents!!!) This worked out wonderfully because, of course, we didn't have to pay, but we also were able to fly home in business class.

Let's talk about business class. Keep in mind that I have never flown in anything besides coach up until yesterday, so this was quite the experience. First of all, we were able to wait in a separate, shorter line to check our baggage. We zipped through security without any waiting. We boarded the plane first. Then we sat down in our beautiful, big, roomy seats that reclined almost all the way back. The flight attendant handed us our MENUS for the meal we would be eating on board. Champagne was served at takeoff. We were handed the most wonderful pair of Bose noise-cancelling headphones to wear throughout the plane ride. We each had our own TV screen, which came equipped with about 60 choices of movies and TV episodes to watch (I chose Cyrus, Inception, Up in the Air and three episodes of The Office.). Our meal started off with warm, salted nuts, accompanied by your choice of drink, followed by a salad and bread course and then the entree (I had salmon, Matt had chicken) and finishing it all up with a fruit and cheese plate. It. Was. Heaven. And it will probably never happen again in my life.

Thankfully, oh so thankfully, we landed in Chicago without problems and our flight to DFW was only delayed by about ten minutes. That flight was pretty quick, and then, before we knew it, we were home. We were greeted at baggage claim by family and friends and after a slew of hugs and picture taking, we retrieved our bags and went home. After some Mexican food, of course.

It has been a crazy few months. Some people say that experiences like this change who you are as a person. I don't know if I would go that far, but I know that I will always treasure the time I spent abroad. I have been able to see four different countries and partake of different lifestyles and cultures. I also learned things about myself and found a new appreciation for my family and friends, who I dearly missed while overseas. I am overjoyed to be home. And on that note, I have some people to thank.

To all of you who gave me advice and tips about studying abroad, thank you! I took your suggestions to heart!

To the Tracy family, who I babysat for once a week while in London, thank you for giving me a job which simply consisted of playing with your adorable girls! I looked forward to babysitting every week!

To Andrew and Annie, our gracious and fantastic Irish hosts, thank you for letting us stay with you and showing us around your city! You are both wonderful!

To Mike, Anita and Grace, thank you for letting me intrude on your Thanksgiving, showing me around Amsterdam and cooking wonderful meals for me! I had such a great time that weekend!

To Matt, my fabulous travelling buddy, the Harry to my Hermione, thank you for putting up with me for three and a half months. I'm so glad I was able to go to London with one of my best friends. We sure had some good times, didn't we? From our first day in the city, to standing at the original site of The Rose, to every horrible play we saw, to getting up at 3:30am to go to Paris, to playing with ducks and squirrels in the park on our last day....you are the best. Thank you.

Most importantly, to my parents. Thank you for letting me go on this adventure. Thank you for letting me use your advantage miles so I didn't have to pay for a flight. Thank you for sending me packages and hiding cards in my suitcase and giving me encouragement when I was having a bad day. Thank you for not spoiling me by simply paying for everything, like many other students that I met. Thank you for teaching me how to be smart, resourceful and giving me my innate sense of good direction, which certainly came in handy on this trip. Thank you for being you and always making me laugh and loving me no matter what. I love you.

And lastly, to you, if you have stuck with me throughout this whole trip and read each and every one of my scattered blog posts. Thanks for the comments and the e-mails and thank you for coming on this journey with me.

Soapbox

Tonight Matt and I went to church.

We went to a church right down the street from our dorm that was hosting a Christmas service that they called, "Alternative Carols." Yes. It was awesome. There were hundreds of people there, mostly younger people in their 20s and 30s. The atmosphere was, as Matt said, like being at church camp. Loud music from the band, lots of smiling and laughing, cool lights, the works. We sang several Christmas carols and a few "worship" songs and then a man (who had the same hair as Dr. Walsh, I kid you not) spoke for a short time. His message was fantastic, very anti-religion, pro-Jesus. Which I like. However, his message was not the part of the service that stood out to me. One of the songs we sang was "O Holy Night," a song that I have heard probably thousands of times throughout my life. But tonight, one particular part of the song spoke volumes to me.

Truly he taught us to love one another

His law is love and his gospel is peace

Chains shall he break

For the slave is our brother

And his name, all oppression shall cease

He taught us to LOVE one another. His law is LOVE and his gospel is PEACE. How often do we completely disregard these lyrics? How often do we treat each other with hate and, rather than seeking peace, do we stir up trouble? The slave is our brother. No one is better than anyone else. We are all the same. In his name, ALL oppression shall cease. Then I thought about the Senate's recent repeal of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell."

*steps up on soapbox*

I didn't vote for Obama. I wouldn't really consider myself a liberal. BUT, I think that this repeal is a step in the right direction. I think the concept of DADT was ridiculous to begin with. I think if someone wants to serve their country, they should absolutely be able to, regardless of race, gender or sexual orientation. I think if someone is uncomfortable with a soldier being gay, they should probably just get over it. We are all working towards a better future here. I think that DADT was, shall we say, oppression...and a very poor example of love and peace. I'm not saying that I have all the answers. I'm not saying that I exhibit love and peace at all times, because, believe me, I don't. However, I think that all of us should be continually striving towards a goal of mutual love, peace and respect. Because otherwise, we are just screwed.

*steps off of soapbox*

Thanks for reading. :) One other thing...I would really appreciate some prayers right now. Specifically that my flight on Tuesday will be able to leave at 10:15am without any complications or delays. Please pray that any bad weather will hold off until later and that I will be able to go home with no problems. All kinds of craziness has been happening in London as a result of bad weather; airports closing, flights being cancelled, but supposedly, things should start getting back to normal tomorrow. If you wouldn't mind saying just a teensy little prayer for me, I would so greatly appreciate it! Thank you!

Merry Christmas, friend.

I'll be home for Christmas

I'm dreaming tonight of a place I love

Even more than I usually do

And although I know

It's a long road home

I promise you

I'll be home for Christmas

You can count on me

Please have snow and mistletoe

And presents under the tree

Christmas Eve will find me

Where the love light beams

I'll be home for Christmas

If only in my dreams

That is, if our flight isn't delayed or cancelled because of snow. Which is in the forecast for this weekend. Tuesday, the day I leave, has a 30% chance of precipitation right now, but that could change. Let's just hope and pray that around the hour of 10:00am, the skies are clear enough for my plane to take off. Let's also hope and pray that things are clear in Chicago, which is where my connecting flight to DFW takes off. But Chicago should be fine, right? Don't they deal with snow all the time? Wouldn't they know what to do? Keep your fingers crossed for me.

Today I turned in my final papers for each of my classes and I am FREE! It's one of the best feelings in the world. Now I can spend hours online or walking around a park without feeling like I should be doing homework. To celebrate, Matt and I are going to see the movie Burlesque tonight. I am way too excited.

Dreading packing....

Daniel Faraday and Prince Hamlet

Glory to God in the highest, I finally got over my sickness! Good thing, because I did not want to spend my entire flight home coughing up a lung. That would royally suck.

I've done some pretty cool things since last we talked. I'm sure you're intrigued by the title of this post. First of all, Matt and I went to Oxford this past weekend. We kept saying that we were going to take a day when we had nothing to do and just go, but the trip was put off time and time again. Finally, on Sunday, we boarded a train and an hour and a half later, found ourselves in the land of Lewis Carroll, J.R.R. Tolkein and Daniel Faraday. Daniel Faraday is a character from LOST who taught at Oxford. (I've recently noticed that I make a lot of references to both LOST and Harry Potter in this blog. Is that a bad thing? I don't think so. But that's only because I really, passionately, with all of my heart love both of them. Really, when I finished the last Harry Potter book, I thought I was going to cry. It was like watching my childhood end. When LOST ended, I went into mild depression. Not really. But it was devastating. And I HAD to mention LOST in this post, because my very favorite episode in the whole series has a scene at Oxford! It's called "The Constant" and it is completely centered on Desmond, who is such an awesome character. He might be my favorite, but maybe not, because I love Sawyer too. And Charlie. And Hurley. Such a hard decision...Wow. This paragraph quickly gave way to my ridiculous rantings. Let's get back on track, Laura.) So anyway....

Like I was saying, Matt and I went to Oxford. We had no agenda for this trip, except for the desire to see as much of Oxford as we could. Once we arrived, we walked from the train station straight into town and after a quick lunch, we ventured down to Christ Church College, the most well known building on campus. We were able to wander all around and inside the building, taking in the sheer grandeur that is Oxford. It is an incredible place. The buildings are huge and magnificent and the length of time that they have been there makes them all the more beautiful. One of the first things we saw was a staircase. But this wasn't just any old staircase. Not only was it large and intricate, but it was also used in the filming of one particular scene in the movie (can you guess?) Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone! Look, I fit both LOST and Harry Potter into this post! Being the huge Potter-maniacs that we are, Matt and I were ecstatic. We posed for pictures on the staircase and then immediately headed into the Great Hall. The Great Hall is the dining hall in Christ Church and also served as the model for the Great Hall in the HP series. More excitement! More posing for pictures! More marveling at the splendid architecture! It really was beautiful.

After we were done exploring Christ Church, Matt and I walked all over the rest of the city, stumbling onto some very interesting shops. One called Alice's Shop which sold exclusively products that had to do with Alice in Wonderland and the other a bookstore in which every single book was on sale for two pounds. I bought two books. Soon we realized that outside of the actual Oxford campus, there wasn't a lot more to do in Oxford, and we had seen what we wanted to see, so we decided to leave. A day well spent.

Now on to the other part of this post's title, "Prince Hamlet." Last night I went to the National to see a production of Hamlet. Normally, this would go under my London Theatre posts, but I don't know if I'll be seeing anymore plays in the five days I have left in London, so that would be quite a short post, which is why I'm about to write about the show here. As I've mentioned many times, the National produces amazing plays. This production of Hamlet had been getting stellar reviews, so I was very much looking forward to this play. As usual, I was not disappointed. Hamlet is known as the greatest of Shakespeare's plays, which pretty much makes it the greatest play ever written. I don't know if I would say that this production was the greatest play I have ever seen, but it was certainly amazing. I don't need to explain the plot, do I? If you don't know the plot of Hamlet, shame on you. And if you don't know the plot of Hamlet, watch The Lion King. (Betcha some of you didn't realize they were the same story, huh?) What made this production different was that the director chose to stage it in present day, something that isn't usually done when putting on one of Shakespeare's shows. It worked beautifully. Instead of grand palaces, the action took place in a stately home, probably what the prime minister's home or the White House looks like. Instead of regal gowns, the characters wore business suits. Instead of swords, the guards carried guns. Rory Kinnear, who played Hamlet, was fantastic. Actually, everyone was fantastic. I don't think there was a weak actor in the cast. I could talk about this show all day. It was that wonderful.

Five days left.

Just finished my hardest paper.

With every passing day, I get closer and closer to home.

Closer to seeing my family and friends.

That's what I'm most excited about.

But I'm also excited for some other things.

I'm really looking forward to going home to a house completely decked out in Christmas decorations.

I am stoked to get to drive my car again. We've been apart for far too long.

Tex-Mex food and I will have a grand reunion the day I get home.

After eight months of not being involved in a show, I will finally get back into theatre. It's been a painful separation.

Luckily, oh so luckily, I am going home to a part time job. A job that I am very excited about and one that works perfectly with my schedule. I love having connections. Even if those connections consist of my mother.

After spending a couple of weeks with my family, I'll be moving into a new apartment with one of my best friends.

It will be nice to have reliable internet again.

It will also be nice to have access to stores that are open 24 hours a day. (God bless WalMart.)

But I will miss this city.

I'll miss the cold weather. Yes, I am one of those people that genuinely loves cold weather.

I'll miss the free time.

I'll miss the tube.

Stress will be introduced back into my life. I've had such a relaxing semester, save a few random instances.

I have really enjoyed being able to walk everywhere here. I'll miss that too.

I'll miss the English accents. It's just so darn charming.

I'm really NOT looking forward to packing everything again.

And the sickness perpetuates...

I think I'm dying.

Not really. But I feel like it.

Remember my last post when I was feeling sick? That turned into a full fledged, all out, absolute worst cold of my life.

I can't breathe.

I can't stop coughing. And sneezing. I'm that annoying person who coughs her way through other people's oral presentations in class.

I have gone through so many tissues in the past few days.

I'm taking Sudafed and it's doing NOTHING.

I'm sucking on cough drops like they're candy.

I'm eating a lot of oranges. I'm drinking a lot of hot drinks.

The cold weather does nothing to help, of course. Damn you, London!

Finals are upon us, folks. The library is crowded and there is a general sense of stress and panic in the air. However, things are different here in London than they are in the States.

No one is studying. That's because my school clearly has no idea what a test is. All finals are composed of a paper or a presentation. In fact, in every single one of my classes, my entire grade for the class is comprised of one presentation and one paper. That's it. For the entire semester. If you mess up, you're screwed. Comforting, isn't it?

So far, I've given three presentations. They've all gone swimmingly. I have one more to do on Thursday.

I have four papers due in the next ten days. One of those papers will be the easiest assignment of my life and will probably take me about 42 minutes to do. Another paper is merely a continuation of the presentation I gave in that class. No big deal. The other two papers will actually require some effort, but 1800 words is nothing, so I'm not worried (That's for my women's lit class, the other essay has no word count requirement, but should be around 1500.).

I've been listening to Glee's version of "Baby, It's Cold Outside" on repeat lately. What are your favorite Christmas songs?

19 Days

I have spent the majority of my day lying (laying?) in bed. It's not very fun, folks. This morning I woke up and, like every other Thursday, began my trek to the Regent Street campus of my school. And it is a TREK. It takes me around 30-45 minutes to get to class and longer if I stop for coffee, which I did today. Once I got to class and sat down, I realized how tired I felt. This is unusual because most of the time, once I'm up in the morning, I am up! I'm awake and ready to go with no sign of drowsiness. Not so today. Every part of me felt like I might be coming down with something. It's that hard to describe kind of sick. When you don't really want to eat, but you don't feel nauseous, and you have fever-like symptoms, but you don't have a fever. It's weird. Following class, I went straight back to my room (after snapping a few pictures of the snow) and finished up a power point presentation that I have to give on Monday. I still wasn't feeling good so I decided to curl up with a movie. I settled on The Band Wagon, a 1953 film, starring Fred Astaire and Cyd Charisse. It wasn't bad. But I prefer Gene Kelly over Fred Astaire any day. After the movie, I thought I was feeling better. Then I stood up. Nope. Just an illusion. Time for three Gilmore Girls episodes in a row.

I'm ready to go home.

Granted, these past few months have been a blast, and maybe I only feel this way because I don't feel good and there are loud people in the hall, pre-gaming before a night of probable debauchery which will end in even more late night yelling,..

I'm not a big partier. I don't really enjoy "going out." To college students, especially those studying in foreign countries, "going out" means drinking, going to a club/pub/bar to drink some more, dance a little, drink some more and then head home. That's just not fun to me. Every once in a while? Fine. But not every week. And not multiple times a week. Call me lame, call me boring, call me what you will. That's fine with me. However, as a result of my dislike of "going out," I haven't made a lot of friends here. I'm usually a pretty social, friendly person, but when the only opportunity I have to make friends involves spending money that I don't want to spend to watch people that I don't know get wasted....I'd rather not. And I'm not exaggerating when I say that that's the only opportunity I have to make friends. You see, the dorm I live in is not connected with my school. The people I take classes with are not the same people I live with. I only see my classmates once a week, for about two hours. Not a lot of time to make lasting friendships. Along those lines, the people in my dorm are only around in the evenings, when they like to "go out," and apparently, that's the only thing they can think of for entertainment! *sigh*

I'm not sure what the purpose of this post is. I'm just lonely. I miss everyone. I miss everyone a lot more than I thought I would. I thought I wouldn't want to leave London when the time came....guess I was wrong.

I think I'll finish up this night with Meet Me in St. Louis. I could use some Judy Garland in my life.