Just some thoughts

• Already my room seems barer. As I take things down and organize my clothing, the usual anxieties about space constraints are here, but I’m also conscious of the melancholy strangeness of packing up my life here.
• I think I might just halfway  live out of my suitcase so I won’t have to keep unpacking and rearranging things.
• My essay is really boring to write, and I picked the most interesting topic. The fact that I was even given a choice of topics is odd. 
• My bread went moldy.
• There’s a chance I won’t have to pay excess baggage charges for my other bag. Also, I’m packing my life into two bags. What. 
• I still really love skype. 
• My big suitcase was dusty when I opened it back up today. 
• Perhaps I need a haircut. It is rather long. Longest it’s been in quite a few years actually. 
• My iPod battery dies so quickly now. At least it still works!
• There are so many fewer voices in the corridor now that people have gone home. It’s starting to feel lonely. 
• Back to essay writing interspersed with packing. 
• Playlist for this post: Up in Flames by Coldplay

The Final Lap

I’ll be on a plane back home to L.A. in 9 days. 9. That’s it. I can’t wait to see my family again, waiting for me to get out of customs, and hug my dog again, and feel constant sunshine on my skin, go to the beach and Disneyland and eat Mexican food and Goldfish crackers. All of these things are exciting to me, but I have to leave to do them. I realized that it’s so hard to leave because it isn’t just a vacation spot, a brief blip on my radar where I happened to be in York, but this is my life now. I have people here I care about, and routines, and things to look forward to, and I’ve just managed to figure it all out. So leaving feels…weird, to say the least. It is still a bit unreal to even think that I’ve been here long enough to have to say my goodbyes now. But this last week has been amazing so that makes it worth it. Time to update you all and I think I’ll try to go in chronological order!

• Last weekend, my friends and I went shopping for Ascot and bought our hats finally! (more on those later) and went to the York Dungeons as a big group. I thought it was going to be terrifying but it was just a sort of  fun scary thing. Since we were such a big group of giggling, screaming students we got picked on a lot by the people working there and many of us got to “volunteer” and go up to participate in some way, like screaming or being killed or executed or put on trial. It was silly and I’m actually really glad we went.
•  Then this past Monday I went to the X-Factor auditions in Newcastle. We had to wait outside in the queue area for a really long time, but once we got inside it was really fun. Most of the audition performances were actually good, so it felt more like a fun concert rather than a painful talent show.
• 
• The day after, the Olympic Torch came through York! It was super exciting; the streets were full of people, festive decorations were up, and people were just excited to see the torch bearers bring the torch through York. 
• Such a fun day!
• Then, on Wednesday, the event I’ve been waiting for all term finally came! ROYAL ASCOT! The Royal Ascot horse races happen every year outside of London and everyone gets dressed and has picnics and drinks and bets on the horses and well, it was wonderful. It was such a uniquely British experience, and one I don’t think I’ll be lucky enough to experience again. The day was just lovely, and the weather was spectacular too. Here’s some of my favorite pictures from the day:
• 
• My betting slips and a glass of Pimm’s!
• I love my hat so much. We saw the Queen! So exciting! (that’s her in the pink, sorry for the blurriness)
• 
• Also, on the journey back up to York we had a few hours to kill in King’s Cross Station so…this happened! I got to see Platform 9 3/4 from Harry Potter and fulfill another childhood dream. Gahh so lucky. It was a pretty amazing day, with such an amazing feel to the entire experience. It’s things like this are so worth being over here.
• I’m working on writing an essay that will be the last academic thing before I leave. But my marks in my other courses were all really good so I feel good about it.
• I eat mayo a lot more than I did before. With french fries I like mostly ketchup with a bit of mayo as well, and sandwiches taste better with it now. I don’t know who I am.
• Our oven is broken again so that means a depleted amount of foods that can be eaten warm.
• I have to start taking everything off of my walls and pretty much start packing which is bizarre.
• Everyone should watch The Legend of Korra. It’s wonderful.
• I’m kind of excited for my flight because it’s just exciting to travel.
• Saying goodbye is only getting harder. Two of my flatmates left uni yesterday and saying goodbye brought me to tears. I’m just going to miss them all so much.
• There’s some sort of surprise planned for me this weekend. I think I’m excited. hahaha
• When I think back on my Europe trip it almost doesn’t seem real, which is incredibly odd.
• I’m so excited for mine and my family’s various birthday plans this summer.
• I’m reading the first part of A Dance with Dragons, the latest book in the A Song of Ice and Fire Series, and I still absolutely love these characters. The books are just so rich and wonderful that I love being in their world.
• Is it bad that I’m excited to sleep on the plane back?
• Headaches are so annoying.
• I honestly love food so much. I can’t wait to properly cook again.
• I’m suddenly rather exhausted so I think I’ll read a bit more then go to sleep.
• Playlist for this post: The Weeknd

The Countdown has begun.

A month from now it will be the 4th of July, and I will be home. Not one of the many places I’ve called home over the last few years, but back to my house with my family. That just feels crazy and almost nonsensical.

In unrelated news, it’s the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee celebrations the past few days. They’ve been rather fun and it’s cool to see the patriotism of my adopted country.  The River Pageant yesterday was a huge parade of boats down the Thames, and right now I’m listening to the eclectic mix of musicians performing for the Jubilee Concert on BBC radio. Pretty cool to be here for such an historic event.

Now for some updates!

• I’ve not been sleeping well and as such I feel run down and tired a lot. My usual headaches are worse too since I’m not properly rested. Hopefully this will pass soon though.
• In doing my reading for one of my presentations, I’ve come across some really interesting findings related to book covers. It’s nice to find my research interesting.
• There are actually so many hours of sunlight now. The sun rises really early and sets incredibly late as well.
• I’m trying to figure out the cheapest way to ship some of my stuff home ahead of me so I’ll have less to deal with when flying back.
• Skype is honestly the most amazing thing ever.
• I can’t wait for Ascot.
• There are so many things I have to look forward to this summer(birthdays, Disneyland, the beach, friends, family) that it almost makes leaving bearable.
• I really don’t have much else to report, and sorry there aren’t any pictures for this one. 😦
• Playlist for this post: Diamond Jubilee Concert on BBC Radio