Nearly finished.

The last week has been an emotional one. Exams are done and the papers are turned in. I have had many 'lasts'. I will not set foot on the UNott Park Campus for many years, I will not see my running friends anymore, and I will not be able to run through Wollaton Park again. The flat has been scrubbed and scoured to a level of cleanliness that no one thought possible. One of the flatmates has already left for France. How sad. We have had last flat dinners and even a meal out that was quite posh. My bags are mostly packed, my bulletin board is empty and my walls are bare. With least thank 24 hours left, I am heading to see our green grocer for one last time. A girls lunch in city centre followed by the last bits of cleaning. Tonight we will complete the year, making it come full circle. A dinner at The Salutation Inn as a last hurrah. We will say our goodbyes to the city centre with a pint at Ye Old Trip to Jerusalem (the oldest pub in England) and then come back home to our local pub, the Lion for one last pint. With out exhausted bodies, we will crawl into our beds for one last night of sleep in Nottingham. Tuesday morning we leave early and drive directly to Heathrow. A flight to Iceland and then onto Minneapolis and it will all be over. I will see my parents and a friend waiting for me. I will cry saying goodbye to my flatmates and Mark and Carol, but I will also cry saying hello to my loved ones back home. To adhere to my dad's warning, I have been drinking plenty of water to stay hydrated while saying goodbye. This blog has been a way for me to keep in touch with friends and family at home and abroad all year, but it has also helped me to analyze what is going on in my life and a chance to secure memories. Perhaps I will keep writing throughout my senior year, but just like the everything else back in the States, I cannot imagine what it will be like, so there are no guarantees. This was an amazing year and it has meant the world to me. I will never forget.

One wonderful week left

Well, Friday wrapped up well. After welcoming some flatmates back home, we had a good dinner and a few of us went out with Mark and Carol to explore. Our newsagent has been working on a new Hindu temple all year and he invited us to come see it. We walked up the tram line and a bit beyond the Lion to what looked like nineteenth century factory buildings. The old brick buildings had been well maintained on the outside, and little did we know that the insides had been entirely refurbished to look like a Hindu temple. We saw part of a service and then got the grand tour. While not all of the work had been completed yet, it was really cool to learn a bit about the traditions and all of the plans for this temple. Apparently it is the third temple in Notts. I knew this city was diverse, but I had no idea it would be able to support three Hindu temples. Anyway, it was fun to talk to some of the elders (who didn't try to convert us, bc that isn't what Hindu's believe in... what a novel concept!) and to join some of the congregation for traditional snacks.

I realize that this is incredibly chronological, but my creative juices have been spent on papers for IS135 and creatively answering essay questions on Uni exams. Bleh. Saturday was another fast day, but we spent the evening hours attending Brandon's concert at St. Mary's. The performance opened with Copeland's clarinet concerto which was performed by a phenomenal clarinetist. After all of my nine years of playing, which included band camps, workshops, and opportunities to hear many excellent musicians, I can honestly say that this was the most talented clarinet player I have ever heard. She was young, perhaps a bit dramatic in her movements, but amazing. Even better than Dr. Beasley, if I am allowed to say so. I was quite impressed. A full orchestra with loads of talent and the choir made for a solid Chichester Psalms. I will have to admit that I enjoyed it more this time than the Christmas at Luther version. Because we purchased student tickets, our view was obstructed by the pillars... but this was the best picture I could finagle. Oh, and while we are on that subject... the last time we attended a choir concert at St. Mary's we noticed a young man who looked a great deal like our Luther friend Mr. Lucas Reidenbach. This time, I came armed with my camera and documented his presence. So, Luke... here is your British look alike. Just thought I would share (this is for Kev's sake... he would have taken a pic, but as his camera has gone to a better place...). After the concert, I finally went to the Kean's Head (a pub that is directly next to the church and is frequented by the choristers). A pint of mild ale and then we met Kate and Aaron for another drink at one of Kate's favourite places. It was an early night in, but we began the celebration at midnight for Ryan's birthday. The last of the Notters to turn 21 in England (Anna is on Sept 7 when we are back at Luther).

Sunday was an early day for Kev, Mar, Aaron and myself. We headed out at 9:30 (hey, that is early for me!) with Mark and Carol to Southwell. Southwell - don't pronounce it 'south well' because the locals would think you were putting on airs, it should be said 'suthel' or something like that anyway. We traipsed through the rain and went to a lovely service in the church (a grand norman and gothic church - not a cathedral because it is lacking a cathedra...) and even got to witness a baptism. From there, we stopped by the refectory to enjoy some warm food. Who knew it could be so cold in May? Soup and a roll followed by hot puddings. I had bread and butter pudding, and the rest of the group enjoyed treacle pudding or spotted dick. With custard, of course. Afterwards, we made our way to a workhouse that is now owned by the National Trust. It was interesting, but as I did not take advantage of the audio guide (to be fair, Mark didn't either), I am sure I missed out on all sorts of fun historical facts. I decided that since this was an optional trip, I would just as soon not have a dry old voice telling me what each scratch in the wall meant. No, I kid. Not all of the audio guides have been bad, just enough to put me off the idea of audio guides. When we returned home, the flat was freezing. What was there to do, but curl up with tea and watch Lord of the Rings. We finally finished the extended version trilogy and Ryan celebrated his real birthday.

However, as Ryan's birthday fell on a Sunday, we decided we should celebrate on Monday... for whatever reason. It just so happened that Monday was a Bank Holiday, so nothing was different, but that's how we did it. We made our way to the Lion and then on to the Vernon Arms. We had a few pints and enjoyed pub culture at its best. A few pictures of the evening...

Of course there was Guinness, so the pic on the left is of a pint with a shamrock drawn in the top by the spigot. I suppose it wasn't all that impressive to others, but we were impressed by our bar tender's skill and friendliness. Smiles all around and a fun walk back made a pretty good birthday for Ryan in the end. Even though his birthday was on Sunday, we dragged out the celebration even further and Carol made a wonderful cake (piano shaped of course) tonight. I am happy to say that this session of exams has proven to be much more interesting that the one in January. The group has been more involved and has accomplished much more than before. At first I thought it was because of the warm weather, but when it began to rain we just plowed right through. It must be the fact that our time is running out...

Whether we are ready or not, we officially have less than one week left. Actually, in exactly 168 hours, seven of us will be landing in the Minneapolis-St.Paul Airport. Tears will flow as we part our flatmates and more will come as we are greeted by our family. It is a very strange concept after being away for an academic year.

Well, today brought more rain, but it cleared up in time for me to bike to campus for my last psych final. It was not horrible, but it was not my most eloquent bit of writing. Fortunately, I don't have to get a first class mark in this module. Oh, and Mark took Emily and I to mail packages. Let me just say that Royal Mail has made off with my bank account. If any one sees it, please let me know.

Tomorrow will hopefully be sunny. I will go to my last training session with NUAC and will cook my last meal for the flat. After a year of cooking and a year of training, it will be hard knowing that it is the last time.

Don't get me wrong, I am excited to come home and see family and friends, but it will be impossible being away from England. Just a few of the things I will miss include: Kevin always playing good music (in the basement, in the kitchen, the bathroom, the coach... wherever), pub culture, my running mates, sleeping on the top bunk, chatting with my roomies before bed, biking to campus, and the unpredictable weather. The list is pages longer, but those are what I was thinking about today. Good night, sleep tight, see you in less than a week.

furious finals...

Somehow, this week flew by again. I realize I have said it before, but time passes faster by the month. Each year seems shorter, but especially in Notts, each month goes by quicker. This week included several milestones. Tuesday marked the 'only two weeks left' date on the calendar, Wednesday was the final for our year long flat course IS135, and Thursday my final for my year long Cognitive Psychology module. Mary's friend Andrea drew Mary away from the flat again for a few days in London, Anna's friend Katelin (from Luther, she and I lived on the same floor in Brandt freshman year) came from Malta to stay for a while, and half of the flat left for travels. Currently, Ryan is in Ireland visiting family, Emily and Aaron are in London (but not together, for most of the time anyway), and Mary is coming back from London as we speak. I still have two finals left and will therefore be in the flat (or in the library) studying for the remaining exams. I suppose I should work on that last paper, too. Anyway, my finals this week went well and I got a paper back, with a pretty good mark if I may say so myself, from Christian Thought in the Modern World.

To give myself a break from the flat, I spent a day studying at Starbucks with Mary. We also went shopping afterwards. Let's just say that Nottingham city centre is a dangerous place for my wallet... even though I am not the most shopping oriented person. Flat dinners continue to be enjoyable and it is hard to make myself go to training for NUAC because I don't want to miss time with my flatmates. It is strange, I will go back to the states and get to see them all throughout senior year. However, it will never be the same, so I am hesitant to miss out on anything. On Wednesday, to celebrate being done with IS135 (International Studies: Exploring Great Britain), Kevin, Emily, Aaron and I walked in the beautiful weather to Wollaton Hall. We went through the newly refurbished home/museum and then enjoyed rambling about the park. Inside the museum, there was an extensive collection of taxidermied (they were NOT stuffed) animals and a large collection of minerals. Perhaps it was not the most typical inside of a stately home, but it was rather entertaining. Dad, there were a few things I thought you would enjoy...

If you will recall the 'Rocks and Minerals Club' meetings in the basement of the old Carnegie Library, you will note that the rock on the left is Dog-tooth Calcite and the mineral formation on the right is 'desert rose'. Just thought I would share.

Moving on...

The lake was fun to walk around afterwards and the weather could not have been more beautiful. I was also excited to show the others my favourite tree in all of Wollaton. It is a huge old oak on the top of a hill in a secluded corner of the park. The branches split off from the main trunk so perfectly and then gracefully lean down towards the ground... I could sit underneath that tree for ages.

Just a few pics to give you an idea of the tree...

Well, Mary just got back from London and the IS135 exams were handed back (another successful mark) so I am off to meld with my flatmates... or something. Oh and Picasa is updated again, so be sure to look at that.

Birthday Rites and Friday Night Lights...

Last week was rather busy, to put it lightly. Exams, papers, visitors, birthdays... the list goes on. Monday, the flat kept busy studying for the British Novel exam and in the afternoon we welcomed Mary's friend from Luther into our flat. Andrea fit right in and dealt with the nine of us that were all relatively stressed out and uninteresting. Tuesday, Kevin's birthday, started with an all too early exam for Mark and Carol, which went surprisingly well. After an afternoon of avoiding the upcoming paper at all costs, we settled in for an excellent meal, complete with a remote control shaped birthday cake for Kevin. It was rather comical, although Kevin took unnecessary offense to it (could Mark and Carol really think of nothing else that epitomized my existence?). After Mark and Carol cleaned up, we began the long process of getting ready for a night out in Notts. A few hours later, people were excited, happy and ready to celebrate. Unfortunately, all of our favourite haunts were closed... who knew that Nottingham shut down early on Tuesday nights? We still managed to find some fun pubs and bars and when it struck midnight, the celebration became mine. We stayed out a bit after midnight and then caught the last tram home. After winding down (and some people planning menus for the next day's grocery shopping... which proved to not be such a great idea at such a late hour), we crawled into bed, with yet another (two actually) satisfactory 21st birthday celebration under our belts.

Wednesday, I took full advantage of it being my birthday and slept in quite late. It was wonderful. After relaxing the morning away, I realized that I had to face the impending doom of the paper and set to work researching. I took breaks from reading scholarly articles to open my birthday gifts... which were all rather fabulous. The biggest birthday card ever (seriously, I should submit it to Guinness) from my dad and a little something else, party favours and cute necklaces from my mom (to tide me over until I come home), an incredibly creative digital creation from my sister and Stephen, a tree from Sara (who knew you could dedicate a tree? now, as Sara says, "a part of Hilary can stay in England forever"), random cool things from my flatmates and a white elephant gift from Mark and Carol... complete with a cake. Mine was not shaped like a remote, but instead a traditionally round cake with a 'Hil' (green hill of coconut) on the top with nice scripting by Carol. Kevin, a cake is a cake, and Mark and Carol know that there is more to you than TV. Anyway, it was a good birthday - fun people, calls from everyone in my family, happy birthday wishes through the Internet, and a delicious meal. I spent the rest of the night and most of the next day cruising through my paper.

Thursday was filled with stressed flatmates and furious paper writing. A dinner, filled with relief from having the paper in, and good conversation. The night is kind of a blur... we wasted time and probably watched the first disc of LOTR "Two Towers" and then crashed early. I worked on revising Brandon's paper... it would have been nice if he had read it over before turning it in... and suddenly it was Friday. I ran a bit, the weather finally decided to stop being wet ALL of the time, just most of the time and we had an early and lonely dinner. Mark and Carol were out on a date and Mary and Andrea were off to York. We rushed out of the house and secured Nottingham Forrest tickets for the playoff game. (See Kevin's blog for further explanation of the game... and the playoffs...)

It was so exciting to go to a Friday night game... the air is always more charged as the day comes to an end and thousands of fans stream to the stadium to cheer on their team. It was reminiscent of the Friday night games in high school, not that I really cared about (American) football, but those were some of the best nights in high school. Everyone coming together, cheering from under blankets and behind hot chocolate... those were the good old days. While this game was different, real football, a larger stadium, professional players, and team chants like no American football team has heard before - it was a treat to see the stadium illuminated by the proverbial Friday night lights. The game stretched long into the night and unfortunately, the Forest lost (Nottingham Forrest Football Club... NFFC). A good night overall.

This weekend has been filled with studying, nice weather, and running. I made it downtown to shop a bit yesterday, and I finally bought a dress that I had been eyeing since returning from holiday - thanks Dad! Anyway, today will be running, internet catch-up, and studying for the next week of academic torture. While others complain of the time flying by, at the moment it seems to be dragging. I am ready to be done with exams and papers. I have four exams and two papers remaining. To say the least, I am not thrilled. At least the weather has finally cleared up.

Mum's day

After a productive day of shopping downtown, I puttsed around the flat taking care of bits and bobs and chatted with every member of my family. I can't remember the last time I talked to Mom, Dad, and Kim all in one day. It was pretty special to talk to all members of my fam in one day. Anyway, as it is Mother's Day today, we decided to give Carol a little something special, since her daughters couldn't be here. We picked out a beautiful bouquet of lilies, roses, carnations and all sorts of foliage and made her a card with photos from the past year. Mark and Carol came for tea and Anna had made a beautiful chocolate raspberry cream cake, so tea and dessert was quite nice. As I sit here, catching up with computer work, I am at ease from the noises of the flat - the guitar playing, an episode of the office playing in another room, while dishes clink in the kitchen as they are being washed and dried. Of course I think about how I will miss the noises of eight other people now, when I should be doing homework, but in all honesty, it will be quite strange to live alone this coming summer. Anyway, I am off to study and work on a paper...here are a few pics from the past week or so:

Hardwick Hall, as seen from the side gardens...

This is Aaron. Aaron is comfortable in our flat. I like Aaron's outfit. I am glad that we can all be comfortable in our flat and wear what is necessary to make us comfortable in our flat. I have my IHSA orange Bball shorts from state track, Aaron has his England Cricket shorts and his moccasins, Mary has her sweatpants, Anna has the blanket her Mom knitted for her... the list goes on. The moral of the story is, hurray for comfy clothes. And nutella. Comfy clothes and nutella equals comfort.

Carol, Anna and her masterpiece. Happy Mother's Day!

... Don't worry Mom, I will pick you a beautiful bouquet of flowers, bake you a wonderful tart and give you all sorts of hugs just as soon as I get back.

Oh, and Picasa has a few new photos up if anyone cares to look...

almost 21 and sleepovers are still fun...

Friday was a good day. Despite the phone calls and doorbell ringing, I managed to stay in bed until almost eleven, just to make sure I was caught up on my sleep. I worked on coursework for Mark and Carol all afternoon (well, after I had breakfast and then lunch about twenty minutes later) and then I headed down to Uni for NUAC. The weather was a bit gloomy again, but the bike ride made it feel less cool. What was supposed to be a relaxed three mile loop around campus, turned into a negative split workout for Anna and I. It felt really good to work so hard and to top it off, it began to rain while we were running, so we didn't even overheat. A great run and an endorphin enhanced ride home made dinner even more enjoyable. Carol had made a wonderful chicken salad with all sorts of good veggies, fruits and spices and dessert was a simple berry salad, but the berries were so fresh, so good, and to top it all off (literally) we had special English extra thick double cream to drizzle over the top. We stayed at the table forever and chatted. It was a good end to a crazy week. The flatmates stayed in last night and we decided to have a sleepover... in our common room. We brought out the mattresses off of the futon and arranged the furniture just right and settled in with freshly baked cookies (thank you Kev, you are the master... or at least give Anna a run for her money) to watch the Fellowship of the Rings (the extended version). Four hours later, Mary, Aaron and I were the only ones still awake. We rolled over and slept. I wish I had a picture of us all tucked into our comfy spots... but who needs to see the flatmates in pj's anyway?

At 5:42 this morning, I awoke very confused because the room was flooded with light and I could see blue sky out the window. I had no idea the sun rose that early. One reoriented, I rolled over to sleep for another three hours or so. We all crawled out of bed (or off the couches) and most of us got ready to go on a day trip with Mark and Carol. With scone in hand, I walked out the front door and scrunched myself into the back (almost) seat of Mark and Carol's car with Anna. The boys settled into the real back seat and we were off. We stopped in a small village along the way to see a well dressing (a pagan tradition of decorating wells with floral arrangements or artwork -made out of natural things - to give thanks for the water) the actual decoration wasn't that impressive, but there was a rather eclectic marching bands of sorts, interesting dancers, and a small Maypole which young children did a marvelous job of mixing up the ribbons. Carol had tea and everyone else had pints. At 11am. My flatmates and Mark are becoming true English(wo)men. After that interesting cultural experience, we were on the road again.

Hardwick Hall was impressive, but at this point in the year, the 'stately grand homes' can get a bit boring. This one was still pretty impressive and not as gaudy as it could have been... save the HUGE stone initials E.S. which were all over the top of the lavish home. The gardens were pretty and the old hall ruins (which was amazing in its own way... but was later abandoned for a more ridiculous hall which was constructed just next to it) were interesting as well. It was really good to get out and about with Mark and Carol again. We also stopped at an old working flour mill. We got watch the wheat being ground and Carol bought us a kg so Ryan could make some whole wheat sour dough from his starter. I am excited. Anyway, after a rush for the kitchen when we got home to make dinner, we have settled in for another relaxed evening. In a bit we will head out to the Lion for some more live music - again recommended by David Juggins - but we must wait until it gets dark before we leave. As I sit here at nearly half past nine, there is still light in the sky... perhaps we will have to break our darkness rule one of these days.

Tomorrow will hopefully be full of essay contemplation and productivity. Hopefully ;)

Happy (early) Mother's Day!

pointless frustration...

Today was relatively productive. I woke up in time to take care of a few things around the house and then I headed off to the Post Office with Emily. I finally mailed one of my packages home (things that did not fit into my suitcases during the trial pack) and decided it would be best to ship it... literally send the package by sea as it is cheaper... cheap is a relative word... it was still disgustingly expensive to send home. I also got a few packages and packets off to friends in the states (those went by air and were much less expensive to send across the ocean). After the adventure with the PO people, we went along to Sainsbury's local to pick up some tea. It was funny to hear the sales clerk's reaction to our accent... he simply could not believe that we were from the states and were living in the area for the year. A bit later, Mary and I headed to campus for our final Christian Thought lecture. It was more of a review session, so that was good, but with the lovely workings of the Medilink bus system made us a few minutes late. With some helpful pointers from our professor, I think I will be OK for this exam as well. We popped into Blackwell's on the way back to the bus and I finally found a version of Harry Potter that I can live with. (Of course, the British version is slightly different than the American version, so I had to have one to add to my collection... all of the American ones, a french book no. 1, and now an English book no. 1... the other ones I had seen in Waterstone's around England were quite gaudy and covered in poor illustrations and gold shiny bits. I like the one I purchased today a great deal, thank you very much.) In case you couldn't tell, I am a fan and am awaiting the release of the final book.

Right, so I have become quite good at this nonsensical drivel. It is more of a stream of consciousness thing, so next year when I am freaking out about graduation, I can look back on my blog to see what I was up to a year ago in England.

This afternoon, I finished up some coursework for Mark and Carol's Internat'l Studies class and handed that in just before I went to go meet some of my NUAC friends. We walked from Derby road all the way back to the flat and, for the first time, I had friends over for dinner. Come to think of it, these are the first UNott students we have had over for dinner... or even in the flat... It was really fun to show them where I lived, studied, and hung out. Elaine (from Manchester), Sophia (from down south), and Anna (from the Netherlands) all enjoyed the meal and had fun chatting with my flatmates and Mark and Carol. They were so sweet, they even brought me chocolates for having them over... Next week, we are going to try and have dinner at Anna's place and somewhere else after that. Even though it is late in the year, I am really glad I have had the chance to make some good friends here. Funny how easy it is to make good friends with runners...

Anyway, I took care of a bit of school work and then settled in for a movie with Anna (and later Ryan and Aaron). I can honestly say that I will miss that, having someone to chat with and sit down with a good movie { http://tv-links.co.uk/ }, whenever I want. Aside from all of the things I will miss, I must admit that random bits of flat life are starting to annoy me, but after living with the same people for a year, how could it not? Nothing big, and certainly nothing to worry about - simple please and thank you's would be great, that and the use of the vacant fellowship hall. I digress. Tomorrow is technically the last day of class for all UNott students, and finals begin next week. I hope to get a lot of work done this weekend on papers for M&C and perhaps some revision for Cog Psych. This weekend is also the Outdoor Track and Field Conference Championships. This year they are being hosted by Simpson College in Indianola... I will be thinking of the Norse and anxiously awaiting the results.

As a great man once said, "Good night, and good luck."