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."