London Time
Summer Plans
I’ve been home for about a week now, and I’m still adjusting. I didn’t experience any culture shock when I moved to England, but I’m having reverse culture shock now that I’m back in America after more than eight months. There aren’t huge differences between here and England, but there are so many small changes that I just can’t get used to. I miss England so much already, but I have some really exciting plans for the summer, and I know I’ll stay busy.
This weekend, I’ll go to Cincinnati and stay there for just over a week. I’ll be talking to my academic advisors about exchanging my credit from abroad, volunteering at the butterfly conservatory and the public library, viewing the apartment I’ll be living in during the school year (I picked it out from England, so hopefully it matches the pictures on the website!), and then I’ll spend the rest of that week catching up with all of my friends that I haven’t seen for almost a year. I’m so excited to get back to the University of Cincinnati’s beautiful campus:
From there, I’ll be joining the UC Democrats for a trip to Washington, DC. The UC Dems was the activity that I was most involved in, and I can’t wait to dive back in and see all of my wonderful friends there. I went to DC last year with some of them for an environmental conference, and it was such a blast.
Next up is a trip to Chicago with family. I’m excited to spend time in this city with the family members that I don’t often get to see because they’re spread across the country. I’ve been to Chicago a few times before, but when I was younger my main focus was the American Girl Place, and the last two times I went there, it was just for conferences that didn’t allow enough time to explore. I’m hoping this time, I’ll have a chance to see more than just the Sears Tower and that big shiny bean thing.
From Chicago, I’ll be flying back to Alabama, where I’ll be staying with my family for about a month. When I’m not babysitting, I’m hoping to explore more of Alabama. Hopefully I’ll get to see some history and culture in visits to cities like Birmingham and Montgomery, but I’m most interested in seeing all of the natural beauty that Alabama has to offer. Between mountains, forests, lakes, and other wonders, it’s not too hard to find a stunning view like this one my siblings and I discovered today on a picnic:
Around mid-July, I’ll head back north and join my dad, sister, and brother for a trip out west. I’ve never been further west than Oklahoma, so spending ten days in Las Vegas and California will be a dream come true.
After that, I’ll head back to Cincinnati. I move into my own studio early August, and I’ll have a few weeks to settle down, get a job, find some volunteer opportunities, explore my beautiful city, and spend time with friends before the semester starts later that month.
This summer, my blog will probably be a mixture of new posts about whatever I happen to be doing at that moment and posts about England/Europe. I still have so many photos and stories from the past few months, and I can’t wait to share them!
Love, Elizabeth
Memorial Day weekend at Logan Martin Lake, Alabama. (Taken with instagram)
I’m home!
After a 40-hour journey (with an eleven-hour layover in Germany and another ten hours in Miami), I arrived at my house around midnight last night. It was so hard leaving England, especially knowing that it will be a while till I see my English friends again, but I was soooo ready to see my family. Spending today with all my siblings was absolutely blissful, and I’m so glad I get to spend most of my summer with them. I’ll post another update again soon when I have time, but I just wanted to let everyone know that I made it home safely!
Love, Elizabeth
English Rain: Close-up
Will and I stayed up all night so that we could head out to the lake at 4:30 this morning to catch the sunrise. It ended up being extremely overcast and rainy, but that didn’t stop us from discovering the hidden potential of my cheap camera. (The moody $70 camera I bought right before I left for England is being held together by tape at this point in the year, but it’s still done fairly well so far.) It took both of us, very steady hands, and an extra flashlight, but we managed to capture what I think are some pretty cool photos of the raindrop formations on the plants.
Love, Elizabeth
After more than 8 months living here, I now only have 3 days left. (Taken with Instagram at Vale Village)
Food Friday: Strudel
Sachertorte will always be my favorite Austrian pastry, but if you prefer fruit in your desserts, I would recommend a nice strudel, like this one that I got at an Easter market in Vienna. The apple and raisin filling was perfectly spiced, the crust was just the right amount of crispy, and the cream on the side was a nice touch.
If you go to Austria, try a strudel, but make sure that Sachertorte is your first priority. Chocolate will always outweigh fruit in the dessert battle!
Love, Elizabeth
Just finished my last exam!
After writing ten pages about Toni Morrison’s Beloved, the film “No Country for Old Men,” and speeches by Malcolm X and Martin Luther King, Jr., I HAVE OFFICIALLY FINISHED MY SCHOOLWORK!
I leave for America on Tuesday night, and I’ve been an emotional mess all week. On the one hand, I’m extremely excited to get back to all of my family and friends and my beautiful city of Cincinnati. But at the same time, that means leaving all of my amazing friends here as well as saying goodbye to such a beautiful country. I’m definitely ready to go back to America, but I’m not sure I’m ready to leave England.
But c’est la vie! I know I’ll be back to England sometime within the next few years, and I’m going to spend my last few days spending as much time as I can with my friends and taking in my last glimpses of England.
Love, Elizabeth
P.S. To everyone who is wondering: no, I haven’t started packing yet, and I probably won’t until Tuesday morning!
What the hail, England?
English weather is pretty mild. The summers aren’t too hot and the winters aren’t too cold (we only had one day of snow this year). Even though it’s cloudy a lot of the time, it hasn’t really rained too much—and when it does rain, it isn’t anything like the torrential downpour that I’m used to during an Ohio spring or that I encountered in many other countries during my Eurotrip. And I haven’t experienced a thunderstorm since I arrived.
Weather here does have a tendency to change pretty rapidly from a mild sunny day to a mild cloudy day and then back again, but nothing prepared me for yesterday’s swift transition from sunny when I woke up, cloudy when I left my flat an hour later, rainy as I walked to breakfast with friends, sunny again as I left breakfast and walked around the corner to meet another friend for a coffee, and then HAIL two minutes later when my friend arrived at the cafe. While we talked, the sun came out for a few minutes before it started to rain again, and then we waited for the rain to stop before leaving. As I walked home, the sun was again covered by clouds, this time more ominous than ever, and I was caught in an intense hailstorm complete with the first thunder I’ve heard since being here.
While everyone was running for cover, I continued walking, taking photos of the weather anomaly on my way. By the time I got home, the sun was shining and most of the sky was blue, except for the cloud right above me that was still spitting pellets of hail. It was the craziest weather we’ve had all year, and I loved it!
Love, Elizabeth
Ascent to Arthur’s Seat
One of the things I love about Edinburgh is that it’s so green. Just outside the city centre is Holyrood Park, which includes hills with the highest point being Arthur’s Seat. I climbed it at nighttime the last time I visited Scotland back in February, but this time, I had a chance to climb it during the day. It was a cloudy day, but I still managed to see beautiful views of the Scottish landscape, the city below, and the waters of the Firth of Forth in the distance.
Love, Elizabeth
Train is my favorite band ever, and I remember listening to them way back when they started making music. “Drops of Jupiter” was (and still is) one of my favorite songs because my mom loves Train too, and I remember listening to it so much during car trips ever since it came out eleven years ago. I was so glad to have a chance to see them in Glasgow, and I’m hoping I’ll be able to see them again when they perform in Cincinnati this August!
love, elizabeth
Food Friday: Turkish pizza
On my last night in Istanbul, I still had some currency left and I was craving something cheesy, so I treated myself to a real meal at a rooftop restaurant. The city and the water were beautiful, and the food was just as good as my sunset view. This was pretty much just like a thin-crust pizza minus the sauce and with some fresh herbs sprinkled over the top. Despite the simplicity, it was really delicious. (I’m not sure what kinds of cheeses were on it, but they had my approval!)
To go with my meal, I ordered apple tea, which is one of the popular Turkish drinks. It was really flavorful; usually fruit teas are more subtle, but this tasted like hot apple juice, and I was perfectly okay with that!
Love, Elizabeth
How to Revise
Step 1: Open textbook. Turn to appropriate page. Or don’t—opening the book at all has to count for something.
Step 2: Now take a break. You deserve it, really. Wouldn’t want to overexert yourself, would you?
Step 3: Check Facebook, making sure to update your status with an I-hate-my-life-because-studying-sucks message. You haven’t been on Youtube for a while, so you should also probably catch up on the videos you’ve missed. Go on tumblr and write a superfluous post. Check your email—start replying to messages and then give up because that takes way too much effort and social skills. You should also check the news to make sure you’re a well-informed individual.
Step 4: Think about starting revision now.
Step 5: Look at this room—what a mess! How can you work in such filth? After you clean your own room, you should consider cleaning the kitchen, bathrooms, and your flatmates’ bedrooms. It’s just common courtesy, you know? If your flatmates are in at the moment, you should probably take the time to make a really nice meal for everybody to show that you’re a considerate person.
Step 6: Glance at the textbook on your desk.
Step 7: Stop lying to yourself and think of more ways to procrastinate.
Love, Elizabeth
P.S. Revision is actually going pretty well. It’s just that I already know most of my material, so there’s not much studying that I can actually do. At this point, it’s mostly re-reading things that I already know.
I’m back from Scotland, and I had so much fun! It actually ended up being a pretty relaxing trip, because I spent most of the time just hanging out with my Edinburgh friends. We baked, went to see Beauty and the Beast 3D at the cinema (it was only released here in the UK on Friday, even though it came out in the US months ago), climbed Arthur’s Seat again, and explored the nearby village of Duddington. I even made it to Glasgow on Monday night to see my favorite band in the world, Train. (I’m still sore from dancing so much at the concert!) It was my last big trip here, and a good way to relax with friends before getting back into school mode for my two exams.
Photos are coming soon, and then I’ll spend the rest of my week revising for my first exam, which is on Saturday.
Love, Elizabeth
