This is possibly my all-time favorite roller coaster. I have ridden it 23 times, 18 of which have been in the past couple of months. It is Goliath at Six Flags Over Georgia, and Boy and I have a slight obsession with it.

We have season passes to Six Flags this year, and we went on Saturday from open to close, which is 11 hours. It was in celebration of the end of finals: possibly the worst finals week I've ever had. Ever. I had two rather lengthy research papers (one was 7 pages, the other was 10), as well as 4 finals... all in the same week.

However, I survived. I had my fun on roller coasters. On Sunday, Mother's Day, I saw Iron Man 2 with Mom, and then the family had a big dinner that night. On Monday, I did absolutely nothing--I got up at 9 (because Dad literally waved a plate of cinnamon rolls under my nose without telling me what time of day it was. Evil man.) and sat on the couch until 2. Then I had lunch and watched a movie with one of my best friends, and drove back to Athens.

A normal student would be on summer break after spring finals, no? However, I'm taking two Maymester classes, which is a whole classes jammed into three weeks. However, after last summer's debacle, I feel like nothing can phase me. One class is in the morning, and then one in the afternoon. I am currently waiting for class two to start.

Only two classes and one LSAT away from me and summer! I think I can do it.

My GOD I have a lot of clothes. I figured out the full extent of that today when I started the daunting task of tackling my wardrobe to pack it up for the apartment. I'm entirely too lazy to fold, pack, unfold, and hang back up in my new closet. Instead, I got a whole bunch of new hangers (black and green) to take with me that I'm going to put my clothes on. I'll just throw them in the car and hang them up when I get there. Now, most people wouldn't be as anal as me about what hangers they take with them. I want all plastic hangers though (no wire hangers!) and roughly the same color. This means re-hanging most of my wardrobe. Yes, I'm crazy.

I didn't realize exactly how much stuff I've accumulated over the years. I've taken a lot of my t-shirts out, folded them, and put them in drawers/in boxes in the attic to make room for other things. But even after that, I had 42 t-shirts hung up. 42, just in my closet! I have 11 Old Navy tank tops, 10 pairs of jeans (I had more but took them to Plato's Closet earlier this summer), 25 short sleeve shirts, 8 camisoles, and 6 cardigans. Holy crap! When did I get all this stuff?! I don't remember going on a massive shopping spree. I don't even remember going shopping all that often. I'm in college--my money goes towards food, textbooks, and massive amounts of caffeine. Did the clothes fairy pay me a visit in my sleep?

After all that though, my closet is actually organized for one of the few times in my life (at least until I move all of it on Friday). It's not in color order, because I'm not quite that OCD (Miranda), but it's separated into long sleeves, short sleeves, t-shirts, dresses, skirts, shorts, trousers, jeans, cardigans, sleeveless, tank tops, and camisoles. In the way back is all the stuff I'm not taking with me (there's not much of it). In honor of this, I decided to document this momentous occasion by taking a picture. It'll probably never be like this again.

Over the course of two months, I wrote and researched 80 pages for my two study abroad classes, 30 of which was in the past two weeks--over three times the length of my senior thesis and in about half the time. But now, I am happy to say...

I'M DONE!!!

And I have to say, it feels pretty amazing. I can get up and just do whatever I feel like. I don't have to spend hours researching or trying to BS my way through a 15 page paper.

So now, I'm watching Australia with my mom while we pack up all the crap I'm taking with me to my apartment. I forgot what an amazing movie this is--anyone want to take a trip to the Outback with me? (And I don't mean the restaurant). Also, I'd really like to marry Hugh Jackman. Think his wife would mind?

I'm about to go start the daunting task of packing my clothes, which will probably take me the rest of the week. And I have no idea how I'm going to transport them all. Or maybe I'll just head up to the outlets and buy more...why deal with the problem when I can just add to it?

=]

Well, the "vacation" portion of my summer is over. I've been to Destin twice, then England, then New Orleans, then Destin again, and now I'm home for good. Until I move into my apartment on August 8, anyway.

I'd never been to New Orleans before. It's SOOOOOOO hot. Heat index of 115. Just going outside meant you'd sweat about a gallon - ew. I liked the French Quarter though, and for the Fourth we went on the steamboat Natchez for dinner and to see the fireworks. Before we got on the boat though, we had to wait in a long line to board. Apparently I hadn't had enough water or food or both, because I almost passed out from the heat, but Dad came to the rescue with a bottle of water and a cold rag. I still felt really sick the rest of the night, but regardless, it's been one of the best Independence Days to date!

Destin was fun, if uneventful. I ate fish, went to the beach, and rented a ton of movies (we don't have internet there). I also bought some of the first few things for the apartment. I'm particularly proud of my pots and pans - a 10 piece set that also came with 3 utensils, 5 glass (or clear plastic... I don't know) mixing bowls, and a covered roasting dish. All for fifty bucks! I don't know exactly how much cooking I'm doing to do, but I have the stuff to do it in!

On a completely random note, my laptop is sick. It doesn't have a virus, but the Internet Explorer has started to freeze my whole computer, and sometimes the fingerpad decides it wants to go wacko. So I took it to Best Buy, where the Geek Squad is running a diagnostic on it, which will take two to three days. In the meantime, I'm using an ancient Gateway that my mom brought home from work.

I've also finally started working on one of my two 15-page term papers for the Oxford classes. Since I don't have my own laptop, and therefore my iTunes, I'm using Pandora. I've had "All That Jazz" from Chicago stuck in my head all day, so that was my radio of choice. The first song it came up with was "Roxie", also from Chicago. But this wasn't the movie soundtrack version that I'm familiar with, it was the actual Broadway version. It's really different... and I really don't like it.

I'm finally home! And man am I loving the food - I've had fried chicken, mashed potatoes, giant pancakes, real bacon, and macaroni and cheese in the past day and a half. But England was amazing. I absolutely know that I'm going back one day, no matter what. There's so much that I didn't get to see or do, and I will see Stonehenge before I die.

This is me in front of the Queen Victoria monument in front of the gates to Buckingham Palace. Two friends and I took a day trip there on one of our days off. We went to Harrods, Buckingham Palace, and Trafalgar Square.

I'm really tired now, because I've been writing all day, so I won't say much, other than I wish I hadn't had to leave so early. I never even got to try treacle sponge!

Today, we went to Westminster Abbey. It was absolutely gorgeous, but they wouldn't let you take pictures! I thought that was ridiculous, so I cheated and took them with my phone instead. They're horribly quality, especially compared with my fancy new camera, but I thought I'd post them because it was easy to send
them to my computer via Bluetooth.


Ceiling




Someone's tomb. One of the King Richards, I think?


Coronation Chair


Queen Elizabeth I's tomb


And again


One of the people buried with Mary, Queen of Scots whose name I can't remember


Top of Mary, Queen of Scots Effigy Tomb


Mary, Queen of Scots Effigy Tomb

Picture custom of BBC

So, here's my interesting story for the day:

I got up this morning to go see a play, The Tempest, in Regents Park in the Open Air Theatre at 9:45 AM. We were to leave at 7 AM in order to get there in time, but three people didn't wake up on time, making us late. Instead of hiring a bus to take us there, Dr. Trivedi, the program director, decided that we would use public transportation to take us to London, since there's a bus stop right next to Regents Park, and it would be cheaper and convenient. Because we were late, we had to take the Oxford bus to the bus station to take us to London.

We got to the play 5 minutes before it started, watched it, and left (unfortunately they had designed this one to be geared towards kids, so I didn't like it as much as the one I watched a few days ago).

Dr. Trivedi had given us round trip bus tickets, so we could go back any time we wanted. The Victorian literature people had class at 2:30, so they had to leave immediately to get back in time, but history wasn't until 4:40, giving us some time to do whatever before going back. Two friends and I decided to get lunch before getting back on the bus to go home, so everyone else left, and we went to Pizza Express (which was actually pretty good!).

In the middle of lunch, we get a call from Trivedi. Did you know that there was a protest about Sri Lanka going on in London today? Well, that means that all the roads get blocked surrounding the protest. The rest of the class hadn't been able to use the bus stop we arrived at, because the roads around us were blocked. He told us to get a cab to take us to Victoria Coach Station, and we could catch another bus there to take us to Oxford. So, we finished eating and hailed a cab. Twenty minutes later, the cab driver told us that he couldn't get to Victoria Coach Station, because with the road blocks, he was just going in circles. So we got out, and called Trivedi again. He told us to hail another cab and go to Paddington Station, then catch a train to Oxford. We got the cab, and drove around for another twenty to thirty minutes. We made it to Paddington Station, and bought three train tickets. However, the train was leaving in 6 minutes, and we didn't know where the platform was or how to get to it. We did find it, right as it was leaving, and were able to get on.

Once in Oxford, we had no idea where we were, because none of us had ever been to the train station. We asked several bus drivers, but none of them could take us to the UGA House. So, we got another cab.

Three hours after we left Pizza Express, three cabs, and a train later, we finally made it back - before anyone else! They must still be either in London, on a bus, or on a train - I'm not sure. On the bright side, we did get to see a lot of London our first day there, and we're being reimbursed for all the money we spent on transportation. Plus, we figured out where the train station is and bought our tickets for when we go back tomorrow!

While you can't see it very well in this picture, because we were facing the wrong way, this is me and some others from the UGA at Oxford program standing in front of Christ Church, which has one of the most beautiful gardens I've ever seen. I haven't gone in yet, but I'm planning on it as soon as I have the time. This is where they filmed the moving staircase scene from Harry Potter! I've also seen the place where they filmed the dining hall scenes. Exciting =]

On the same day that we took this picture, I also went into a building that has been around since the 1200s. It's been completely refurbished - in the 1500s! Everything is so old here. What they consider to be "recent" is often before my country was even a real country yet. It's incredible!

Yesterday and today have been devoted to papers. I was up until about 4 AM finishing one, and I'm now working on the other. But after that, I don't really have much due the whole time I'm here.

As a side note, here are some things I've learned thus far:

• The dollar to pound exchange rate SUCKS
• Coke Zero tastes funny
• You're supposed to eat pizza with a knife and fork
• They intentionally give you more reading than you could ever possibly finish
• Drunk Englishmen will serenade you with birthday songs if asked nicely
• The peanut butter also tastes funny
• People back home sometimes forget about the time difference and call you at 3 AM
• In the summer, the birds start chirping at 3:45 AM and the sun starts to rise at 4
• Pea puree comes with everything
• This is the land of no free refills
• Everything comes in really tiny glasses. Obviously they don't like liquids
• Baked beans are a breakfast food
• It's a trolley, not a cart or a buggy, and you must pay for it, along with your plastic grocery bags
• If you have one foot in the bike lane, someone will ring their bike bell angrily at you

Well, I'm off to do more of my paper. Cheerio!

Well, I made it to Oxford in one piece. This is a picture of my bedroom. There are four beds (you can't see one), but I only have one roommate. I'm on the third floor, and let me tell you, dragging a 65 pound suitcase up two flights of stairs is NO FUN.

It was... interesting, getting here. I arrived in London at noon yesterday after the longest flight of my life. I found several other people from UGA, and we managed to find the right bus to get us to Oxford. Then they went to their hotel, and I went to mine. It was quite possibly the smallest room I've ever seen, but comfy enough. It had a bed and a shower, which is all I really cared about. The jet lag is getting to me though - I went to bed at 8:45 PM, woke up at 1 AM, went back to sleep aroud 4:30 AM, and then woke up around 8 AM. And now, I'm sleepy again, but I'm trying to keep myself from taking a nap so I'll get used to the time difference.

It's weird. The people here have been either really rude, or really nice. Some of the rude ones were in the airport, and all airport people are rude, so that's not too surprising. I went to lunch at an Italian place with 4 other girls today, though, and the man who brought our food out was terribly rude to us. He was nice to the rest of the (British) customers though, so it had to be because we're American. Our waitress was really nice, however. It's like there's no "in the middle".

I've also found that I'm a little more homesick than I thought that I would be. It's probably because this is the first time that I'm really traveling alone, with absolutely no one that I know and am familiar with. I've met some people, but it's not quite the same. I find myself wanting to call my parents all the time, but at $1 a minute, I can't.

Also, the voltage converter I brought with me so that I can use British outlets decided it doesn't want to work. One of the other people here let me use his, so I'm able to charge my laptop. I just hope that the stores are still open when I go on my walking tour through the City Center of Oxford later.

I'm also slightly stressed, since I have two papers due Monday, neither of which I've started. I guess that's what I'll be doing tonight and tomorrow night, I guess. I have a free day on Monday, so I'm really hoping that the papers will be due by Monday night.

Overall, I'm doing pretty well. I feel a bit lonely, since I'm separated from the other 4 girls, who are rooming together, and my roommate is off with her dad. I think things will improve in that area once we start going to class and on the various excursions. I'll be taking lots of pictures!

My Oxford history professor is insane. He honestly expects me to be able to read 20 pages of that. Even if I could make out what the words say, I don't read Old English! Did you know that sometimes, they liked to use weird looking f's instead of s's? It looks like a lowercase f, but with the right side of the horizontal line cut off. I can't find any pattern to it - one time they used "pass" and another time they used "pafs". So this is what it looks like: the Prieft of the Parifh must Ufe the new Prayer Book to preach to his Parifhioners. 56 pages of that!

But anyway, this time tomorrow, I will be on an airplane, somewhere over the Atlantic, just barely into my nine-hour flight. I will either be asleep or reading Julius Caesar, or possibly eating some sour gummy worms. I'm kind of nervous about travelling by myself... ever seen the movie Taken? Not a good idea to watch as a girl travelling abroad by yourself. But I'm still excited. I just really hope the schoolwork part dies down a bit while we're there. For $2000 plus airfare, meals, and souvenirs, this trip isn't exactly cheap, and I want to have fun! I do have two assignments due tomorrow (on the day when everyone will be flying over... not cool) and two 5-6 page papers due a couple days after I get there. I have no idea how I'll get it all done, but I guess I don't have much of a choice!

So, here we go... about to become a world traveler. I'll try to post some while I'm there, but if I don't, I'll be back on June 28th, hopefully all in one piece. Wish me luck!

This is my neighbor's pool. You can't see it, but there are about a trillion bugs floating on the top of the water. But that's okay. You know why? Because it's a pool.

Last summer, I had access to the apartment pool where one of my friends babysat. We'd go three to four times a week, and I had a very nice tan. This summer though, the family doesn't live there, and so I have no pool access. We sold our boat a few years ago to pay for my car, so I can't go to the lake. I had convinced my dad to buy us an above ground pool, but the only level area we have in our yard is on the side, where it would be in view of the street, and the stupid neighborhood laws say we can't do that. So, I was missing out on the summer fun of swimming and floating and basically doing anything to get wet.

So, on the day of The Meltdown (as I've come to call it), my dad went over to our neighbor's house (an older couple) and asked if I could use their pool in an attempt to make me feel better. Well, now I have a pool... kinda.

I sat out today with Romeo and Juliet so I could simultaneously enjoy my summer and do my work. I put on SPF 30... and still got fried. My attempts to set myself apart from all the pasty British people has worked - but I'll be red, instead of tan.

Hi. My name is Stephanie, and I'm a bad blogger. I came to this realization when I noticed that my supposedly daily photo blog has turned into a once in a while when I have the time and I feel like it blog. So, from now on, that's what it will be. I wish I could remember to do it every night, but since I can't, I won't try. I will no longer feel remorse for being remiss in my recounts (or what I remember of them) of my life.

Anyway. I haven't had the greatest day. The online portion of my study abroad classes started yesterday, so I've been doing nothing but reading Shakespeare in preparation for the past week. Unfortunately, I didn't get ahead in my reading enough for life not to be stressful. Last night, I was up fairly late writing my two page response to the assignment on The Winter's Tale, which I finished up this morning. When I got the grade back... it was a C. I do not get C's. Ever. I've only ever made one B in a class in my life. My really crappy grade paired with the fact that I have another assignment (in the history class) due tomorrow, which, at the time, I hadn't even started on (for which I had to read an entire 300 page book as well as about 40 pages of online stuff), and I have to read The Tempest by tomorrow as well lead to my first academic breakdown. I've never had that feeling of "oh crap, I'm not going to get this done. I'm not going to get this right. I'm not going to get a good grade and there's nothing I can do about it." Let me tell you, it's really not a good feeling. At one point I actually considered withdrawing from both classes, getting over the loss of almost $3000, and not going.

After a couple of particularly bad hours, I calmed down enough to rationalize and make a plan. I contacted my Shakespeare professor and realized that the history assignment isn't that hard, as well as had some of my mom's homemade fried chicken and a bowl of ice cream, so I'm feeling a lot better about life now. I'm still stressed, more so now than I've ever been for finals or for any other class, or any other thing in my life, really. But as an optimist, there is a bright side: tomorrow, my neighbors are letting me use their pool to study by, so I can take a swim and get a tan, all while reading. Also, if I can get through this and not fail, there will never be another class as hard as this one. I just don't get Shakespeare. I don't think he wrote his plays with any kind of deep literary meaning in mind. I don't think he agonized over the subtleties of every single world. I think he just sat down, and he wrote it, because that was how he made his living. It was either write a pretty decent play that would sell out the theatres, because otherwise, all he'd have to eat is a couple of shoelaces. This opinion of mine makes it slightly difficult to analyze his work, because I'm making things up. I don't believe what I'm saying, I think it's a load of crap. And it probably is.

As for the pictures, I was taking a break last night around 2 when I decided to start playing with my webcam. The first one is my favorite because the book that's burning is Shakespeare. Too bad it wasn't a real fire...

I also just realized that this is my 100th post! So yay. I didn't do the 100 things about me... but oh well. I'll do them on the next post, and it'll be 101 things about me. Or maybe I'll save it for 111, so I can call it Eleventy-One things about me =]

This is my dog, Snoopy. There's nothing particularly special about him today, but this picture was taken on my new digital camera!

As you might've read earlier, I was going to go with either the Canon Powershot or the Sony Cybershot. However, when I got to Best Buy today, they didn't have the specific version of either camera that I wanted, so I bought the Nikon Coolpix instead. Now, the camera I have now is also a Nikon Coolpix, just a much earlier version of it. I love that camera, but it's just outlived its expiration date, only turning on when it feels like it. I'd hate to get to England and my camera be in a bad mood!

The new one has 10 megapixels and a 5x optical zoom! It also has VR & ISO 3200, but I have absolutely no clue what that means. I also got a package deal with a 4GB memory card, an extra lithium-ion battery, and a camera case all for 50 bucks, instead of the $100 it would've cost had I bought it separately. So yay for good deals!

I also saw the Night at the Museum sequel. Great movie! Very funny, and something the whole family can enjoy. The new Terminator is pretty awesome as well - not nearly as cheesy, now that Arnold's not in it. I recommend both =]

Well, I'm headed to Destin again in the morning. Yes, I just got back, but that trip was with a friend, and this one is with my family for Memorial Day weekend. Because of that, I won't be posting for the next few days. I'd love to, really, but there's no internet at our condo unless I sit on the big rock in the parking lot. That usually leads to getting ants up my pants, since they happen to like that rock, and I don't think the internet is worth that much!

Today I spent the day doing... not much. I got up, went to breakfast with my dad, came home, and watched TV/played around on the internet. After a while, I got motivated and cleaned out the computer room/guest room, which had all of my stuff from my dorm that was not being used as well as bags of clothes that I no longer wear.

I went to a friend's house for a little while during the afternoon to give her a poster she wanted. I ended up staying two hours watching episodes of season 2 of Big Bang Theory, which is a new favorite show for me. If you haven't seen it, it's pretty funny - watch it =] If I was a man and slightly more neurotic than I am now, I would be a member of the cast. Maybe that's why I like it so much...

Now I'm off to pack for the beach, which I've been putting off all day. I don't know why, because it will only take me a half hour, but I'm really wishing I had some Harry Potter-like magic powers that could just bippity boppity boo it all in the suitcase for me. But I can't put it off anymore... wait! I have to take a shower. So yes I can!

I have to say, summer is incredible. I've been AWOL for a while, and I apologize. I haven't really been up to much. I finished finals and got my grades back. I earned my first B in my life: a B+ in my Latin American history class. Honestly, I don't even care. I'm just glad to get out of that class!

I also moved back home. I haven't unpacked everything yet, so our guest room is full of boxes, bags, and some other miscellaneous items, but regardless, it's really nice to be back in my bed and have my own bathroom. Never again will I have to live in a dorm!

This past weekend I went to Destin, FL with one of my friends from Thursday to today, Monday. She's married and pregnant, her husband about to deploy overseas, so this was a last hoorah for her before she enters mommy-hood. We both had a really good time - I got enough sleep that I actually started waking up at 8:30. On my own.

I'll be leaving again for Destin on Thursday for Memorial Day with my parents to go see my grandmother. At this rate, I won't be blending in with all the pale British people after all!