Tuesday (13th) and Wednesday (14th)

Tuesday. July 13th
First, a few things that I forgot to mention about Sunday/Monday: When we were at Lloyd’s the garbage can outside caught fire. The bartender put it out and then the fire department showed up. It was all very dramatic for a tiny smoking garbage can. After the bartender put the fire out a woman still called the fire dept… Um, why? They were helmets that look like baseball helmets. It was cute.

Last night Leo and I made a delicious pesto pasta dinner and drank wine. It was fun and nice and romantic. In the dorm room. Ha. Then we watched Remember Me – it was so good and not what I expected at all. I cried like a baby.

Anyway. I’ve read all of the books I brought with me, plus one that I bought while here. I just had to get another one that I will start shortly. Looking forward to it. Summer classes are almost over. Only a week and a half left! Hooray. I’ll have a month of freedom before the fall semester starts. Can’t believe that grad school is already almost over for me. When did that happen? This has been a fabulous summer – I’m looking forward to more amazingness when we get back to the States!

You know what I miss? Driving. I drove almost everyday… and I miss it. I think this is the longest I’ll go without driving since my freshman year of college – no car on campus. I cannot wait to drive when we get home. Leo is itching to drive also.

We went to town today. Leo had to go to the post office and I wanted to get off campus. Guess what?! Today is our first rainy day! It is fabulous. I love it. It has been cloudy and chilly and rainy all day. I’m in England! Speaking of downtown, Leo and I went to a little café to get coffee… the iced coffee was so delicious. It was just plain old iced coffee but I actually said the words “Move over, Starbucks!” I know. It’s serious business. I don’t know if I’ll be able to leave after having tasted such wonderful iced coffee.

We spent the evening with Colleen and Ryan. Drinking wine and laughing. It was so fun. The four of us have decided that we need to set up a regular schedule when we get home – we’ve been seeing them so much here! We’re family now.

This weekend we're going to London. The students are all going as one of the trips planned by their program – one of the Worcester people is going to let me ride on their coach bus. Yay! That means I will save a lot of money on a rail ticket.

I need to work on my thesis. I’ve been communicating with my chair since I’ve been here so I have been productive – I just need to really focus on it tomorrow. That’s my plan. I also have two 15-page papers to write for my online classes before next Thursday – then I'll be done with them! Maybe I can get one of them done before the weekend is over. Let’s make that my goal. I’ll let you know what happens. ☺

Well, Mom and Dad – you were right. Belfast is still pretty violent. Apparently, kids are even getting involved in the rioting and we were told that didn’t even happen in the worst of The Troubles.

Check out this link:
http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/3051955/Belfast-march-violence-flares.html

Wednesday. July 14th
Spent the morning doing thesis stuff. Had to submit my project to the IRB – hopefully they’ll get back to me soon and things will be approved! Mom and Dad – we have to talk about my thesis! I don’t think we have…

Today was uneventful, really. Leo and I got a lot of things done, which was important. I spent some of the afternoon with Colleen and T and then we all went to dinner with Catherine (I always spell it with a C due to my sister, I suppose she could spell it with a K… Just met her today) and her husband. Indian food – my first experience. Loved it! ☺

And here we are. Just got off the phone with my parents – miss you! I miss my friends, too. I think that everyone should come to England in a week. It will be like we brought home to England. Who’s with me?

It’s late. I’m getting up early. Sleep tight!