OH MAN

Okay - I may have forgotten completely about one of the raddest things that happened on the trip. Well, rad to my brother and me. I totally just remembered this last night when I was falling asleep. Anyway.

We were at Neuschwanstein waiting for our tour to begin, and we see these Asian people in a group with a pretty conspicuous camera and tripod at the ready. I want to say they were Korean, but after the Prague incident with captain google-eye and his armada of racially insensitive/unobservant/idiotic comments, I won't. Continuing.

So they seem to get in ahead of all the tour groups, which was interesting. And hellishly annoying. So they proceed to set the camera up, and Cute Little Tiny Star of the Show proceeds to begin rehearsing. Next thing we know, the camera is (apparently) rolling and Michael and I are totally in the background. I, of course, was trying to move, and Michael was pushing me into the frame while making gang signs with one of his hands, or something.

So, I mean, it comes out less entertaining than I meant it to be, but if anyone happens to see a Korean (or not)-language travelogue dealing with Neuschwanstein in the near future, that's totally Michael and me in the background. Looking stellar and not rained on AT ALL.

Is this it?

Could be. I don't really know. All I do know is that I certainly had expectations for London that never materialized, and most definitely encountered the unexpected, all of which tended to lean toward the positive. I won't lie, there were totally parts that pissed me off, or made me cry, or confused the hell out of me, but I would at least like to think that those helped me gain some perspective in the long run. After all, an asshole is an asshole whatever continent he may be on; running away from (or towards) something won't alter what's not malleable in the first place.

I hoped from the beginning that this experience would be good for my sanity, for one - many different issues at home were more or less erupting into me questioning whether I really even wanted to be in law school at all. I was mostly right, but the whole school thing remains one of the largest thorns in my side. Of course the jury's still out on that (and yes, I continue to have dreams that I'm engaging in the latest science-related wonderfulness. I probably should have done that, yes), but I'm very glad to have had the ability to basically sit back for a semester and evaluate what the hell was actually going on in my life. And it's not like I'd be doing anything ELSE earth-shattering if I wasn't in law school, so I'll just let it be and get that degree about a year from now (oh sweet fancy moses, that's too soon).

One of the greatest positives out of this whole thing was the opportunity to reconnect with people. I know that sounds incredibly ridiculous coming from someone who was on a different continent than most of the people she talks to, but it's true. The wonders of myspace (shut up.) and facebook apparently know no bounds, and lame as it is, I totally found about 20 people that I'd always been like "hm. I woooooooonder where _______ is."

Of course that in itself made me completely paranoid that I'd never make it home and that something dramatic and disastrous would happen to (a) the tube when I was in it, (b) the Heathrow Express, which was undergoing repairs at the time I took it and added to the drama whee! or (c) the plane would end up as that night's feature breaking news story. I probably could have used a sedative or two.

All in all, I've realized that the friends who are worth the effort are those who it was difficult, if not impossible, to lose contact with while I was several thousand miles away. The experience also helped me discover that an outside perspective really is needed to gain clarity, and I, for one, don't often do that sentiment justice. Honestly, I feel less ready to take on this third year of law school than I thought I would, but I know that I can handle it (and shit, I can always not become a lawyer. Sounds pretty damn sweet to me!) - it won't exactly be as fun as the study abroad was, but not much really is.

Finally, these are things that I must do this summer. I don't care if anyone else cares, or notices, or even reads them, but if you do and you want to give me a gentle poke in the right direction, feel free. You know you want to.

1) FIND A DAMN JOB. (ahem)

2) Get together at least once a week with my girls and just bitch bitch bitch.

3) Drive out to Philly, PA and visit Erikka like I said I would (and help her canvass the neighborhoods with leaflets, of course!)

4) Not bomb in any way, shape or form this DNR internship. Not that I would, but it's just extra incentive not to look like a complete dumbass.

5) Hold a party/barbeque for people here. Hey, we have a grill and (often) a fridge full of random alcoholic goodness, so it should be done.

6) Gain a little more clarity on several topics.

7) Have an entire week where I eat nothing but whole foodstuffs. Oh, the healthiness of it all.

8) Not bomb the classes I'm taking, either!

9) Move out of here and on with my life. Interestingly, this looks like one of them that has the highest probability. :)

Reunited [with America (fuck yeah)] and it feels so good

Oh man. The first thing my parents did for me when they picked me up was call my brothers and order cheeseburgers and custard. Siiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiigh.

The weather was far less cloudy than they had forecasted in Chicago, so that was nice for the landing and coming home in general. I stayed up far later than I was able to manage when I came home from Germany in undergrad, and the jet lag only hit me a little bit yesterday (whence I was able to make it to bar time, so clap for me). It's great to be back here and conscious, and the entire family is here for about a month since the brother won't be starting his job in Minnesota until mid-June. Family-tacular bonding time is upon us.

Frankly, I'm glad I did this study abroad so I could really appreciate all the good stuff I've got going on here. Susan bought me not one, but TWO of my favorite reduced-fat natural peanut butters (I'm a freak, yes), and she loved the salad cream that I brought her, heh. I've managed to talk to a good chunk of the people that I missed the most while I was gone, and may be making it down to Chicago to visit others very soon. I'm also heading out to Madison for the latter part of the weekend, where I cannot WAIT to go to Dotty's and get a real, delicious burger. And something fried.

It's excellent to be somewhere where it's possible to hop in a car and drive anywhere you need to go (though I will admit that I miss having reliable public transportation available. Too bad, so sad).

I never knew the British could be so funktacular.

Wynnie and I had our official "dorky tourist day" yesterday; we started out with the changing of the guard. That was all well and good - we got spots up close to the fence, we could see everything, la di dah. We were waiting for the actual changing to occur when the new guard's band set up and proceeded to start playing songs. A LOT of songs. One of those songs was, I shit you not, a medley of Tina Turner's best. The thought process went kind of along these lines:

"Is that ... 'What's Love Got to Do With It'?! What the hell? Is she HERE? Is one of her relatives here?? Maybe Ike is here and they're doing it to spite him! Maybe the British have a deep and lasting love for 'Proud Mary,' I don't know. This is weird. It's hot out. Why are they playing these songs when it's hot and I'm getting burned and uugghhh. Tina Turner. Welcome to the British Empire."

So that was a fantastical beginning to the day. We then made our way over to the Tower of London to dork it up some more, where we had a really entertaining tour guide and a more or less excellent time. This tour, I have to say, beat the one of October 1997 when I was kind of maybe paying more attention to the whereabouts of a boy in our orchestra than the actual historical information they were spewing. Whatever. It was a lovely day (and it seems like the last sunny day here for a while, so it was good timing on our part!), and we ended it by pretty much ransacking the Twinings tea store. Gooooood times.

After that I got my hair cut (it's real short. Probably as short as it was when I went to Germany in 2003, maybe a little more) and then met Liz and Wynnie for one last round of Spanish food and drinks. It was bittersweet, because we're all heading off to different areas starting later tonight (Liz is flying to Scotland, lucky), but I'm glad I got to hang out with two of my favorites from the program one last time.

Now, of course, I'm totally procrastinating with all the packing I have to do. Packing is teh suck. However, the next time I post something I'll be on the other side of the Atlantic, at home. That's both weird and exciting - it'll be so good to see everyone, but I do love it here. Had I more money and people I actually know over here, I'd probably stay. Then again, I have yet to experience any real dramatic weather over here, so I think it's just as good that I'm heading home for thunderstorm season. :)

The weirdness of leaving is setting in, big time

Our final "official" meeting was yesterday to go over the internship and hand in forms, etc. Most of the people actually liked their internships, but it sounded like they all had a LOT more to do than I did. I'm glad that I did it, solely for the experience, but sitting around all the time? Suuuuuuuuucked. At least I got two credits out of the deal. :)

Also passed all the classes, so credits are transferring. This means, of course, that barring any complete failures in my summer and/or fall classes, I can get away with the bare minimum 12 credits in spring. Sweeeeeeeet.

Some of us decided to finally get our British Tourist on and went to see a play at the Globe Theatre - Coriolanus (yeah - totally had to look at the witty magnet I bought that has a quote from the play to remember what it was called). It was definitely an experience, but I tend to forget that I do better when I read the play before seeing it, especially those with Shakespearean dialogue, oops.

It's very odd being here now - Amber left Wednesday morning (and oh man, those were heavy suitcases - I'm only hoping mine are alright with the weight limit). It seems like it's transition time here in the house, as all the noisy schoolkids are gone and all the older touristy types have moved in. This, of course, is providing me with more excitement than I can handle.

Anyway, three days!!!! Oh, I did get my new phone number (though the phone itself won't be delivered until the 15th at the earliest) - IM or email me for it; I don't think posting it here is necessarily the brightest plan.

I guess when I said "Lazy Saturday," I really meant "Lazy Entire Weekend"

As you might guess, I haven't exactly been overexerting myself this weekend. The weekend, in fact, began with another early letting out from the internship, which was great, because it was gorgeous out. I walked over to Regents' Park and inhaled the flower smells (nature in general is great, especially in the middle of a city like London). I walked around for a good long time, managed to get a little bit of color, and read for a while as I simultaneously prayed that the guys kicking the soccer ball around wouldn't hit me. Aaand, they didn't, so that was nice.

Saturday was mostly lazy, again. The official trauma of the day was trying on the shirt I wore to my birthday and finding it a bit too tight for my taste. This could be (and totally probably is) due to a number of factors other than my being a big fatty fat fat, but I've informed several people already that my diet is to consist solely of fruits, veggies, broth-based soups and fat-free cottage cheese when I get back. Also Coke Zero, because it's bitchin'.

Last night a bunch of us went to Amber Bar to hang out as a group for one last time - my housemate Amber is heading home on Wednesday, and most of the rest of us will be seeing each other at our meeting Wednesday afternoon, so it was her last hurrah. It was a nice bar - spent far too much, again, but it was nice to hang out with a good portion of the group.

The bar, of course, led to my sleeping in WAY too late today. Fear not - I managed to make it to Oxford Street for yet more shopping. It's accessorizing season, yo! Yes, it resulted in too much stuff that I *might* not need, but that makes me happy, so I'm fine with having bought it. All of it. (I keep having to reassure myself, of course.)

So that's been it for the weekend - tomorrow is my return to the Lands Tribunal, where I'll no doubt hear another thrilling argument over easements or payment for land grabs; Tuesday and Wednesday have me going to the Olympic Inquiry way the hell out in Canary Wharf - no doubt more land use fun! It's times like this that I'm jealous of other peoples' internships, especially when Amber was talking to one of the witnesses in her case, who pulled a ski mask over his head (momentarily causing her to think that she'd be killed at the Crown Court, which would have totally sucked) and left the court shouting "They're not getting a picture of me THIS time!" Indeed.

Yeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!

We finally got wireless. This is so great. I never have to leave my room and mingle with the "unsavories" around here. Well, that's not completely true, because the most annoying guys have already left. Sweet.

It's finally winding down, and that's very strange. I fly back to O'Hare on the 14th, at which point my parents will pick me up (man, I hope) and drive me home so that I can sleep for, like, a week solid. It'll be awesome. I can tell I'm not the only one who's ready to go home - my friends were sing/shouting "New York, New York" on the way home from a bar outing last week. That was fun (for us; probably not so much for the innocent passerby). I also caught "Parenthood" on tv last week (shut up) and, like, was sobbing at the end when they're all popping out babies and such and all hanging out together as a family. I think I'll just hug my cat when I get home, but still. I never get like that, and it was even more ridiculous after the day before, when I had been watching "A League of Their Own" and did the same damn thing when the husband came home. Damnit.

Of course, it's also getting really warm here - supposed to be 77 tomorrow, FINALLY. I can't wait to get back to the land of real weather, though - there's really no excitement, because every time it clouds over, you're just like "oh. more rain. yay."

I ALSO cannot wait to sit down and watch Alias reruns and the Food Network for about eighty hours solid. I need some damn cake-baking and sugary dessert-creating competitions. Oh maaaaaaaan, yes. It's gonna rock.