I got an email today from my classmate R. I'd always sort of thought it was just me, 'The Foreigner', having issues adjusting to York.
Apparently not. I wasn't the only person who found it had an inhospitable and cold atmosphere at the Uni a lot of the time.
So now I'm strangely reassured...
Apparently not. I wasn't the only person who found it had an inhospitable and cold atmosphere at the Uni a lot of the time.
So now I'm strangely reassured...
Holy crap. 200 posts! Wow...
Anywho. I really don't have much to say, except that I got a job. I am now sortof proudly going to be working at The Body Shop in the mall nearby. Woo... I go in for training at the WEM location tomorrow for a few hours, and then I get to more or less wing it after that.
And yesterday evening, who should show up at Spook but Chautauqua Girl, Mr. Spaans, and our friend M! How exciting! I really wish I'd gotten the chance to slack off and chat more, but quite frankly I was freezing, muddy, and wet. Thank you all for the lovely compliments in spite of the fact that I'm sure I looked freezing, muddy and wet. Never fear... when I have a chance (and midterms are over) I will certainly organize some sort of social event in which we can all hang out and chat - and there's always the craftiness on Tuesday!
Anywho. I really don't have much to say, except that I got a job. I am now sortof proudly going to be working at The Body Shop in the mall nearby. Woo... I go in for training at the WEM location tomorrow for a few hours, and then I get to more or less wing it after that.
And yesterday evening, who should show up at Spook but Chautauqua Girl, Mr. Spaans, and our friend M! How exciting! I really wish I'd gotten the chance to slack off and chat more, but quite frankly I was freezing, muddy, and wet. Thank you all for the lovely compliments in spite of the fact that I'm sure I looked freezing, muddy and wet. Never fear... when I have a chance (and midterms are over) I will certainly organize some sort of social event in which we can all hang out and chat - and there's always the craftiness on Tuesday!
Yup. In 7 hours, it'll have been one week since I got off the plane in Edmonton. Let's sum up, shall we?
Thursday, Oct 19: Kate arrives at the airport. Wishes her dad a Happy Birthday. Realizes one of her bags hasn't made it on the flight from Calgary. Decides it isn't worth waiting for, files claim with Air Canada, and goes to her 'rents. Bag arrives later that night ("Oh, this happens all the time in Calgary". Go figure).
Friday, Oct. 20: Kate wakes up at 2 a.m. Jet lag! 'Cuz 2 a.m. is 9 a.m. in England. Attempts to go back to sleep with limited success. Spends day moping around house, but breaks free around 6 p.m. to attend Spook rehearsal. Sees some old friends and has a great day! Is offered her Park Host job back. Doesn't accept, but mentions this to her mother, triggering a rather vehement disagreement.
Saturday, Oct 21: Kate wakes up at 3 a.m. Slightly better. Birthday celebrations for her father ensue at the Keg restaurant. Yummy steak for the first time in 10 months. Joy! Slightly marred by the fact that Kate has a sore throat and is stuffed up. Seems that cold she got in Newcastle hasn't entirely gone away yet.
Sunday, Oct 22: Kate wakes up at 4 a.m. Kate's parents have saved Thanksgiving dinner for her. Yay! Dead bird! Joy! Also has friend, S, over for dinner.
Monday, Oct 23: Kate wakes up at 4:30 a.m. Kate is going stir crazy in the house, so she wanders over to Sherwood Park Mall to look for "Help Wanted" signs. Picks up applications and information from The Body Shop, RnR, Cotton Ginny, and La Senza. Figures if she sells out to a soulless corporate chain it had better be a soulless corporate chain whose products she likes. Also picks up applications for Zellers and Carlton Cards, but isn't likely to be handing those in in the near future. Kate also spends the afternoon driving all over Edmonton picking up last minute stuff for Spook with her former supervisor, M, who has no vehicle, and the evening at FEP wishing that Spook rehearsals were more organized. Ah well, what can you do?
Tuesday, Oct 24: Kate feels miserable. Cold has caught up with her, she aches, she hurts, she wishes she could sleep but was up at 5 a.m. She has little to no voice and hopes that this won't screw up her Spook role. She calls her mother to beg her mother to bring her cough syrup. Spends evening huddled in armchair watching Sense and Sensibility on Vision TV. How sad.
Wednesday, Oct 25: Kate feels slightly better. The cough syrup worked and she managed to get 8 hours of uninterrupted sleep. Unfortunately those 8 hours began at 9:30 p.m. So, yes, she was awake at 5:30. Attempted to go back to bed with limited success. Counted down the hours until she got to leave the house and go see people she liked at Spook rehearsal. Spent many frustrated hours at disorganized Spook rehearsal, but nonetheless got to see Bonobo, albeit briefly, which was a bright spot in her day.
Thursday, Oct 26: Kate wakes up at... 5 a.m. What the hell?! Regression?!?! Bugger!!!!! She takes more cough syrup in an attempt to knock herself out a bit longer. No luck. Is up by 9 a.m. Is still not dressed, but has printed out resumes for RnR, Cotton Ginny and La Senza and has emailed one to The Body Shop. Will hopefully get dressed and go to mall shortly to drop of resumes. Is afraid she'll be rejected outright when it is discovered that she has a Master's degree. *sigh*. Still avoiding the thought of having to apply to work at Zellers or at Superstore or some other similar location. Hoping things don't get that desperate. Off to check federal, provincial and municipal government websites for job openings.
Pray for me.
Thursday, Oct 19: Kate arrives at the airport. Wishes her dad a Happy Birthday. Realizes one of her bags hasn't made it on the flight from Calgary. Decides it isn't worth waiting for, files claim with Air Canada, and goes to her 'rents. Bag arrives later that night ("Oh, this happens all the time in Calgary". Go figure).
Friday, Oct. 20: Kate wakes up at 2 a.m. Jet lag! 'Cuz 2 a.m. is 9 a.m. in England. Attempts to go back to sleep with limited success. Spends day moping around house, but breaks free around 6 p.m. to attend Spook rehearsal. Sees some old friends and has a great day! Is offered her Park Host job back. Doesn't accept, but mentions this to her mother, triggering a rather vehement disagreement.
Saturday, Oct 21: Kate wakes up at 3 a.m. Slightly better. Birthday celebrations for her father ensue at the Keg restaurant. Yummy steak for the first time in 10 months. Joy! Slightly marred by the fact that Kate has a sore throat and is stuffed up. Seems that cold she got in Newcastle hasn't entirely gone away yet.
Sunday, Oct 22: Kate wakes up at 4 a.m. Kate's parents have saved Thanksgiving dinner for her. Yay! Dead bird! Joy! Also has friend, S, over for dinner.
Monday, Oct 23: Kate wakes up at 4:30 a.m. Kate is going stir crazy in the house, so she wanders over to Sherwood Park Mall to look for "Help Wanted" signs. Picks up applications and information from The Body Shop, RnR, Cotton Ginny, and La Senza. Figures if she sells out to a soulless corporate chain it had better be a soulless corporate chain whose products she likes. Also picks up applications for Zellers and Carlton Cards, but isn't likely to be handing those in in the near future. Kate also spends the afternoon driving all over Edmonton picking up last minute stuff for Spook with her former supervisor, M, who has no vehicle, and the evening at FEP wishing that Spook rehearsals were more organized. Ah well, what can you do?
Tuesday, Oct 24: Kate feels miserable. Cold has caught up with her, she aches, she hurts, she wishes she could sleep but was up at 5 a.m. She has little to no voice and hopes that this won't screw up her Spook role. She calls her mother to beg her mother to bring her cough syrup. Spends evening huddled in armchair watching Sense and Sensibility on Vision TV. How sad.
Wednesday, Oct 25: Kate feels slightly better. The cough syrup worked and she managed to get 8 hours of uninterrupted sleep. Unfortunately those 8 hours began at 9:30 p.m. So, yes, she was awake at 5:30. Attempted to go back to bed with limited success. Counted down the hours until she got to leave the house and go see people she liked at Spook rehearsal. Spent many frustrated hours at disorganized Spook rehearsal, but nonetheless got to see Bonobo, albeit briefly, which was a bright spot in her day.
Thursday, Oct 26: Kate wakes up at... 5 a.m. What the hell?! Regression?!?! Bugger!!!!! She takes more cough syrup in an attempt to knock herself out a bit longer. No luck. Is up by 9 a.m. Is still not dressed, but has printed out resumes for RnR, Cotton Ginny and La Senza and has emailed one to The Body Shop. Will hopefully get dressed and go to mall shortly to drop of resumes. Is afraid she'll be rejected outright when it is discovered that she has a Master's degree. *sigh*. Still avoiding the thought of having to apply to work at Zellers or at Superstore or some other similar location. Hoping things don't get that desperate. Off to check federal, provincial and municipal government websites for job openings.
Pray for me.
So I've been home less than 48 hours, and my mother and I have already managed to have a... well, not quite a fight... but a definite disagreement. She knew, and I knew, that it wasn't going to be convenient having me live at home again. The house is really only meant for two people - it isn't quite big enough for three (ok, that's a lie, it's plenty big, but it really doesn't FEEL that way).
I have no job, and don't want to be stuck doing something I hate. I've been offered my Park Hosting position back, which, while the pay is shit, is at least something I enjoyed doing - a position with good company. Enter the big dilemma. The park is 35 minutes drive away from this house out in the suburbs, the bus service is shit (ie: doesn't run after 7 p.m.), and we only have one vehicle between the three of us. I mentioned the very possibility of getting that job back and was basically told that having to have the vehicle on evenings and weekends to get to that job would pretty much ruin my mother's routine and that it was completely unacceptable
Well, what the fuck does she expect?!?! If I get a service job or anything that's not within walking distance of this house, I'm going to need a vehicle and that's all there is to it. And unless I'm working 9-5, which is highly unlikely if I have to take a retail or service job, that's going to involve evenings and weekends. I haven't accepted M's offer of my PH job back yet, but I'd rather be doing that than working in some soulless corporate retail chain at the Sherwood Park Mall, and my mother doesn't seem to understand that sometimes money ISN'T everything.
I volunteered for Spook again this year, since I wanted to do something productive with my gainful unemployedness, and the battle over that has already started raging. Yes, it's 4 evenings this coming week, and maybe Monday afternoon, but it's not like I'm doing anything else, and if I just sit here in this house all week, I'll go absolutely fucking nuts.
I'm already feeling like the biggest imposition on earth, and I don't have the money to move out to a more convenient location yet. I'm stuck. Completely and utterly stuck. 48 hours and my life is turned into an absolute hell already. I'm afraid to drink the last cup of coffee from the pot, afraid to move anything, afraid to use anything, afraid to upset their precious routine. It was like this last summer as well, and I don't want to have to go through this again.
I have no job, and don't want to be stuck doing something I hate. I've been offered my Park Hosting position back, which, while the pay is shit, is at least something I enjoyed doing - a position with good company. Enter the big dilemma. The park is 35 minutes drive away from this house out in the suburbs, the bus service is shit (ie: doesn't run after 7 p.m.), and we only have one vehicle between the three of us. I mentioned the very possibility of getting that job back and was basically told that having to have the vehicle on evenings and weekends to get to that job would pretty much ruin my mother's routine and that it was completely unacceptable
Well, what the fuck does she expect?!?! If I get a service job or anything that's not within walking distance of this house, I'm going to need a vehicle and that's all there is to it. And unless I'm working 9-5, which is highly unlikely if I have to take a retail or service job, that's going to involve evenings and weekends. I haven't accepted M's offer of my PH job back yet, but I'd rather be doing that than working in some soulless corporate retail chain at the Sherwood Park Mall, and my mother doesn't seem to understand that sometimes money ISN'T everything.
I volunteered for Spook again this year, since I wanted to do something productive with my gainful unemployedness, and the battle over that has already started raging. Yes, it's 4 evenings this coming week, and maybe Monday afternoon, but it's not like I'm doing anything else, and if I just sit here in this house all week, I'll go absolutely fucking nuts.
I'm already feeling like the biggest imposition on earth, and I don't have the money to move out to a more convenient location yet. I'm stuck. Completely and utterly stuck. 48 hours and my life is turned into an absolute hell already. I'm afraid to drink the last cup of coffee from the pot, afraid to move anything, afraid to use anything, afraid to upset their precious routine. It was like this last summer as well, and I don't want to have to go through this again.
Well, folks...
I'm sitting in Heathrow airport waiting for my flight's gate to be announced and I'm bored as all hell. Thank God that I've got the laptop back and am able to use the lovely services of BT Openzone to kill some time.
I'm having very mixed feelings about today in general. I've had a great last month in the UK, seeing friends, meeting new people, catching up with people I hadn't seen in a long time. I was in Cambridge until yesterday evening and so got to see our beloved Crispy and my friend T... It was probably the best time I'd had in my month of touring so far, just because I was surrounded by people I knew well (not to mention that Cambridge is pretty damn awesome - I wish I'd had more self-confidence when applying for the MA and actually applied for Cambridge and Oxford - I might actually have gotten in!... Ah well, maybe if I ever get back on the academic bandwagon...).
I do love England. The weather's great... the people are mostly friendly, and in spite of their oddities (who the hell puts SUGAR on popcorn or sweetcorn on pizza?!?!?) have been quite welcoming for the most part... This island is beautiful, and while there are things that drive me nuts about it, it's mostly the things that I take for granted at home, I suppose - space, for example. You just don't get as much in England. And yet at home I whine about how far I have to go to get places. Can't win, I guess. I love pub culture. There's something about just being able to sit and CHAT whilst drinking... I love that people care about football (How the HELL did Chelsea win last night, by the way?!?!).
I really miss my friends and family though, and can't wait to get back to see them... but I'm nervous. It's been 10 months since I've seen them all. A lot has probably changed. A lot can happen in 10 months. Where am I going to fit in to it all?
I'm going home to NO plan. I have no job lined up, no idea what to do with myself, nothing in my future for the first time. It's fucking scary, to be blunt.
Anywho, the ZoneAlarm update wants me to restart my computer, so I'm off to do that, and the next time I post I will be in North America, shivering in the +2 degree weather, and probably wishing I was back in England.
Go figure.
I'm sitting in Heathrow airport waiting for my flight's gate to be announced and I'm bored as all hell. Thank God that I've got the laptop back and am able to use the lovely services of BT Openzone to kill some time.
I'm having very mixed feelings about today in general. I've had a great last month in the UK, seeing friends, meeting new people, catching up with people I hadn't seen in a long time. I was in Cambridge until yesterday evening and so got to see our beloved Crispy and my friend T... It was probably the best time I'd had in my month of touring so far, just because I was surrounded by people I knew well (not to mention that Cambridge is pretty damn awesome - I wish I'd had more self-confidence when applying for the MA and actually applied for Cambridge and Oxford - I might actually have gotten in!... Ah well, maybe if I ever get back on the academic bandwagon...).
I do love England. The weather's great... the people are mostly friendly, and in spite of their oddities (who the hell puts SUGAR on popcorn or sweetcorn on pizza?!?!?) have been quite welcoming for the most part... This island is beautiful, and while there are things that drive me nuts about it, it's mostly the things that I take for granted at home, I suppose - space, for example. You just don't get as much in England. And yet at home I whine about how far I have to go to get places. Can't win, I guess. I love pub culture. There's something about just being able to sit and CHAT whilst drinking... I love that people care about football (How the HELL did Chelsea win last night, by the way?!?!).
I really miss my friends and family though, and can't wait to get back to see them... but I'm nervous. It's been 10 months since I've seen them all. A lot has probably changed. A lot can happen in 10 months. Where am I going to fit in to it all?
I'm going home to NO plan. I have no job lined up, no idea what to do with myself, nothing in my future for the first time. It's fucking scary, to be blunt.
Anywho, the ZoneAlarm update wants me to restart my computer, so I'm off to do that, and the next time I post I will be in North America, shivering in the +2 degree weather, and probably wishing I was back in England.
Go figure.
Made the leap from Scotland down to Devon, and spent yesterday in the North Devon Records Office researching my family tree. Afraid I didn't find much. Off to go tombstone searching today, I think.
Take care, all
Take care, all
I don't know what I was expecting from the Isle of Lewis. Whatever it was, though, I didn't find it. *sigh* I explored Stornoway (the largest town in the Western Isles at 6000 people) on Tuesday, and then wandered over to the west coast to take in some of the sights on Wednesday.
Hired a car - it was a Nissan Almera (closest thing in North America is the Versa). We need to import those into Canada 'cuz I liked it. Driving was easier than I thought it would be, although after 9 months NOT being behind the wheel at all, it was a bit of a learning curve again - the worst bit was just the unfamiliarness of the car itself, though, I think, rather than any British foibles (I've figured most of those out from being a passenger).
First stop on Wednesday was at the Standing Stones at Calanais. Pretty nifty. I think I was expecting a metaphysical frisson or something but it didn't happen. Next stop was Dun Carloway broch, an iron-age tower. Also pretty nifty. Next was Gearrannan blackhouse village - pretty cool, but as I was there in the off season it wasn't all that exciting. I think I was again expecting a metaphysical frisson of some sort or other as I looked at the sort of house in which my great-grandfather would have been born. Similar reaction with the Blackhouses at Arnol. Took the obligatory picture of teh Whalebone arch and was back in Stornoway by 4 p.m.
The ride back on the ferry was nice - I slept for the first hour, drugged up on Boots' Travel Calm tablets... I was nearly sick on the way in, as the sea was extremely choppy (even by people who regularly do that trip's standards), and I think it was just sheer willpower that kept me from puking. The trip back was much calmer and much more tolerable, although that may be because I really wasn't having any luck keeping my eyes open.
Am in Inverness for one night - am glad it's only the one night as the B&B isn't all that hot - the one in Stornoway was much nicer - before heading to Edinburgh for the weekend, and perhaps a bit of Monday as my friend B/H and her boyf are coming up from London on Monday a.m.
Take care all,
-K
Hired a car - it was a Nissan Almera (closest thing in North America is the Versa). We need to import those into Canada 'cuz I liked it. Driving was easier than I thought it would be, although after 9 months NOT being behind the wheel at all, it was a bit of a learning curve again - the worst bit was just the unfamiliarness of the car itself, though, I think, rather than any British foibles (I've figured most of those out from being a passenger).
First stop on Wednesday was at the Standing Stones at Calanais. Pretty nifty. I think I was expecting a metaphysical frisson or something but it didn't happen. Next stop was Dun Carloway broch, an iron-age tower. Also pretty nifty. Next was Gearrannan blackhouse village - pretty cool, but as I was there in the off season it wasn't all that exciting. I think I was again expecting a metaphysical frisson of some sort or other as I looked at the sort of house in which my great-grandfather would have been born. Similar reaction with the Blackhouses at Arnol. Took the obligatory picture of teh Whalebone arch and was back in Stornoway by 4 p.m.
The ride back on the ferry was nice - I slept for the first hour, drugged up on Boots' Travel Calm tablets... I was nearly sick on the way in, as the sea was extremely choppy (even by people who regularly do that trip's standards), and I think it was just sheer willpower that kept me from puking. The trip back was much calmer and much more tolerable, although that may be because I really wasn't having any luck keeping my eyes open.
Am in Inverness for one night - am glad it's only the one night as the B&B isn't all that hot - the one in Stornoway was much nicer - before heading to Edinburgh for the weekend, and perhaps a bit of Monday as my friend B/H and her boyf are coming up from London on Monday a.m.
Take care all,
-K
I'd written a great post, but the stupid internet Kiosk wouldn't let me finish it. Bastards.
Am still sick - woke up on Thursday feeling like ass and have felt much the same since, so am living mostly on Powerade. Had a great time at Durham Cathedral, Hadrian's Wall, and a shitty time in York - was travelling with an American who's American in the worst sense of the word - loud, insincere, obnoxious, disorganized, etc. I'd only ever spoken to her via email before, and she seemed nice, but ended up being like all those evil Collette tourists. Lots of jewelry, flashing her money about, letting her mobile ring and ring and ring and ring and ring in a CHURCH of all the fucking places... I was right pissed by the end of the day and was glad to have escaped her.
Will be sleeping well tonight. Am at a youth hostel in Inverness (spent the day on a coach trip out to Skye and had a good time) and they've tried to keep me as isolated as possible after I explained I felt like ass - I only had 2 roommates last night (the room sleeps six people) and so far haven't had any show up this evening. There are selfish and unselfish reasons - a) want a good night's sleep, b) don't want everyone else in the hostel to get sick.
Tomorrow I'm up bright and fucking early to catch the 8:05 bus to Ullapool to catch the ferry over to Stornoway on the Isle of Lewis. I'm renting a car there and attempting to drive for the first time in the UK - luckily I'm on my own schedule, no timetables, so if I make a wrong turn here or there there's no worries. Also not worried about driving over there as a traffic jam will be someone herding sheep down the road. Seriously.
Take care all,
-K
Am still sick - woke up on Thursday feeling like ass and have felt much the same since, so am living mostly on Powerade. Had a great time at Durham Cathedral, Hadrian's Wall, and a shitty time in York - was travelling with an American who's American in the worst sense of the word - loud, insincere, obnoxious, disorganized, etc. I'd only ever spoken to her via email before, and she seemed nice, but ended up being like all those evil Collette tourists. Lots of jewelry, flashing her money about, letting her mobile ring and ring and ring and ring and ring in a CHURCH of all the fucking places... I was right pissed by the end of the day and was glad to have escaped her.
Will be sleeping well tonight. Am at a youth hostel in Inverness (spent the day on a coach trip out to Skye and had a good time) and they've tried to keep me as isolated as possible after I explained I felt like ass - I only had 2 roommates last night (the room sleeps six people) and so far haven't had any show up this evening. There are selfish and unselfish reasons - a) want a good night's sleep, b) don't want everyone else in the hostel to get sick.
Tomorrow I'm up bright and fucking early to catch the 8:05 bus to Ullapool to catch the ferry over to Stornoway on the Isle of Lewis. I'm renting a car there and attempting to drive for the first time in the UK - luckily I'm on my own schedule, no timetables, so if I make a wrong turn here or there there's no worries. Also not worried about driving over there as a traffic jam will be someone herding sheep down the road. Seriously.
Take care all,
-K
