And now that I've potentially gotten "Tom's Diner" in your head, I apologize. But that one little phrase of Suzanne Vega's is totally summing up my life right now. It's a waiting game.

I called Toshiba today, and the courier DID manage to get my laptop there. Turnaround is about 5 days... so it's looking like AT LEAST early next week before I get my computer back. Oy. It's currently sitting in their depot awaiting 'spare parts'. Which is probably what happens to Canadian peoples' laptops when they request that they have a US-style keyboard rather than a UK-style keyboard when their laptop is repaired. Sigh.

I'm also waiting for Saturday. 'Cuz Saturday should be fun. I'm going to play at IKEA! Yay! The nearest IKEA is in Leeds, which is a bit of a drive away, but the Overseas Students Association is organizing a bus there on Saturday, which cost a whole £2 (about $4CDN)... and I'm definitely excited about the possibility of getting myself a laundry bag, a drying rack, and, potentially, some sheets/duvet cover that aren't the ugly ones the University gave me. Not that they're god-awfully ugly, but they're definitely not my style.

I'm still waiting for my information to come in the mail so that I can get my bank account opened. Hasn't arrived yet. Should've gone with something other than HSBC - their website was less than informative, their customer service has been absolute shite, and I'm still waiting, more than a week later, for the paperwork to open my bank account. And then I have to wrestle with TD Canada Trust to see if they'll let me wire transfer without being physically present, since they won't do it over the phone any more. Bugger.

And so I sit. And I wait. And Ms Vega runs through my head incessantly.

So. Of all the things they could possibly give me, my first assignment is a book review. Which isn't too bad - it's only 3 pages or so, not the 12-page monster I was once assigned (who the hell writes 12-page book reviews? Apparently students of Canadian history). But, with my laptop in the computer hospital, the air conditioning in the computer lab broken... I think I'm in book review hell. Seriously. I may curl up and fall asleep on the keyboard. It's so warm in here.

Isn't procrastination wonderful?

School really starts in earnest this week. Hence the book report due. It says I'm supposed to circulate it around. I suppose that means I have to print a copy, then photocopy it for everyone else to have as well. Hm. I also have to give a presentation (in conjunction with one of the guys in my course) on Thursday, but that should be short and sweet. I hope. In the meantime I've been bored as all hell. I'm so used to having my life scheduled to the hilt. I mean, last school year at this time I was working 2 part time jobs, filming a TV series with Access, taking a full course load and attempting to have some sort of a social life. And right now I've got school. That's it. Eep.

Ok, now I really should write that book review. Bugger.

This seems really flippant and trivial, especially considering my last post, but my laptop got shipped off to Toshiba today. Perhaps soon my entertainment centre and lines of communication will be reopened. Yay!

They're Holly McNarland's words... not mine... but they couldn't describe the situation more accurately. I just received an email from a friend informing me that her father had committed suicide. I can only imagine the grief and marvel at her amazing strength in this situation.

Things not to do when you arrive in a foreign country:

1. Spill coffee on your laptop. So now several keys on my keyboard don't want to work. Fortunately, though, (and I bought a Toshiba for precisely this purpose), there is a certified/authorized Toshiba depot in this country that will send a courier to pick my baby up, they'll fix it, then courier it back to me. So hopefully I'll have it back and on my desk in working order in a couple of weeks tops. But in the meantime, I'm using the public computer lab, which is awkward as all hell, 'cuz I don't know where half the keys are. For some stupid reason, for example, the " key is shift+2, while the @ is shift+'. The number sign is over one key from ' and the £ sign is shift+3. I'm never going to get used to this. Argh. But it means that MSN messenger is out (if you read my name you'll probably be able to discern what some of the disfunctional letters are now...). Sigh.

2. Get sick. I was working with a crapload of people who had colds, I've been messing with my internal body clock, and yesterday I spent the day in town exploring - it was pouring rain and I got absolutely flipping soaked. So now I have a cold. And no one really to whine to - although I did call my mother and cry after the coffee incident.

But, anyway, once I get my computer back from the Toshiba depot, I'll post some pictures of my adventures in York - with Margot, a Canadian... an Albertan in fact... who studied at the U of A... in the Dept. of History no less... and is now here doing her MA in Medieval History. What're the odds?

In other news, I've already bought a ticket for a concert that's coming up here soon - York is the home of the National Centre for Early Music, and they have a Christmas festival each year - I'll be going to see Machaut's "Messe de Notre Dame" (Mass of Our Lady) at York Minster on December 8, performed by the Orlando Consort. Medieval music in a medieval setting - what more could you ask for? And the student rate was stunning. The whole thing is costing me maybe 9 bucks Canadian. The Orlando Consort is actually fairly well known, and the regular adult rate is £15 ($37-ish). Kate's student-y status makes her eligible for a £3.50 ticket. Oh yeah.

But that about sums it up for now. I'll check in again in a couple of days tops - tomorrow is an intro to my dept, then Tuesday is intl. student orientation, so when that's over, we'll see what my impressions of this place are.

It's 5:50 a.m., and the jet lag is making it impossble for me to sleep - I would have just been heading out to the movie set at this point at home - nights seem to have royally messed with my internal clock. So, anyway, I needed something to do. I copied Adele - I stumbled upon this whilst searching for the pic of the Greek kittens

i live: in a small study bedroom in a 'flat' in a graduate college at the U of York

i work: hard, but only after I've procrastinated hard, too

i talk: very seldom - I listen more.

i wish: I could have the best of both worlds

i enjoy: Learning fun new things about history

i look: out for myself and for others.

i must: register with the National Health Services next week and see about getting some prescriptions renewed.

i forget: things frequently. Like today. I'm in the grocery store and forgot to get toilet paper. Oops.

i find: that people on campus are so far mostly friendly.

i smell: my Cranberry room spray from the Body Shop.

i listen: to the music in movies. Like, really listen. Movie soundtracks fascinate me.

i hide: my chocolate sometimes.

i pray: as a last resort, to some being up there...

i walk: All over campus trying to find things

i write: the way I speak. Hence all the ...s

i see: my cluttered desk and want to clean it up.

i sing: semi-professionally, any time.

i laugh: really loudly.

i left: this room to go grocery shopping and watch Spooks (MI-5 in North America - you too can watch it on A&E - probably later this year)

i won: a whole bunch of awards in high school but I'm not particularly proud of any of them.

i can: cross-stitch, knit, crochet, sing, play piano, cook on a wood-burning stove

i own: not much. I could only bring 2 suitcases with me when I came, so at the moment my room is bare.

i watch: people. It's fun.

i yearn: to see a plug-in that looks like the ones back home

i daydream: about finding someone to love

i fall: asleep really soundly, and can't be woken up by most loud noises, including cats fighting right outside my bedroom window.

i want: to be successful in this current venture.

i cry: a lot. Especially when tired.

i burn: anything flammable in moderate quantities. I'm a bit of a pyro, and even just having a candle around makes me much happier.

i read: textbooks... historical fiction... sci fi...kids' books... anything, really, but mostly the first two.

i love: my friends and family

i rode: bareback once. Woo.

i sometimes: just need some chocolate

i touch: my hair. A lot. I have to have it pulled back or else my hands are constantly playing with it.

i hurt: myself with a suitcase. There is a giant bruise on my ankle from where I must have banged it or something.

i use: fun pens to take notes in class. Gotta do something to liven it up.

i break: sewing machine needles. Just ask Adele

i eat: whatever's in my poor starving student cupboard.

i quit: singing lessons when I hit university and I've regretted it since.

i bathe: rarely now. There's no bathtub in this whole place. Showers are what I'm stuck with now.

i still: don't know what I want my thesis to be about.

i drink: lots and lots of caffeinated beverages.

i stop: functioning properly at hour 6 of an 8-hour day.

i save: my school-work-in-progress in three different spaces - on my webspace, on a disk, and on my hard drive.

i lost: my naivete but not my innocence

i take: criticism badly - but not constructive criticism.

i trip out: rarely... and then usually only because I'm ridiculously tired.

i hug: sparingly; only the people i trust - Adele said it first, but I have to agree.

i play: Sid Meier's Pirates! and Spider Solitaire. Way too much.

i miss: being able to cuddle - with a pet, with another human, either way.

i hold: on to everything. I'm a packrat.

i forgive: but it takes a lot for me to forget - Another one Adele said better than I could.

i drive: myself crazy worrying sometimes.

i learn: arcane facts about a long-gone period in history.

i dream: rarely. At least that I can remember. Although I had a dream last night that involved Brad Pitt. Stupid movie.

i have: to get out and meet people. I'm in England, a country where I know a whole 1 person enough to call up and say "hey, wanna go for coffee", and I know 5 whole other people by name besides.

i remember: green carpet in my parents' first house - but they say they got rid of the green carpet before I was born.

i don't: do all-nighters. I get physically ill without sleep.

i like: the smell of vanilla, sleeping in an extra 15 minutes, having 24/7 access to the 'net in my room...

i made: my first knitted project this summer. It was a dishcloth. Does that count?

i kiss: little these days.

i believe: that there is something out there, but what it is, I don't know.

i wait: for phone calls that probably won't come

i need: a bath sponge. Couldn't find one at the ASDA this evening.

i owe: my parents both monetarily and for so many other things.

i hate: intolerance

i feel: my back aching due to the unfamiliar mattresses and shitty pillows

i can't: touch my nose with my tongue

i know: that I'll get through it, even if it doesn't seem that way at the time.

i applaud: anyone who makes a concerted effort to accomplish something extraordinary

i am: getting settled into this new life

i figure: it'll all work out in the end, so just kick back, relax, suck it up and deal with it.

Well, folks, after several exhausting hours of flights, I finally made it to England, heading out the doors of Heathrow airport into the real world at about 10:15 p.m. local time. Caught a cab to Allison's from there, and for the first time I've ridden in one of those London taxis... ya know the ones... the classic black things with the cool insides... um... let's see if I can find a pic... Oh, the internet is great - absolutely riddled with pics of the bloody things! But, anyway, it being 10 p.m., it's dark out, of course, which means that I got to see the sights in London at night. It was gorgeous! I mean, I've done it before, in February, when I got to hang out with Allison, but for the first time it was just me in the back of the cab (which is huge, by the way - seats at least 4 people back there!), staring out the window as London passed by. To get to Allison's place it's about a 50 minute drive straight through London, and so I passed absolutely every single sight, each of which is floodlit at night, and it's absolutely freakin' gorgeous. Buckingham Palace, Westminster Abbey, the Tower... lovely.

I didn't bother playing the tourist this time around, though. No open-topped double decker bus rides for me, I'm afraid. I I spent most of Tuesday cross-stitching in Allison's sitting room, watching British daytime TV... There's this program on BBC1 about the effects of alcohol in Britain, which is fairly interesting, and there's another one on BBC1 or BBC2... maybe 2... where the presenter has been showing off the links between classical music and modern pop and the weavings and interlinking facets of the two. On Tuesday it was about the Beatles, then yesterday it was about Cole Porter. It was pretty cool. Tuesday evening, Allison and I went out for dinner at a curry place near her work, then wandered back to her place to watch Bridget Jones' Diary, which I still hadn't seen. I laughed. A lot. It reminds me that there's still hope for my romantic life yet, even if Bridget is a completely fictional character. It was nice to see Allison again, and she might even be on the same flight as me back to Edmonton for Christmas, interestingly enough.

Yesterday was spent packing up again (not that I'd unpacked much at Allison's anyway), catching a cab (not the cool London sort, unfortunately - those are stupidly expensive) to King's Cross Station (where I neglected to find out if there was a Platform 9 & 3/4 sign up yet again!), and then hopping on a train up to York. Hopping. Hm. Not hopping so much as struggling with all my luggage. I was dreading having to deal with the stuff at the other end since the York railway station, unlike King's Cross, has several staircases that you might have to take in order to reach the exit. Thankfully, just as the train was slowing down to pull into York, another guy on the train saw me hauling all my luggage down and offered to help with a suitcase or two since he just had a small bag. He helped me to the taxi rank with my stuff, and I shoved it into a taxi, then it was off to the University, which is just outside a little village called Heslington... although it's difficult to tell where York ends, the University begins, and then where the University Ends and Heslington begins.

Heslington really is a tiny village. A couple of banks, a post office, a couple of pubs... that's about it. Quaint and cute, but not that much there. I wandered down there to open a bank account today, only to be told by the bank in question that I had to make the initial application online, wait for them to mail shite out to me, then head into the main branch of the bank in York city centre to actually activate the account. *sigh* Thank god for the Visa card. I may actually need it.

Having arrived at the University, I checked in with the porter, got my keys, and hauled my luggage to my room, which looks like this:

It's pretty tiny, and the duvet cover is nothing to speak of, but hey, it's mine... and best of all, it has its own bathroom. A tiny, minimal, claustrophobic's-worst-nightmare bathroom, but a bathroom nonetheless. The residence is really modern - it was only used for the first time in the 2002-3 school year, so nothing is old, it's all still fresh and bright... It has a bit of sterility to it, but hopefully I'll accumulate stuff soon enough and have it decorated a little. I don't know if York has an equivalent to the Imaginus sale... and I just noticed that the date on those photos is totally wrong. Oops. I'll have to fix the camera (mom gave me her digital camera! Yay! There will probably be lots of photos on the blog now, assuming I can remember to take the camera places. The best bit of the whole thing, though is probably the view. Check this out:

Now that, my friends, is a view. The whole campus is centred on a man-made lake, which has hundreds of birds living on/around it - ducks, geese, etc. Those little black splotches in the photo are ducks. And there are these black birds with white splotches on their heads that I have yet to identify that are all over the place. And pigeons and such, of course. In fact, I can hear them outside my window right now. That might get annoying, but hey, I sleep through anything.

My 'flatmates', if you can call this a flat, seem fairly nice. Unlike the university rooms where I've been before, there's no real common lounge-y area with a TV and sofas and that sort of thing. Or if there is, I haven't seen it. I share a kitchen with 5 other girls, 2 of whom seem to be Chinese (I know one is... haven't actually said more than two words to the other one yet), one from Uganda, one from England, and then one who hasn't moved in yet, I don't think. If she has, I haven't seen her, and there are still all sorts of papers and things outside her room.

I'm going to have to get over my fear of bridges pretty quickly, though. If you want to get anywhere on campus without it taking an inordinate amount of time, you have to use those footbridges like the one in the pic. It's not too bad being on them, but it's definitely uncomfortable for me, since I hate the damn things so much.

I spent the morning this morning wandering into Heslington, discovering that you have to apply for the bank account online, then wandering around campus doing paperwork and the like. I have set up my email account with the university (yay!), which is nice, since I JUST received the email from the U of A saying they're going to cancel my account. Buggers. So if anyone wants to get ahold of me, send me an email quickly, and I'll let you know my new address. I also hit a stationery store quickly for pushpins and the like for the memo boards in my room. I'm seriously considering buying a printer as well, as they're only about 49 pounds... which reminds me that I really need to figure out how to type the pound symbol... I'm probably going to need to do that fairly often.

But to finish, I bring you all a list of the major differences I've noticed so far:

• Traffic (obvious, I know, but it's just reflex for most of us to look left, then right as we cross the street. Now I have to retrain myself to look right, then left.)
• Light switches. For some reason in this country, you flick the switch DOWN to turn everything on. So confusing.
• Electrical outlets. Different shape, different voltage. Luckily I bought adapters for my two plug-requiring electronic appliances before I left.
• Telephone cords. Different shape plugs into the wall socket. I attempted to use mine to access the phone line for dial-up internet before I got my network services set up, and failed miserably.
• The hot and cold water faucets are NEVER combined into one stream of water.
• The healthcare system is two-tiered. EVERYONE gets the basic stuff, which is decent in and of itself, but, hey, if you can pay for more, go for it! And they really don't have a problem with it over here. Honestly, I think it could be a model for Alberta and Canada - everyone DOES get service, and those with the ability to do so could put themselves on the upper tier, removing themselves from the queue for the lower tier, and hopefully alleviating some of the backlog. But, then, I've never discussed the healthcare system with a Brit, so who knows?
• Pillows have no loft whatsoever. None. It's like there's no pillow there at all. I'm seriously going to have to try and find someplace with real pillows.
• No one seems too keen on bedsheets. You have one sheet to cover the mattress, then to cover yourself up, you get a duvet. That's it. Forgive me, but I like my layers. I need to find an Ikea or something like it around here.

Now, fortunately, there are some things that are similar to home. While out shopping, I found Terry's Chocolate Oranges. Yay! I mean, I think they're a British invention to begin with... and here the slogan is "tap and unrap", rather than "whack and unrap", but it's still pretty much the same thing. And I found Special K Red Berries! Yay! And Fusion pens!