Trivia: Let's Take (Another) Quiz

So I'm sure by now everyone has noticed the upswing in fun quizzes, usually from Buzzfeed, being shared on Facebook. I've certainly posted my fair share of quizzes, and taken quite a few more than that. Who doesn't want to know which Disney princess they would be or what career is perfect for them?

Frequently you get results that don't make any sense to you, like when the What European Country Should You Live In quiz told me I should live in Romania. Yeah, no. I don't think so.

Sometimes you take a quiz and you get a result which you love, even if you are completely perplexed by how the random questions could have possibly created that result.

And sometimes you get a result that totally makes sense to you, but still isn't the one you wanted.

Sadly no Lizzie Bennet for me :(

And then of course, there are the times where you go through the quiz consciously thinking about which responses are most likely to lead to the result you want, or when you give up completely and just retake the quiz with new answers until you get the right result. Or when you answer questions on a quiz and you wonder whether you're being completely honest, or if you're just picking the things that you wish were true about you.

Regardless, it's always fun to take a quiz just to see what will happen, especially if you can compare your results with someone else's. In preparation for this weekend's trip to Dublin I found the perfect quiz for the occasion: How Irish Are You?

The problem with this result of course, is that not a word of it is true. I had to look up what "What's the craic?" means (for your information, it's basically slang for "what's up?"). And I definitely don't know the words to the Irish National Anthem or The Rattlin' Bog. I do think that a Tayto sandwich (or a potato chip sandwich) sounds interesting, so maybe that's Irish enough.

I'll be leaving for Dublin this Thursday evening, and I won't be back until about midnight on Sunday, but I'll post about my Ireland adventures when I get back.

The Liebster Awards

So I have some great news, Harper (@ Harper Honey) nominated me for a Liebster Award, which I really a
ppreciate. For those of you who haven't heard of the Liebster Awards, like me before Harper's nomination, these awards are intended to allow bloggers with smaller followings to show their appreciation for each other and introduce their followers to other blogs they may like.

All you have to do is: write eleven random facts about yourself, answer eleven questions posed by the blogger who nominated you, and then pose another eleven questions to eleven other bloggers with under 200 followers that you would like to nominate.

11 Facts About Me:

1. I love to travel, before coming to England for my study abroad program I had already been to Poland, Germany, Austria, the Czech Republic, and Switzerland. I'll be in Ireland this weekend, and I'll be going to Italy over spring break.

2. Halloween is the coolest holiday, without exception, you get to dress up in a fancy costume and eat junk food.

Oh No!

3. If you hadn't guessed from my favorite holiday, I love to get dressed up and need very little reason to do so. I always dress up for college exams because it makes me feel more confident.

4. Apparently I sang before I could talk, so basically gibberish set to a melody, and I had to be bribed with skittles to be convinced not to sing during my Uncle's wedding.

5. I don't cry when I'm sad, but I do when I am angry or embarrassed (which of course just makes things worse). I am also prone to crying over sad scenes in books, but sad scenes in movies just don't have the same effect.

6. I love going to the movies, even the bad ones.

7. I'm pretty terrible at most team sports, but I really enjoy rock climbing, dancing, and archery.

8. I was overly brave as a child and did all sorts of crazy things that likely terrified my parents. These gems include classics such as: eating a poisonous mushroom (which my brother assumed was a strawberry based on its red color), knocking my front teeth loose (and later needing them pulled) by jumping off a play kitchen, the time my grandmother found me hanging from the outside of my crib because I'd figured out how to climb over the railing but I wasn't brave enough to drop the couple of feet to the ground (I held on to the edge for a significant period of time), and the many times I puled all of my clothes out of my dresser drawers and cabinets, piling them on the floor, and proceeding to take a nap in my cabinet (or on the pile of clothes, depending on my mood).

9. I look strange in any picture in which I'm not smiling.

10. I hate the song "All I Want For Christmas Is My Two Front Teeth" and with good reason because, due to the aforementioned play kitchen incident and teeth pulling, I was missing mine for several years. Although this did result in a great party trick, especially after I lost the bottom two front teeth as well, where I could smile and stick my tongue out at the same time (it also made a great slot for a straw).

11. I decided that I was going to the College of William & Mary when I was very little, and I was right. I absolutely love going there and I couldn't imagine having gone anywhere else (plus I had an amazing freshman experience).

Harper's 11 Questions:

1.What are your top 5 favorite movies, and why?

My very favorite movie is, without a doubt Pride & Prejudice (the one with Keira Knightley and Matthew Macfadyen). Pride & Prejudice is also my favorite book, and I'm a complete sap, so I think it's the perfect romance. The rest of the list rotates around quite frequently, currently it's: Mean Girls (I can practically quote the entire movie at this point), Up (it creates a perfect romance in the first five minutes, and then the rest of the movie is still adorable), Avengers (the action, the witty dialogue, the cute guys, what more could you ask for?), Star Trek (it's got two Spocks!), and Legally Blonde (Elle Woods rocks, and the musical adaptation is spectacular).

Can't you just feel the romantic tension? (or the hate, it's hard to tell)

2. Where do you like to go when you are upset or stressed out? What do you do there?

When I'm upset or stressed out, my response is always to listen to music. The location varies, going home does have the advantage of being able to listen to music at a loud volume and sing along obnoxiously. Spontaneous karaoke fixes everything right?

3. If you could live in either a comic book, a romcom, a musical, a crime show, a gothic novel, or a sci-fi series, which would you pick and why?

This is a surprisingly difficult choice. A romcom has the advantage of a definite happy ending and lots of cheesy romantic gestures, a comic book probably means some sort of super powers, a musical means that no one thinks it's weird to sing at random moments and everyone always knows the choreography, and a sci-fi series means futuristic technology and possibly space travel. I'd probably have to go with the comic book, provided I'm more than a damsel in distress (and that I don't get fridged).

4. In what ways do you hope your blog will grow or change?

Mostly I hope to expand further than solely discussing my study abroad experience. As far as changing, I've been having a lot of fun figuring out how to customize and personalize my blog, so we'll see how that goes.

5. You are on a mystery solving team, similar to the Scooby Doo gang, with a combination of friends and celebrities. It's you plus 3 other people and an animal side-kick of your choice. Who's one your team?

Hmmm, let's go with Jennifer Lawrence, Beyonce, my friend Alex, and a polar bear (what? polar bears are awesome, and I'm assuming domesticity). I'm not sure how successful we'd be in actually solving any mysteries, but we'd be fairly over dramatic and hilarious.

6. Where do you see yourself in five years?

In five years hopefully I'll have a job in public relations or design at a cool company out on the west coast, though I'm leaning towards Washington rather than California at the moment. Ideally I'd like to have my own place and enough money to travel.

7. Tell me about something from your childhood that you still keep (a toy, a book, etc.).

I definitely have a lot of things from my childhood that I still keep: my American Girl dolls (yes that's plural), stuffed animals, books, arts & crafts projects (and much much more!). I think that my favorite thing from my childhood is my collection of charms for my charm bracelet that my grandparents brought back from all the different countries they traveled to for work.

8. Do you have any favorite charities or causes?

I don't really have any particularly favorite charities, although I have fund raised for both Susan G. Komen and the National Alliance on Mental Illness. I do have lots of causes though, particularly social equality and education.

9. Do you stay organized? What are you best at staying on top of, and what are you least organized about?

I do like to think that I stay organized, though it does get out of hand and I'll have to reorganize periodically. Shamefully, I am probably most organized about my clothes (they're organized by season and type of clothing, as well as color), but I am also a bit obsessive about organizing the documents on my computer. As far as what I am least organized about, definitely my desk drawers which start out perfectly organized, but I seem to accumulate a ton of papers and it never lasts.

10. What time of day or night do you have the most energy?

I am definitely not a morning person, I probably have the most energy in the late afternoon. However, if I am definitely able to stay up late, so long as I have time to sleep in the next morning. However, I can always use more sleep.

11. Tell me 3 regrets you hope to live without?

I definitely hope to never regret missing out on my dreams (though I'm not sure what exactly those entail at this point), not traveling enough, and I never want to let down any of my family or friends.

My 11 Questions:

1. Who is your favorite fictional character?
2. Who would you pick to play you if your life was a movie? Who would play your love interest?
3. What's your favorite book and why? Is there any book you've read recently that you really enjoyed?
4. If you could travel anywhere in the world, where would you go?
5. Do you collect anything? If so, is there a particular reason why?
6. If you could become friends with anyone (fictional or otherwise), who would you choose?
7. What's your favorite quote?
8. If you could live in any historical period (or in some future time period I suppose), which would you choose and why?
9. What shows are you currently addicted to (Netflix binges count)?
10. Is there anything that you've always wanted to learn?
11. Why did you decide to start blogging? What's your favorite part?

My 11 Nominations:

XO Mia
The Undecided Girl
Styles I Like
The Spontaneous Idealist
Polished Perfectly
Life's Better On The Road
In Layman's Terms
The Lady With Questions
Eyes of the Universe
Em La Jolie
Caught Between The Pages

Kiss Me I'm Irish (?)

So, I have finished yet another awesome week in Exeter. It's still really hard to believe how fast the time is going, before I know it exams will be over and then I'll only have a couple weeks left before I return to the US.

Among the fun things I did this week was an expedition out to High Street on Monday with Maddy, Charlotte (one of Maddy's flatmates) and Charlotte's brother. We had a later lunch at an Asian buffet, called Buffet City (very creative I know), which strangely included crepes among its dessert options.

I also had a performance for Take Note on Wednesday. We visited an elderly care home called Eaton House in the afternoon to perform our repertoire of five songs (Blackbird, Downtown, Lean On Me, Yesterday, and a mash-up of What Makes You Beautiful and Just The Way You Are). We got a wonderful response and ended up singing almost every song a second time. Interestingly, one of the residents asked us to repeat "that lovely song that talks about the little things that matter that you don't always notice" in reference to the song he like, but didn't recognize. After some confusion, we realized he was talking about our One Direction/Bruno Mars mash-up, I will admit lovely is not the first word that comes to mind when describing One Direction's music (fun maybe, sometimes irritating, almost always catchy). Afterwards we stayed for small talk, tea, and biscuits (cookies for those of us from the US). I learned, from one women originally from Wales, that I apparently sound Irish to some. Immediately after I spoke she asked which part of Ireland I was from, I chose to take it as a compliment, although I do not think American and Irish accents sound even remotely similar. Later Kathy, who is actually Irish (from Northern Ireland, but in this case Ireland is the operative word), told me that people have also mistaken her accent for American, so I guess the accents must be more easily confused than I would have thought.

On Friday I finally trekked out to Maddy's flat, which is about a half and hour to forty minute walk away,
to socialize and pregame a bit before going out. We braved Arena, for the second time in my case, and while we had an okay time dancing, we didn't stay for long. The dancing is definitely different in the UK, I didn't notice when we went out on Valentine's Day because we were all international students, but apparently girls here dance as if they don't actually have hips because apparently that type of dancing is considered overly sexy. It was a bit disappointing, because no one wants to feel uncomfortable with themselves on the dance floor. The best part of dancing, in my opinion, is feeling confident in yourself, even if you are not actually an amazing dancer.

Anyway, a few of us left and grabbed burgers and chips at a food truck outside Arena. The burger was definitely different from what I might expect to find at home, I would describe the texture of the burger itself as more like meatloaf. All in all it was a bit strange, but at least I have already found a restaurant that makes burgers that are more to my taste (Hub Box, where I have already eaten twice!).

In more exciting news, I'll be in Dublin this coming weekend and I can't wait!

Time Flies...

...when you're having fun.

This is definitely a statement which applies both to this semester's study abroad program, as well as to my university experience as a whole. This afternoon I finished my sixth week of lectures at the University of Exeter (meaning that I've passed the halfway mark for actual classes), and yesterday I filed for graduation at the College of William & Mary.

I can't believe how quickly college has gone by. This time next year I will, hopefully, have some sort of job lined up for when I leave William & Mary and enter the "real world." It certainly doesn't feel like it has already been nearly three years since I moved in to my freshman dorm in the oh so lovely Botetourt Complex (Goochie Mamas where you at?) and it definitely doesn't compute that I will only have two more semesters on, in my completely non-biased opinion, the greatest campus ever (like I said, no bias at all...none whatsoever).

Anyway, I can't say that I wasn't completely terrified to be leaving my comfortable home town for college life, just like I found each move to a different state (or even a different house) unnerving. I might not get homesick while I am away, at least very rarely, but I do have a tendency to create unnecessary anxiety leading up to change. There's something about leaving a community that you find familiar, and the people with whom you have developed relationships, for someplace new. As the period of change approaches it almost doesn't feel real, and sometimes it takes some time to believe it happened even after it's already passed, you wonder how you can ever create the same sense of community someplace else. But you know what? You always do. It never takes long before you find some group of people with whom you share something important, be it a love of a particular TV show, band, or life-changing experience (like being a study abroad student perhaps). A few weeks later, or days or months (it all depends on who you are, and where you're going of course), you find yourself feeling just as at home in that new place as you did in the old, and you will find yourself being just as opposed to moving on when the time comes.

While I understand the desire to settle in one place forever, of being one of those families who have never moved, even from their neighborhood, I don't think I could ever do that. There is something wonderful about seeing someplace new, whether it is a spectacular city abroad, or simply a small town in your home country. There's so much variety in the world, how can you not want to see it all? Change can be something amazing, it can give the chance to remake yourself and expand your perspective about what is out there for you.

I guess what I am trying to say, however clumsily, is that there's no reason not to believe that the changes coming will bring something wonderful into your life. I would never have imagined myself as a show choir vocal director, a yearbook editor, an aspiring public relations professional, or a blog writer. You may find yourself somewhere completely different from where you thought you'd end up, but who's to say that there's anything wrong with that?

The Social Scene

Top: Olivia (Liv), Laura, Simon, and Me; Bottom: Alex, Lina, Lucy, Welmoed, Jen, Sophia (Soph), Julia, and Chelsea

Aside from a very enjoyable quiz night, my week was pretty uneventful...up until Valentine's Day of course. Luckily I didn't have to drag myself to campus on Friday, so I got to sleep in (always a plus). I broke out the single piece of pink clothing I brought with me (most of my wardrobe here is actually black, because it's easy to throw together an outfit, and a few jewel tones and patterns thrown in), that wasn't a workout top or my sneakers. I didn't originally have any particular plans, but I ultimately ended up going up to Flat 16 (for future reference, this is where Liv, Laura, and Simon live, and where Lina frequently commandeers the couch) for a Valentine's Day party. There was, unsurprisingly, a great deal of chocolate and junk food (chocolate chip cookies, chocolate dipped strawberries, donuts, meringues with whipped cream and strawberries, etc). Suffice to say, I ate far more than could be considered healthy, and also...yum.

There was also a good deal of singing (shouting) along with sappy songs, the clear crowd favorite was Someone Like You, the performance (a generous term) of which can be viewed (unfortunately) on Facebook. Regardless, we had plenty of fun. On a side note, I was personally quite impressed with how festive the flat was; there were balloons, heart shaped confetti, and of course the Wall of Shame created during the week when Simon was feeling crafty (luckily I have yet to do anything which might result in my presence on the Wall, but we'll see how long that lasts).

Around eleven we headed over to Arena, the club with which my room shares a wall. While I had certainly heard my fair share of their musical selections, I had yet to actually go inside. I have to admit, going to a club with a group of other people can be a lot of fun, even if the selection of single males present in a club on Valentine's Day does edge on the side of creepy, and got blatantly hit on by at least one cute, but very drunk, guy.

Saturday was pretty normal, wandering around High Street and doing a bit of shopping (not the fun kind unfortunately, just groceries and such). But today was quite fun. The first order of the day was a flat breakfast, to which I contributed Chamomile tea and a Rhubarb pie (don't judge, pie can be breakfast food).

It's always nice to hang out with my flatmates and get to know them better, especially since I'll still be living with them for another four months or so. Then I had to run off to the Catholic Chaplaincy, the half hour walk was actually really great today, as it was sunny and fairly warm. We had a very interesting lunch afterwards, the description of which I will leave to Maddy over on her blog: www.madisonlayman.blogspot.co.uk. Suffice to say it involves what basically amounts to meatballs typically made out of pork liver and heart, yuck. I have to say that I agree with her, I might have been less enthusiastic had I known exactly what I was eating (it reminds me of the time that my dad only told what venison was after I'd eaten it...poor Bambi).

This evening I went out with, basically, everyone from the Valentine's party again. We originally planned to eat at the Firehouse, because their pizza is supposed to be absolutely wonderful, but we ultimately ended up at Hubbox (the burger place I ate at with Liv on our first night here, when we were too lazy to go do any sort of shopping) and I can't say that I regret it. All in all, I had a pretty busy weekend...and I wish tomorrow wasn't Monday.

Let's Take A Quiz

So I just experienced my second Quiz Night in the UK, and I have to say I am finding them to be lots of fun (although I know basically no useful trivia from the UK, which can be irritating). I will admit that I may have decided to write a post specifically about this quiz night primarily in order to use the above video (I mean, who doesn't love Phineas and Ferb?).

Anyway, this particular quiz night was held at the Chaplaincy and, like all enjoyable social events, involved a wonderful selection of food. One of our team members suggested that, in honor of Maddy and I, our team be called the Virginians. This was quite flattering, until he noted that this meant that, while we would be credited with good luck if we won, the reverse would be true if we lost. No pressure right?

Among the useful (not) trivia learned was: I know nothing about UK history, I know nothing about UK television shows or music, I am not capable of subtlety (as Alex may recall from my inability to keep secrets from her), and the Pittsburgh is the city that has the second most Catholic artifacts, after Vatican City. I will admit that really only that last one is a surprise, in fact, when it was listed as an option I responded (jokingly) with, "Pittsburgh, it's definitely Pittsburgh," which I think scared everyone away from guessing the answer. So basically, go me?

Regardless of my meager contributions to our correct answers (the only topics on which I was any use were musicals, Shakespeare, and, of course, distracting the other teams with my highly unsubtle enthusiasm), we did end up winning (by one point, but I say it counts). Conveniently, considering that tomorrow (or today here, at least nearly) is Valentine's Day, the prize was a box of chocolates which our team agreed that Maddy and I should split.

Since I have enjoyed Quiz Nights so much, at least the two I've had, maybe I should brave a Karaoke Night at one of the pubs nearby next.

The Unfamiliar Territory of England

Since I've been here a month now (I can't believe it's already been that long), I feel like I can share some of my opinions about England (or at least the parts of it I've seen), instead of a recap of my activities of the week (which were fairly limited this week anyway, Netflix anyone?).

The Weather:

If you've ever been told that it rains in England, they're not lying. It rains. A lot. I've given up on having a good hair day here. It is a rare occasion that it's not extremely windy or rainy (and quite frequently it's both), and that blue sky is not likely to last long. It has been known to be raining one minute, sunny the next, and then  start raining again ten minutes later. Walking home today the sky was perfectly blue to one side of me, and on the other it looked as though the sky would open up and begin pouring rain any second (it did start to rain, but it's sunny again already...for now). I have been told that it will rain less soon, but I'll believe that when I see it.

The one upside of the mercurial weather is that it gives me plenty of chances to get good pictures with different lighting. I walked by the Cathedral again on Friday when the sky was blue, and those pictures look much different from the ones I took the first time, when it was rather overcast.

The Terrain:

Unfortunately the terrain here is no more kind to my poor shoes than the bricks at William & Mary, and the hills are much worse. Exeter seems to have the kind of hills that look gently rolling from a distance, but up close make you want to cry. Walking up the hills on campus makes you wonder how you could have ever considered yourself in shape, and walking down them makes you fear for your life (that one might be only me, I keep imagining myself tripping over a rock/nothing and finding myself rolling down the hill into the street). Upside: my legs will look amazing at the end of my five months here.

The hills are a lie (with the sound of music)

The Buildings:

I love all the old buildings here. The Cathedral is more than 900 years old, and it's not even close to being one of the oldest buildings in the UK (to put things in perspective, William & Mary just celebrated its 321st birthday and it's the second oldest college in the US). Exeter in particular seems to have a lot of brick buildings (St. Ives did as well, but they were mostly white or gray brick, rather than red). The houses, at least the ones that I walk by, are mostly connected town houses. My favorite part is the fact that most of the people seem to paint their doors bright colors, in order to differentiate their identical homes from each other I suppose.

The University:

To be perfectly honest, the classes here seem much easier than what I'm used to at William & Mary (but that could just be the fact that there aren't any weekly assignments, beyond reading, just a final essay or exam). What's weird is the fact that sometimes you'll have assignments during the term that don't count for anything, I don't understand how anyone is motivated to actually complete them. I guess it's just one of those things where once you're used to it, you can't imagine doing it any other way. However, I really like my professors. Steve, who teaches Strategic Operations Management, is rather cynical and also pretty funny. My professor for Management Accounting is incredibly awkward but super enthusiastic. Last lecture he rapped about strategic decision making (and the lecture before that he found a YouTube song about about the Simplex method of linear programming).

This past week the University was having Student Guild (sort of like their Student Assembly) elections. I was bombarded with flyers and, more excitingly, the occasional free candy bar. I couldn't seem to avoid them. I would put my hood up and my headphones on, and just do my best to look as busy as possible. And they still tried to talk to me! Apparently I just can't look intimidating or, at the very least, uninterested no matter what I do.

The Printworks:

I love living at the Printworks. It's located in the city centre, so I'm close to just about everything. We do live right next to Arena, one of the clubs, so it can get pretty noisy. The management is really friendly and helpful. I've had to ask them to fix things in my room twice already, both my radiator and my water had problems (the former of which wouldn't turn on, and the latter which wouldn't turn off), and they fixed both fairly quickly.

The People:

I feel like anything said with an English accent sounds more intelligent, and I just love listening to anybody with one talk. Though my, completely stereotyped, expectation that the content of their conversation would be more intelligent has been entirely demolished. Students here are just as likely to talk about drinking and partying as students anywhere else, and I think students at William & Mary are actually more likely to casually have academic discussions (in true twamp fashion).

I don't know why, but I expected to be more homesick than I am. I mean, don't get me wrong, I miss my family and my friends and even, occasionally, I miss William & Mary. I guess its because you basically do the same thing when you start college. You leave your family, the friends you know, and your hometown (and sometimes your home state) for someplace completely different. Culturally, Connecticut and Virginia are almost like different countries. In the northeast you don't smile at people you don't know and if a stranger asks you where you bought your purse because they think it's cute, you might think that they plan to steal it and consider calling the police.

People here are pretty friendly, but it has been difficult to meet people who are actually regular students at the University. International students tend to conglomerate in classes and so you don't interact much with anyone else. One of the best things about getting involved in A Capella here, and in the University Catholic Chaplaincy, is the opportunity to meet more people from the University community. On the subject of the chaplaincy, I did end up playing piano for them during service this morning. It was...interesting. Suffice to say I have never played piano as the accompaniment for a choir before and we'll leave it at that.

The Food:

I don't know how food here got such a bad reputation, aside from the fact that it's not very good for you. I haven't had a meal here yet that I haven't enjoyed. Also, I think tea is basically the most amazing drink ever and I would choose it over coffee any day, so at least I had that in common before I came here.

Sunday Roast (with Yorkshire Pudding)

Fried Sweet Potato and Aubergine Curry

What's strange is grocery shopping here. Some things they call by completely different names; If you want cilantro, eggplant or zucchini, you better get used to calling them coriander, aubergine, and courgette if you ever want to find them. Also everything expires so quickly, I know that means that they use fewer preservatives, but it just makes grocery shopping harder. And all I want is a gigantic jar of peanut butter, why do they only sell it in tiny containers? Why?

The Tribe:

Last night I met up with a bunch of the other William & Mary exchange students (Sophie, Katelyn, Sarah, and Maddy) who, with the exception of Maddy, I see rather infrequently. We went to an Asian restaurant called Wagamamas (I think that name gets funnier each time you say it) and the food was really good. It was nice to catch up with everyone about how their classes had been, where they had been in the area, and their travel plans for the future. Shout out to Katelyn, who turns 21 this week!

The Point:

Sometimes things are different in ways you ever expected, you can't anticipate everything. I think the best way to get used to a new place is to just jump into the community and get involved in something fun. I'm not here just to explore everywhere but the place I'm actually studying, and I want to make connections with the people who study here (as well as other international students), which is basically impossible if I don't do anything on campus outside of classes. That's not to say that I don't want to travel other places, because I definitely do, but I don't think it will be the end of the world if I don't make day trips every weekend. I think I'll leave most of my traveling for my month long spring break (already planned a trip to Italy, booked flights and hostels and everything!) and the couple of weeks after exams are over. Anyway, the goal is to learn something from my experience, but mostly to have fun.

Do Something!

I can't believe it's been three weeks already, that means I'm a quarter of the way through my lectures for the semester! Where is all my time going?

Anyway, this week was pretty great. Still no big travel expeditions, but I will be leaving on February 27th for a few days in Dublin (Bring on the Guinness! Oh, and the Trinity College Library, can't forget that...bring on the literacy?). But back to this week. Guess who's going to be singing in an A Capella group this semester, I hope you guessed me, because you have very few other options. I'm really excited, because I think it's a good opportunity to get more involved in the University community here, and isn't that the whole point of this exchange anyway. It's called Take Note, and it's actually an open group (no audition required), which is basically the whole reason I was able to get in as a second semester international student. It's also really quite casual, because not everyone has much musical experience, but we still sounded good and the chapel we practice in has great acoustics (point one for high ceilings). I went to my first practice on Wednesday, and I think I was the only international student there, which is basically a unique experience so far.

On Saturday I went out into town to meet Maddy and Beth at the Royal Albert Memorial Museum. It was really cool, they had some gorgeous clothing, paintings, and lots of other miscellaneous things of historical value. I'll probably go back again sometime to get a better look at everything, because I really just did a quick walk around.

I also have started attending mass at the Catholic Chaplaincy on campus, which has been really nice so far (they feed you after mass on Sunday, clearly somebody knows how you motivate college students...food, food and food). I might even end up playing piano for them during services every now and then, which will be a good way to keep in practice. The chaplaincy is a bit far away from my flat, but the views on the way there are pretty gorgeous, so it makes up for it. It was especially great today, because we had another surprise appearance by the sun, with blue skies all day. I'm learning to savor these things when they happen.

Sorry this post's a little spare, hopefully I'll have some new exciting things to share soon.