State of the Constitutional Monarchy

See what I did thar, politics nerds?

Okay, first week back is officially over. And I just, it feels like it was longer than it was (maybe because I stayed up 'til 5 one night and 4 the next), but it was such a good week. I started classes on a new schedule that requires me to be awake for 8:30 classes on Monday and Tuesday--but 5 o'clock on Wednesday and Thursday. I hung out with my friends a lot. I rewatched old favorite movies. I sang "You Give Love A Bad Name" at karaoke with Erin and danced most of that night away. There's been a negative point or two, but they were unrelated to university itself, so I think I can classify this as a Good Week.

Here's hoping the rest are just as good. :)

I haven't updated this blog in a while, I know, and I'm sorry about that. I really am going to try harder this semester! I know I'll definitely have time on Wednesdays and Thursdays (or just Thursdays--I'm applying to volunteer at a cat shelter on Wednesdays), so please, if you want to hear about how things have been going and I haven't updated, just poke me via email or Facebook and I'll write a post.


All the best to all of you!

It’s been a month since my last post—way too long.

Here's a quick summary of what's happened:

September 17th: London cultural studies field trip! This was pretty awesome, we did a walking tour of a bit of London, saw the Tower of London, and went to Merry Wives of Windsor at the Globe Theater! I really liked London. It's sort of like New York City, only the architecture is older and prettier and more people wear suits.
September 18th: The math teacher took students on a hike of the area. East Sussex is gorgeous. There was also a bonfire that night.
September 23rd: My 18th birthday! I went to London with my friends Maria and Stephanie and my roommate, Rachel, after classes ended that evening; we walked around Piccadilly Circus for a bit before going to our hostel (in a sketch-ass neighborhood) and then back out. We went to the "American Automat Brasserie", I think it was called, where I celebrated being legal with a milkshake. Good stuff.
September 24th: Went to Oxford Circus and was slightly late to an art history trip to the British Museum. Oops.
September 25th: Went on a tour of the BBC Centre, and returned to campus.
October 1st: Art History trip to the National Gallery! That was really cool. I got to see some Van Goghs close up, a lot of Spanish painting (Spanish pride~), Titians, da Vincis, and a bunch more cool stuff.
October 2nd: Went on a Music trip to a KRS-One concert. I'm not the biggest fan of hip-hop, but it was still pretty cool. Especially because KRS-One is from NYC (the Bronx). I'm more of a New Yorker when I'm elsewhere...
October 8th: Saw House of Games at the Almeida on a Drama field study. It was all right--I couldn't get over the (purposely) bad acting at the beginning, couldn't see the upper levels because I was in the very back row... Not the best experience.
October 10th: History trip to the Portsmouth dockyards! Basically, I went to a museum and wandered around on a couple of huge ships. My friends and I then went to Portsmouth's outlet mall and were basically late for the buses because we stopped at Pizza Express to get garlic bread. Totally worth it though.
This Saturday, I'm going to Canterbury. I'll try to actually remember to update after the trip!

I'm also starting to upload photos to a MobileMe gallery for easier viewing. I'll put up links when that's all done.

Orientation is officially over! Well, it has been for a day, but I forgot to update last night.

The first day was arrival and tours of the dorms--my roommate was on my coach bus so I met her right away. The second was tours of the castle and grounds, as well as medical registration and a computer seminar. The third was pretty much a lecture--just a lot of people talking for a few hours--followed by academic registration (which I didn't even need to do). The fourth day was an intro to student services, followed by a Castle 'fate' (fête) and karaoke--which turned into a dance party and was so much fun! On the fifth day--yesterday--we travelled to Pevensey Castle, Birling Gap, the University of Sussex, and Brighton. I got a ton of awesome photos and two candy bars for one pound. It was great.

Today was my first day of classes. I had drama at 8:30 am (sob) and a double period of film in the afternoon. Both were great, although I was somewhat overprepared for both--my friends and I wore our studio clothes for drama but didn't need to, and I brought my camera and tripod to film, and while I am one of the few students with equipment (and the only with a tripod), I also didn't really need any of it today. Oh well. Better to be overprepared, right?

I'm already making friends, which is wonderful, and I am really loving this so far. I'll update again soon! :)

I'm in England!

I arrived early yesterday (around 6:30 GMT), waited around for the coach bus, and went to campus. It's small, nice, really fields-y; it reminds me of upstate New York, except less hilly. I've mostly been doing required stuff: tours of things, medical registration, a computer seminar, hall community meetings... That sort of fun thing. It's also been nice meeting and getting to know people (like my roommate, Rachel, who seems pretty cool so far!), as well as finally meeting people in person as opposed to on facebook.

The view from my window is awesome; I see fields and cows (they get pretty close to my room...) and sometimes rabbits and yeah I really love it. It's a nice change of scenery from the city.

So as of Day 2, I'm enjoying this.

I got an email from the border agency today informing me that my letter from the bank did not supply all of the necessary information about my account, and that they didn't receive the letter of consent from my parents (which was sent with the application). The email also informed me that if the agency didn't receive the new information within seven work days, my visa might be refused, and if the resent information was also incorrect, my visa would definitely be refused.

Things are going just fine.

(We're going to get another letter from the bank tomorrow and try to get everything sent out Tuesday at the latest.)

I'm officially done applying for my student visa. I filled out the required forms and got together the documents I need. I got my biometrics done yesterday. The application went in the mail today.

Wish me luck!

It's been a while since I last updated, huh? Here are some things that have happened in bullet form:

• Opened a bank account at TD Bank so that I can prove to the British that I have sufficient means of self-support.
• Waited 28 days, as the money has to be in the account for 28 days.
• In the meantime, I went up to Canada for SOAR--academic registration--where I met a lot of people going to the castle next year! They were all lovely and it rocked. I also signed up for classes: British art history (FW), history (FW), drama (FW), social history of popular music (F), film before 1970 (F), astronomy (W), and, after some phone calls to get it changed from Spanish, philosophy - moral issues (W).
• I also graduated from high school!
• Discovered that in order to get a laptop through Apple's student deals, I had to go through the Canadian store, because my university is Canadian.
• Discovered a few weeks later that I'm ineligible for the student deal in both stores because the Canadian store has to ship it to a valid Canadian address.
• Went to TD Bank yesterday to get a letter about my bank account for the visa application, only to discover that there's another department in the bank that has to handle it, and they're only open M-F. Also learned that it would be better to open a bank account in the UK, for various reasons.
• Got pictures taken for the visa application.

So now I'm just waiting for the letter, really. We're going away for a few days next week, and once we get back I'll finally get started on the actual application, since everything should (finally) be ready.