Winchester

It's been longer than usual since my last entry. The last week has been spent exploring my new part of town, going to the theatre, and waking up at the ungodly hour of 7:30 every morning. Of course it's not actually an ungodly hour. Properly it's quite a godly hour, since it's when the nuns serve breakfast. Still, not a time I like to be awake.

Yesterday however, I broke from my normal pattern (or lack of) and took a bus to Winchester, a charming cathedral town. There's not much there to speak of, other than the grave of Jane Austen and some fifteen miles away, a musuem located in the house she wrote most of her novels in. There was also some rather nice ruins of a castle that I wandered through. Mostly however, it was a simple literary pilgramage.

Oh for cute

So as I was walking towards the heath this morning (in which I got deliciously lost and ended up in the most bizarre part of town when I emerged 40 minutes later) I was surrounded by these adorable little boys dressed in buttercream trousers and sweater vests over crisp white shirts. And they were all carrying cricket bats, hurrying towards the school grounds. I live in a very nice part of town indeed.

The Move

I'm feeling quite homesick right now. Perhaps it's because my program has ended and all the American friends I'd made have left. Perhaps it's just the exhaustion from having to pack up and move across town. Perhaps it's the awkwardness caused by living in a convent filled with nuns who keep early hours. Or perhaps it's the email I got this morning from Michelle saying that she isn't yet certain if she's going to hire me for Richard III. If that's the case, next fall is going to be dull indeed. In fact, I don't know what I'd do since I've already decided I don't want to take a full load of courses. Perhaps I'll have to get a real job.

However, I spent a pleasant weekend, despite the moving bit. The new area of town I'm in is a short walk from the most beautiful heath. Yes, an actual heath, full of twisty paths, windblown hills, lots of trees, and a ridiculous number of golden labs. Honestly, it's like no other breed of dog exists. So I had a lovely long walk this morning after waking for breakfast at 7:30. In the morning. That's just weird. I don't do mornings generally. I mean, work doesn't start here until 10:30, sometimes 11.

Yesterday I bought a book. I know, a silly expense, but sometimes you just have to buy something for no other reason than that you want it. Then I sat against a tree in the heath and read for several hours. Of course, this would have been a better idea had I not been wearing khakis (khakis which now have the most glorious collection of grass stains), still, worth it.

Travel thoughts

So my incredibly expensive, but completely worthwhile eurail pass arrived today. This means that I do actually have to leave London, a scary thought. Still, I can hardly complain as I've been looking forward to this trip for... well, ever.

Amusingly enough, I may actually be staying in London again after my trip. Pascale has asked me if I want to housesit for her and Greg while they take their summer vacation at the end of August. It would mean more time in London (a very good thing) but also that I wouldn't get home until the 29th or 30th of August (a slightly insane thing) That would put my time away from home at just under eight months. Still... this seems to show that they don't want me to leave any more than I do.

I am still hoping there might be a job offer in all of this.

At the end of the day though, the final decision is not actually mine, but my employer this fall, i.e. the Director of the show I'm working on (a project which is just exciting enough to tempt me back home). If she needs me before August 30th, then I will obviously be returning home as originally planned.

Since when is seven months not enough time for a vacation? This is ridiculous! And yet so horribly exciting!

Housing solved

You can all stop worrying, for I now have a place to live in London for these extra weeks. You can stop worrying and start laughing, because dear old Jenna is going to be living in a Convent.

Yes, with Nuns and everything.

I think it'll be fun. At least it's safe and cheap. Great area of town. My only concern is the slightly too early curfew they have. Not only will there be no late partying for little ol' me, but it might be hard to make it back in time after the theatre. Still, I guess I'll just have to work things out as it goes along.

Oh! And I had a date last night. With an Englishman. It was nice, but not life-altering. He was very normal and normal's something I don't deal with very often. Still, it's always a pleasure to meet new people who don't come from the same place I do. It's weird how many Americans I end up talking to.

Photos

Possibly the farthest point west in Great Britain, this is Wales, looking out over the Irish Sea.
The highlands of Scotland are really truly beautiful.
Finally, I set foot on the Aran Islands, setting of my play last fall.
Enjoying a pint at the top of the Guinness Brewery in Dublin.
Me, Kelsey, and Keely inside Dover Castle.
Me in one of the best parts of Bath, where a lot of Jane Austen novels are set.
Stonehenge, back in January

Insanity

So, of course I'm so happy that I can stay longer and that they like me well enough to pay me. However, this staying on longer requires me to find a place to stay. So I've been in a whirlwind of activity the last couple days, attempting to find a reasonable place to live, in a reasonable area, at a reasonable price.

I looked at a place last night, which is in the same neighborhood I'm in now and is quite nice, except that it's a bit more than I want to spend. This afternoon I'm going to be looking at a much cheaper place in a new area. They're all flatshares, so the roommate is something else to consider, or more commonly, roommates... The one today is a single mother with a young child, who's happy to keep the rent low, especially if I can babysit now and then...

Well, we shall see. If worst comes to worst, I can always stay in youth hostels, but I'll be doing that a lot this summer. I sort of wanted something more stable while I'm here.

Sore Feet and Big Smiles

My friend Lisa is here. She's staying with a friend she met when she was here studying three years ago, but has spent most of her time with me, since her friend's working a lot. So we've seen a lot of theatre, I even saw two shows a second time, because they were so good I wanted her to see them.

That's not all we've been doing however.

Today we went shopping and I bought a very lovely red dress from French Connection. Cost quite a bit, but it's a nice classic dress and should be wearable for many years.

What makes the morning shopping trip all the more impressive however, is the fact that I was dancing until five in the morning last night. It was so much fun, but I am so sleep deprived. AND Lisa wants to go dancing again tonight. Well... we'll see if I can manage it. Right now she's off seeing Equus, a play that I was not willing to see twice. And tomorrow we're planning an Easter Picnic in Hyde Park, I already made pasta salad and bought some wine.

Life is hard.

Well my goodness

It's been a strange few days over here. Yesterday I woke with a nagging sore throat and it seemed to be heralding something worse as last night I crawled in bed at 10pm. Now, anyone who knows me knows that something pretty odd has to be going on to send me to bed that early.

However, not to fear, I'm taking lots of vitamins, eating oranges, etc. Hopefully I can stop this before it becomes serious. After all, my friend is here for the weekend, and it's hard to shop when you're coughing.

On a more positive note, Monday night I saw "Equus", the Harry Potter play as it's known to many. Yes, the boy was naked, and no, it was not a very good production. Still, I knew that going in and figured, even if it's terrible, I should see it for the historical value. And that would save me the effort of reading the play at some point, as I would absolutely have to do.

It's Easter holidays over here right now, so Greg and Pascale's daughter has been studying in the office this week. It's been really fun talking to her, because she has a new perspective. I've talked to locals my age, but she's 16, so she's in a different position and we've been comparing perspectives on our countries, as well as weighing the pros and cons of our various school systems. In the end, I think I prefer our secondary schools, but I really like their university system. Then again, I've only heard about the best universities over here. Perhaps I would have enjoyed Harvard as much I think I would've liked Cambridge.

In fact, I probably would have hated Cambridge in the end. I love the way they teach over there, in small seminars and one-on-one's with the profesor, but from what I hear, the attitude is still very elitist and at heart, I am a Marxist.

I'm getting tired, tired of trying to peacefully co-exist with five other girls. I'm afraid the atmosphere is starting to get quite catty and I don't know what to do anymore. No doubt I'm adding to it, but so much of the nasty things we're doing to each other seem to be sub-conscious. Still, there's only two and a half more weeks, then I get to go try and co-exist with somebody else. Who that is, I'm still not sure, but if Pascale hasn't found me a place by the end of this week, I'm going to start calling people from the flatshare website I found. I'll figure it out. Not to worry.