From the flip side!

I hear someone (several someones?) wanted a blog update.  I'll try to make it organized, so that at least someone can try to follow my thoughts!

The travel: Well, it was fine.  The TV on the big plane was broken, so they gave me a free beer.  That was not good.  Not good at all.  But then again, I should have known it wouldn't be.  Also, it knocked me out.  But the flights were mostly smooth, and I slept for a couple hours on the plane, even though it wasn't real sleep.  Awoke to one of the most amazing red sunrises I've ever seen, and tried to take a picture (and failed.)  We landed and got the train ok and got to Sheffield and my dorm okay, and I was ever so glad to be done with /that/.  We then walked around forever, until my back hurt and my feet hurt and besides that I was jet lagged.  This made me sick to my stomach and incapable of logical thought or controlling my emotions.  We can all see where that's heading, so I'll leave it at this:  I got mildly hysterical twice yesterday, but both times my parents talked me down out of it.  This is a drastic improvement over Philmont, for anyone who knows that story, in that I could not be talked down at Philmont.

Today:  We slept til 1.  This was 12 hours for me, and would never have happened so I must have been really really tired.  I still feel like I was hit by a bus!  But we spent a lot of time outside today so hopefully my circadian rhythm clock will be a bit better now.  Today, we went to a different shopping place that is much closer, and went in the Tesco again, and found a place like a convenience store that had kinder eggs.  Kinder eggs!  I can find them almost anywhere.  Those of you who know of my kinder egg love will know why this is happy.  Aaaaand we also took a bus (which Adam nearly broke) and got snarked at by the bus driver (seems like all bus drivers are cranky, no matter the country) and got off and went back to city centre, and then found a pub and Adam watched the football game, and I texted on my phone with Skype and drank cider and then ate fish and chips.  Aaaaand then we walked all the way home (note: >F) and I came to the edge, which is the computer place, and got online!

This is the best part of the day:  When I got online, Dusty and I arranged that her sister would bring her laptop to her bridal shower, and they'd turn on Skype and set it where I could see some stuff, and now I get to be at Ashley's bridal shower which is thousands of miles away.  It's awesome.  But the sound keeps going in and out, or it just gets really quiet.  I can't tell.  But I'm ridiculously happy I get to be there anyway.

Also, for future going abroad generations: While your ATM card will work in ATMs, it probably won't work in a lot of stores.  In England, they have a different system than we do in the US, whereby there is a chip implanted in the card and they have to stick the card in a reader- not swipe like we do.  So you should always carry some cash.  The rumor according to my dad, who travels here a lot and has never had this problem, is that you need to tell them you have to have a voucher printed to sign, and to please run it as credit instead of debit.  He said this works most places, and since he's been to most of the common places, he's probably right.  I just haven't tested it yet.  I'm wondering if maybe it's more common that it works in and around large cities.  Then again, this city is bigger, population wise, than Albuquerque.  So... I don't know.  If I have to I'll transfer my money, or some of it, to a bank here in England.  It'll work out.

Also, some general info on the blog for folks who've asked:  I'm still testing it, but I believe any of you who are getting this by email can respond and no one else will see the response.  If that isn't the case, I'll just set it to not show any comments, and then that'll be fine.

I've also set it so that anyone can comment on my journal.  You'll still have to type the code word thingy, but just type what you see on the screen.  It's not a password, it's just to keep spam robots from spamming on my entry.  I'm not sure how it says who is posting the comment, but I'm guessing you supply a name of some kind when you enter the comment.

I think that's all the pertinent info!

They're totally right, though, the omnipotent they (in this case, Christine) when they say that for awhile you keep having moments when you go, "Why am I here?  What have I done?  I'm going home on the next flight, because I can't possibly survive this nonsense."  This is made worse by jet lag, as I've spoken about.  I'm sure I'll have my share of these moments in the near future, but for today I've had fewer of these moments than yesterday, and the ones I've had haven't lasted long enough to develop into a full blown panic.

Anywho, I better go!  Gotta get back to the party!  If you have Skype, send me a message!  My username is caitydid685.  I'd love to hear from you!