The big 'what I've done so far' catch up post (part 1)

Table of Contents

Part 1

Introduction
Opening a Bank Account
World Cafe
Day Trip to Cambridge
Phone Calls to Australia
Seeing some Seals

Part 2

The Gym and other forms of exercise

Windsor Castle

The Supermarket

Weekend Trip to Bath

Introduction

When my editor suggested I tell you all about what I've actually been doing over here, my first thought was "Well I'm sure someone reads my blog, although I'm not sure who, surely they'd be interested in what I've ACTUALLY been up to so far in my adventure in England-land, rather than my vague impressions and ramblings about nothing." So here it is, a comprehensive post about what I've seen and done so far. Of course, if no one reads this, it won't be wasted, as this blog also operates as my travel diary... As always, there are more photos available on facebook - I'll only put up a small selection here, but you should be able to see the facebook albums, even if you aren't a user. Let me know if there are any problems.

Opening a Bank Account

Living here for 12 months entitles me to open a bank account here. I wasn't sure who to go with, so I followed the age old device of joining whoever had the most famous name, who had a branch on campus. I expected a long and tedious process, but instead I just had to take a letter in, talk to the manager who opened the account and told me it was all sorted and I just had to wait to get my cards and pins. The most difficult part was getting my money from my Australian account to my British one... The process for me getting a form back to the bank went like this : bank faxes it to Mum who scans it in and emails it to me. I print it out, fill it in, scan it and email it to her who then passes it on to the bank. But it's all good, I now have money, can budget properly and don't need to worry about whether my Travelex card will be accepted because it doesn't have a chip... Hurrah!

World Cafe

Before arriving, I'd looked up what kinds of things were going on for international students, and found a group called World Cafe. It's run by a group called Friends International, who focus on building communities and family like groups up for people away from home. This is a Christian group, and each Friday they run themed evening - I've been to an international quiz night and a night of traditional dancing so far. There are also Bible studies for those interested in learning more, and occasional day trips. The majority of regular attendees are Chinese, but there has been great excitement at having Australians, Americans and New Zealanders attending. A few of us went along in the first week, and others have gone along after hearing about it from us. Apparently the coordinators have a lot of trouble getting the word out to western international students - they put it in our weekly email bulletin, but who reads that? I suspect there are cultural differences at play as well...

Day Trip to Cambridge

The Dean of Students office organises trips for the international students to see parts of England, and one of the trips I've been on with them was to Cambridge. We left UEA at about 9am and got there at about 10:30am. We went on a walking tour of the city, including into Emmanuel College,

the chapel of which is designed by Christopher Wren, who went on to design St Paul's Cathedral in London.

As part of this tour we also saw King's College Chapel, which was both magnificent and a little unchurch like.

The size of the building made it feel a little more like an elaborate banquetting hall than a place of worship. I understand it to be in the style of the time in which it was built, but have nevertheless decided that it does not feel 'churchy' enough to me. Please don't now start about stereotypes and church buildings and things. It is certainly a magnificent building, and I would love to hear Evensong there sometime.

One little amusing thing was the 16th Century's royal version of an "I heart ___" tattoo:

"R A" - Regina Ann. King Henry VIII's dedication to his 2nd (of six) wife, Ann Boleyn. You wonder if he considered converting it into something else.

We had pizza, that was nice,

Saw the Chronopage (time eating clock), which was a little weird, but also quite funky. The grasshopper on top looks like something out of Jabberwocky.

After wandering around for a little while, seeing a Round Church

and other random parts of the city

we hopped on the bus and headed home. It was only five hours in Cambridge, but it struck me as being a very pretty city. I'll try to go back sometime in the spring or summer, when there's punting on the River Cam. It is quite touristy, and I still struggle to get my head around the fact that it's a university that's also a tourist destination.

More photos are in this album.

Phone Calls to Australia

I have rung a few people, which has been nice. And that's all I'll say on that topic. Oh, apart from advice for future travellers - get Skype credit if you use Skype, calls are super cheap.

Seeing some seals

The aforementioned World Cafe sometimes has day trips to different parts of the Norfolk area, and a group of us went along to Winterton to see the seals. They spend the winter there, and we had no idea if there would be any, many or none. After walking along the beach for a while

and admiring the North Sea

we saw some seals

They were quite cute, and frolicked around. There weren't very many (compared to other years apparently), but it was a nice walk, we saw seals, I chatted to new people and saw some British beach landscape. On the way back, we walked behind the sand dune, and the landscape was totally different. One side was the sandy dune, the other grassy fields with sheep.

The afternoon finished with afternoon tea at a nice country cottage of the parents of one of the World Cafe helpers. Yummy food. No photos, was too busy eating. :)

For more seal photos, click here.

And now I think it's time for a break. Take some time to have a cup of tea, and in a couple of days, I'll put up part two of this post... Hopefully I may beat Elly with the posting of this blog too...

My New Church

Well, it seems that I have found a church to settle at, a happy event indeed. Keep an eye for my discoveries while hunting in the new edition of the Tasmanian Anglican, in your local church this weekend (14th Feb).

It's a rather quieter service that Resonate, but in the end that seemed irrelevant. I was praying that God would show me where to go, and my thoughts kept returning to this church. I went a second time last night (after much deliberation over whether to go to a new service, or back there), and felt very much at home - there's a really good sense of genuine community, and the vibe is that of a big family, where comfort and support is more important that flashiness. Last night, I felt like I'd found home and as though I was just meant to be there.

The evening service is like a standard 10am service - follows prayer book orders of service, with communion about once a month. Not all the standy sitty recite bits in unison are done - just some of the standard responses to prayers and readings, although I suspect this probably changes week to week. The music is not as band-like as at Resonate - much more ... umm... acoustic, and a little older. Lots of 1990s Stuart Townend and Matt Redman, plus a few hymns and other assorted composers.

The preaching roster is made up of a few different people, plus extras who are giving it a go for the first time; last night a woman preached on the end of Ecclesiastes. It was a good sermon, very interesting. The next couple of weeks are looking at Song of Songs, followed by Mark.

After the service I got chatting to a few people in the tea queue (these Brits, they really do love their queues). There was much excitement as I filled out a yellow card - the official way of joining the church. Hehe. There is youth stuff going on. If I remember correctly 0(ish) to 14 year olds have a program during the morning service, and 14-18 year olds during the evening service.

I was a bit worried about what would happen this week after church - the week when I was new and knew nobody would be ok, because people would either talk or completely ignore the totally new face. But this time I knew a few people by face, but not enough just to jump in to a group and start a conversation. My back up plan was to just start introducing myself to people in a kind of backwards welcome thing. But as I should have trusted, God put people around to talk to me, so I was entertained for the entire period from end of service to go to Bible study time, and didn't have to stand awkwardly at all.

This church has an evening Bible study/social time for young adults, at someone's house across the road. They're working through Judges at the moment, and the two times I've been we've looked at the story of Gideon. This group was one of the reasons I felt quite at home at the church - it's a mix of students, young workers and others. It's a very comfortable group, much like any normal eclectic group of Christians. I think it's a mixture of some people from another church - the study leader is the assistant pastor elsewhere.

So overall it's a nice church. I went somewhere else in the morning, and liked it, but my mind just kept coming back to this one. The service is in the evening - a rarity for Norwich apparently, which suits me so much better. It's about 10 minutes away on the bus, and when I get a bike I'll be able to stay out later than about 11pm (last bus). The actual building is very pretty, I don't know when it was built, but it's tall and rather grand looking. It's Anglican (the only Anglican church I've visited... Except St Peter Mancroft where I heard Evensong), so it's familiar. The denomination wasn't a deciding factor, just happened that way.

Oh and it's called Holy Trinity.

Five weeks. I think. Or is it six?

Time is flying. There's nothing I can do to slow it, despite my greatest efforts. Although right now I'd quite like to fast forward a few days so I can skip this whole 'sick' business and get onto fun things like seeing Windsor Castle. I have discovered my favourite cold and flu drug is not available here, and nothing else seems to be quite as effective (of the two I've tried so far...). I still have snot, this wouldn't be the case if I had my favourite vanilla flavoured meds. I should be going to see a local production of The Producers tonight, am hoping I stop feeling so rubbish in the next half hour or so.

Anyway, onto more pleasant things, like butterflies and meadows. I decided to sum up my life here by creating a few lists. Here they are:

Five Linguistic Differences between Australia and England. I cop some flack sometimes because I call things by strange names, but I will not bow to pressure and call a corgette 'zucchini'... oh is it the other way round? Darn.

1. Chook: chicken —> chook, seems fairly obvious to me, but apparently not.

2. Capsicum: is not a pepper, I have tried to explain that they are two different things, that we use the scientific name, but this is not an acceptable excuse.

3. Vacuum Cleaner: 'Hoover'. Say that in a sing-song English accent and you'll understand why I mock them for it.

4. Singlet: I ended up so confused at the end of this conversation I don't know what is called what, but I know I was referring to a girl's spagetti strap singlet.

5. Ummm. Just pretend I didn't mention the zucchini-corgette confusion earlier, and insert it here.

Top Four Memorable Smells of life in England (specific largely to UEA). Ironic considering I currently have a blocked nose.

1. Mud.

2. The bus - smelly people, airless, drunk people, food, wet clothing, standard bus smells, but combining to be unique on Norwich buses.

3. The kitchen's unmistakable odour of burnt toast, mixed frying meats and the label on the bottom of a saucepan that's slowly burning off.

4. The tube - so it's the same as Melbourne and Vienna, but that tang of hot grease, metal, people, foods is unmistakable.

Five unmistakable sounds

1. The fire alarm - a faulty alarm meant we had 4 alarms in 3 weeks (including two in one night), plus they test it every Friday morning. Never fails to make me jump and start panicking slightly.

2. Birdsong - before I left Australia I was sitting outside listening to all the birds thinking 'I'll miss this, I hope birds are just as vocal over there'. Never fear, they are.

3. Kamikaze Squirrels - they're utter nutters, just jump from branch to branch and one would be forgiven for thinking there was a small elephant stampede in the tree tops.

4. The kitchen door - "whoooooosh thud". Right next to my room, whenever anybody goes for a midnight snack.

5. The constant sounds of people - the cooling towers (I think) that never stop, the ever-present hum of distant traffic even when no sign of life is visible.

Some things UEA does better than UTAS

1. Admin. Isn't hard to beat UTAS really, but UEA does.

2. Location. While the university has lots of concrete, it is surrounded by woodlands and marsh, through which run lots of walking paths. Beautiful.

3. On site facilities - shops, cafes, restaurants, bars, laundromats. All signs of a far greater emphasis on living on campus.

4. Ethics - all coffee is fairtrade, and there's a large emphasis on being as environmentally friendly as possible.

5. Centrality - if you have any problem, go to the Dean of Students office and they will point you in the right direction. Usually down a short corridor behind the main desk. The university is fairly compact, and therefore there isn't too much running up and down big hills required.

Some things UTAS does better than UEA

1. The website - never thought I'd say it, but especially their equivalent of MyLo.

2. The library - how does a university operate without a reserve section???? Especially when there's a far greater focus on self-motivated learning.

3. Chips - the chips here are rubbish, worse than the Ref's the day before oil-filtering.

4. Exams - why does a uni need almost 6 weeks for exams? I still have no idea how it all works.

5. Timetables - Here classes go from O'Clock to O'Clock, which means lots of quick walking in between. The lecturers have more discretion about start and finish times, and will sometimes take only 50 minutes, but some will not give up a single minute of their allocated 60.

And that's it. Hope that gives you some ideas of my life on campus. Keep an eye on the Tasmanian Anglican for an article about my experiences looking for a church. I was going to write it here, but was asked to put it in the Anglican. I'm not sure if my article will go online, so keep an eye for the new edition from the first Sunday of March.

And my nose appears to have stopped running so much! Hoorah! Theatre here I come.

Dear Readers,

Today marks the third week since my arrival to the shores of this new land. The weather of which I was warned is present, with a forecast of 'staying cloudy and damp', and although uncertain about its precise location, I am being careful to avoid the dangerous 'Midsummer' area.

On this day, I experienced some moments of complete contentment as I gazed out a library window, over my books and onto grassy pastures and heard the elaborate songs of birds. There was no other place I wanted to be, I wanted for nothing, and I thanked the Lord for his blessings. This led me to depart from the library, and venture across the pastures, where your elegant correspondent partook of a constitutional stroll around the lake's edge, before settling on a bench to learn about the terrible deeds of the Crimean War.

Upon completing my learnings, I returned to my lodgings, whereupon I perched myself elegantly on a heater to thaw my derriere. Having then fallen into conversation with various other lodgers about the Crimean War and golf, I was drawn to the conclusion that it was time to appraise you of my educational situation in this foreign country.

Each week I must participate in seven structured hours of learning, with many times this expected spent in personal studies. My classes cover topics such as Napoleon to Stalin: The struggle for mastery in Europe, Latin for Historians, and Landscape II: Built and Semi-Natural Environments. Perhaps surprisingly the latter of these is so far proving the most engaging, perhaps due partially to the enthusiastic teachings of the staff. Never before have I heard such profanities emit from an educator's mouth, but he is forgiven for his excitable delivery of them.

My lessons in Latin will perhaps be the most challenging, as we struggle to grasp the concepts of grammar not yet familiar to your dutiful correspondent. The tutor in this subject, however, is a wise woman, who I feel will not let us fail easily in our tasks. I look forward to utilising the skills from these lessons.

There is a chance your faithful correspondent will not survive her lessons about Napoleon to Stalin, as there is a great deal of ferocious boredom induced in some of the topics. This has been diagnosed as only a temporary affliction, and should pass with the coming of a World War.

As to the location, the University is becoming less of a puzzle, the city slowly falling into place on the map contained within my head.

As I end this missive to you, my loyal reader, I must reiterate my utter thankfulness to our Good Lord who has provided a safe and happy harbour for your persistant correspondent.

Your Sincerely,

Imogen

One week in...

Well, I've been at Norwich for a week now, and I'm feeling pretty settled. Haven't found all my routines yet, but they'll come. The most surprising thing so far is that the only homesickness I've had so far has been momentary, then gone. I think the internet really helps this - being able to keep in touch with home, seeing what's going on on facebook, chatting to people on skype means I feel far less disconnected than last time. There are disadvantages to this of course, and the main one is that I have to be careful to ensure my real life here takes priority over Tasmania. There's little point in being on exchange in a foreign country if I constantly miss opportunities and experiences because I'm distracted by 'home'.

I have Wednesdays off this semester, which is nice. This morning I was registered with the medical centre, so I'm now covered by the NHS, and this afternoon I'm going to Sherlock Holmes with some people I met at a church on Sunday. It's not quite as random as it sounds - they're friends of a Christian flatmate (who's been letting me tag along to church and Christian Union with her), and it was all organised last night at CU. I find it funny that the last movie I saw in Australia will be the first movie I see here. But should be fun - I enjoyed the movie last time, and wouldn't normally go to see it again, but it's about meeting people and living here.

The strangest thing about life here so far is actually living on campus. Here's a map of the campus, with relevant buildings so you can see how close everything actually is.

For those of you who've lived on campus before, this will seem normal, but for me it's strange. Where before uni was only a part of life, now it is life - everyone you meet goes to uni, and a fairly standard question is 'where are you living?' There are people who don't leave campus for weeks on end, because everything they need is here on campus. Last night walking back from Christian Union (via the pub) we bumped into some of our flatmates and all walked back together. I had to carry my bag of dirty washing through the middle of uni the other day, and an hour ago I popped out to one of the campus restaurants for lunch. It's very easy to see how one might become socially isolated in this environment - seeing only other uni students, and often only the same ones, without much interaction with the outside world. I shall endeavour to avoid that fate.

I bought a year long bus pass the other day. Free travel within Norwich for 12 months. It was expensive, and I need to make 50 return trips from the city for it to be worthwhile, but looks like just this week I'll use it at least 4 times, if not more. I debated whether to get one or not for a while - would like to get a bike too, but figured that if I have it, I'll use it and will go into town impulsively, like yesterday when I was bored, whereas if I don't, I'll save everything up until I can't avoid town any more. I think having it will give me far more freedom and I really will get to know the city.

Anyway, that's all for the moment. It's snowing at the moment, but I really want to go for a run. Bizarre. I hate running, but even when I was at home I was feeling the need to go running, to the point where I had dreams about jogging and enjoying it. A lot of my flatmates go to the gym, and running and things, so hopefully my aim of becoming fit this year is not so ridiculous. There's some good looking aerobicsy classes at the gym, so once my gym shoes get here from Australia I shall be off and away. I've also been eating rather healthily I think - lots of vegies, legumes, grains etc, which is nice. Made a pot of potato and onion soup, but I don't actually like it - the potatoes burnt right at the beginning, and I didn't realise until it was too late. Someone else likes it, so I've told them to eat as much as they like, then it's going into the bin in a couple of days. I should get used to the stoves at some point before the end of the year.... Hopefully.

Being the nerd I am, I'll get back to reading about the 1813 alliance between Austria and Great Britain now.

By the way, I've stopped posting my blog entries on facebook, so people over here won't read them (not that I'm going to write anything horrible about anyone). Please pass the word around about my blog though - I'm sure there are people who don't know it exists who still want to know what I'm up to. :)

A photographic tour of my home for the next year.

For photos of UEA, especially Norfolk Terrace, have a look here. If you want to know more about what Norwich looks like, check these photos out.

My day started with a walk around the lake, a walk I've been meaning to do for a couple of days now. It's very pretty with all the snow, and I can't wait to explore some of the longer walking tracks in the area. There were lots of people walking dogs and jogging, but also a few other dawdlers like me. The area of land the uni has is quite impressive, and I imagine it will have a few more stages of beautiful as it goes through spring, summer and autumn.

After that, I headed into the city with Mo, a girl from Maine who's here for 6 months. We didn't really have a plan, just to get an idea of the lie of the land, buy a few things and end at a supermarket.

We were pretty excited to have our first trip on the top level of a double decker bus.

We wandered, saw some old stuff, didn't go into any museums or anything, but generally got an idea of how the city fits together. It's quite small - apparently wasn't affected by the industrial revolution so the street plan is the same as that set out in the medieval period, and it hasn't moved very far outside the original city walls. We're told it takes about 15 - 20 minutes to walk from one side to the other.

We ended in the supermarket, where I bought supplies for the next (hopefully) week and beyond - I doubt I'll use an entire packet of lentils or rice in a week... Now my cupboard has food in it, which is exciting. Still don't have any bread though...

The post you've all been waiting for.

I'm sorry to everyone who may have thought I'd fallen off the edge of the planet somewhere between Singapore and London, I have been intending on blogging for some time, but haven't. I'm still alive, am now in Norwich after a fun week of total-touristiness in London. Here's a selection of touristy photos, you'll find more here.

After a long time travelling (about 24 hours flying time, plus airport waits), I finally arrived. But first a word about the journey. I couldn't get window seats, and usually hate aisle seats because when I fall asleep I slump into the aisle and get attacked by the food trolleys. But this was the best flight I've ever had in the aisle - British Airways' headrests are very flexible, and bend down a long way so my head was surrounded and held in place. Meant I got some sleep. Spent lots and lots of time standing up the back chatting to various people and looking at the window trying to work out where over earth we were. The maps weren't working on the tvs, so we just had to guess. Finally got to Heathrow at 5am, went through the British aisle of immigration feeling like a complete imposter, trying not to talk in case they noticed my accent and revoked my passport, got out and was collected by my brother. We headed off to his flat, where I met my lovely 1o month old niece for the first time:

Spent most of the day relaxing, accidently dozed off too early in front of the tv, so woke up too early, but not so early I couldn't enjoy seeing London the next day. Caught up with Carli, and we saw lots of things over the next few days. Check my facebook album for more photos, but here are just a few, with accompanying Doctor Who references when relevant:

Buckingham Palace.

Phone Box! Oh, and Carli and me.

The Doctor thought he'd gotten rid of them all, but he missed one. Genocide? I hope not.

Repaired after that whole alien ship crash business a few Christmas' ago.

Westminster.

Also saw the Tower of London (very interesting place) and spent a whole day in the Museum of London (best £0 i've never spent - go there if you get the chance, not on the standard tourist route, and therefore no big crowds, everything's completly free, and the cafe food is only mildly over priced but very yummy.)

Well then I travelled by coach to Norwich. Got here mid afternoon, after taking about 10 hours to move 5km on one stretch (a slight exagerration, but I did hear the phrase '5 mile delay'). Caught a bus from the city centre to the uni, and although I haven't been back in yet, it looked very English, and therefore good. Hopefully I'll get in tomorrow, although there are supposed to be bitter North Sea winds.

The uni seems very nice. It has been described as a concrete jungle, and I can see that. Got lost a few times, but am now starting to get the hang of how it all fits together. The maps are pretty useless, because the whole uni is connected by walkways and bridges.

As soon as I walked into my accommodation I was welcomed by a couple of other residents. The majority of my flatmates are from the UK, and have been here since September. This means they're settled and well-bonded. I was a little concerned that it might be hard to fit in, but so far they all seem pretty easy to get along with and pretty keen to make me feel welcome - I'd been introduced to a few people within about 15 minutes of arrival, another couple came and knocked on my door while I was unpacking, and my stick figure (including beanie) had been added to the whiteboard of flatmates within about 5 minutes. I think there are about 5 girls and 7 or 8 guys, but I'm not entirely sure. Not everyone is back from the break yet, but when they are I think we're all going out for bonding drinks in town. There was a rather funny moment when I revealed that I'm not really a drinker, as this apparently presents a problem for bonding, but we'll see what happens. Almost all the others in this flat are studying med, nursing or physiotherapy. THere is one person studying English, but I think that's it. A few of the nursing students are on placement at the moment, and get up ridiculously early, but I can sleep through almost anything, so I'm already getting used to the noise of them moving around in the kitchen early in the morning.

Here are a few photos of my home for the next 6 months. Not sure where I'll be for the second semester, will have to vacate then get a new place at the beginning of next semester.

The view from my room window.

My room. Right next to the kitchen, with the water pipes in my cupboard - bit noisy when people use the kitchen taps, but also a nice warm cupboard which is great for hanging damp clothes.

My little sink area. Forgot to rotate it... Just turn your head.

The kitchen table (and windows).

The cooking half of the kitchen.

One of the other girls in my flat is Christian, and has offered to take me along to her church on Sunday, hoorah, and another international student (from New Zealand) is also going to be looking for somewhere, so we might go trialling together.

I've mostly been hanging out with other international students, and we're a mixed bunch. The largest group come from the US, followed by Australians. There are also some Norwegians, and probably some others, but I (unfortunately) find myself hanging out mostly with the Australians and Americans. Hopefully I'll get a chance to get to meet the others when we're not in such a large group - there are various day trips and outings planned throughout the semester. I'm looking forward to classes starting on Monday, will hopefully get to meet lots of 'natives'. I know one girl doing one of my classes, but no one else. My Latin for Historians class has about 11 people I think, so that will be a good chance to make friends I hope. Especially since the classes are 3 hours long first thing on a Thursday morning.

Timetable looks good - I have WEdnesdays and Fridays off, so will hopefully be able to do some 3 day trips to see things.

Currently the country is OBSESSED with the snowy weather - I've taken to having BBC News Channel on in the background (in the accommodation they have a free internet tv thing set up), and they just keep going back to the snow, checking in with different parts of the country, different old men and ladies eating their meals on wheels, different outdoor gear salesmen. The favourite shot is that of the reporter's foot pushing the snowy slush around on the road, followed by the locals shovelling.

That should keep you going for a little while. I'm off to find some dinner. Bye bye and thanks for reading.

Today I realised I would see neither the end of the orange juice in the fridge, nor the disposal of the rubbish in my bin.

Monday is looming, and I still haven't quite accepted that I am leaving here for 12 months. Probably won't until I'm on the plane. Right now I'm feeling a mixture of anticipation, excitement and a little guilt. Not nervous or scared, quite possibly because it hasn't sunk in, but the guilt is related to the stress, worry and general frustration my mum has been dealing with over the past few months with her mother. As the only child left at home, I've been trying my hardest to be supportive and make it easy for her. It's been unnecessarily busy, and my parents and I have been like ships in the night, so I haven't had much quality time with them lately. It's very hard not to resent unforeseen circumstances for this, especially when they could have been avoidable and largely the result of whim, but the time has flown for whatever reasons and there is no going back.

I still live at home, a move I strongly advocate for anyone trying to save money, and I'm pretty close to my parents - I like living with them (usually...). We don't always see each other during the day, and the news is usually on during dinner, so our longest conversations are at night with them in bed, and me leaning against the doorframe at the foot of their bed. It's not unusual for Dad to put his pillow over his head in an attempt to tell me to shut up, but Mum and I keep going until one of us can't remember the words any more. Sometimes I'll get home at 10pm intending on going straight to bed, but not get there until 12:30 because I've just been debriefing with my parents, in the kitchen or their bedroom.

I'm telling you this so you can understand my sense of guilt at leaving them. I feel a little like I'm abandoning them when things are tough. This trip has been in the planning since well before stress arose, and my parents want me to go, but it's always hard to leave the people you support when they need it the most.

This trip is going to be great. Probably a little scary at times, but I can't think of anything that might realistically happen that I can't handle, although I'm intentionally not imagining too hard. I'm pretty certain I've got God's support for it, which is a huge blessing, and I can't wait for a proper winter with snow. Finding a new church, and fitting into a new community will be exciting, as will getting to know my flatmates. My biggest concern at the moment is finances - currently I don't have quite enough money, but I have several solutions for this, so it'll all be good. Who knows how I'll go with culture shock or homesickness, but my intention is to keep off instant communication (facebook, phone, skype) as much as possible especially in the beginning, because I know from experience these don't do anything to help. Letters, emails, blogs will be my communication of choice, so please post any comments here rather than on the facebook post of my blogs (I have it set up to automatically post my blogs as notes on fb).

If you're a praying person, please pray for youth group, as I leave it and it takes a new form of leadership - there is potential for it to crash and burn, but with prayer, support and dedication by the leaders it will be fine until a new youth worker comes along. Please pray for my parents and anyone else whom I support, entertain or distract. Please pray that I'll settle quickly, happily and without too much fuss, and that I won't worry about money. Please thank God for the opportunities I'm getting - studying overseas, working at Iona (7 weeks in the shop over the summer holidays), travelling around, meeting new people, and for the work God's doing in laying the foundations - phenomenally fast acceptances, unexpected money, random (yet very handy) connections.

And that's about all. I have 5 more sleeps until takeoff, an enormous amount of clothing to cut down on, and Christmas to survive. My bedroom is a pigsty, and I know that if I leave it messy, the mess will just wait 12 months. I still have presents to buy for Christmas, and baking to do. I have no idea if I've filled out all the correct utas forms, or if I'll get snotty letters. If I were told I had to leave tomorrow, I'd probably fail completely at taking anything useful, but who cares. I'm going to England for 12 months. I'm going to study medieval history surrounded by the stuff. I'll see my new niece, travel around Europe, make new life-long friends, and have an adventure with God by my side. Who can ask for anything more?

If you're reading this on facebook, add my actual blog (http://jabberingfool.blogspot.com) to your rss feed - it will update quicker, and you'll be able to comment on my posts rather than my facebook notes (better for posterity and for my reminiscing in the future).

Quite frankly quite awesome

Check out these Star Wars Themed hoodies. Who wouldn't think you're the coolest person in the world when you're dressed as a Storm Trooper and still toasty?

Or cruising the streets dressed as an X-Wing Fighter Pilot?

Reminds me of those suits you get for little kids - the Spiderman costume,

or the monster suit

But really, they're just for our inner-nerds, and isn't it about time they were given a chance to shine. Although if you are a little embarrassed, maybe the Storm Trooper, with it's total face covering zip-up hood would be the most appropriate.

Endings.

It's been one of those days. You know. Those ones. They're neither amazing nor terrible. My evening was good fun, watching movies with some friends, but there was a recurring theme of waiting things out to see if they got any better, only for them not to. First I was watching a terribly sad doco on the Darrell Lea family. I think the family policy of 'whatever happens in the family, work comes first' summarises it all. The company is held in higher esteem than any family connections, including between brothers or father and son. It was incredibly disillusioning, and a powerful lesson about how destructive ambition can be. I kept watching because I didn't want to miss a potentially decent ending, and go away with the wrong impression. But there was no happy ending.

Then we watched He Died with a Felafel in His Hand, which was also a little disappointing at the end. We watched it out, wondering where it was going, and hoping for a happy ending. But once again there wasn't, and we were just confused about what had happened, and why we'd kept watching.

I'm sure there's some kind of anecdotal lesson in this, but I'll have to think about it to see what it is. It was a fun evening anyway, we also watched Flushed Away which I enjoy a lot, and just hanging out with friends is always fantastic, no matter what you're doing.

I promise not to comandeer a chieftain tank in order to invade Paris.

Points to whoever can identify my title reference. Without Google.

This time in five weeks, I shall be very close to arriving in Singapore, quite possibly looking forward to getting away from a slightly tipsy, over-chatty Welshman. Hang on. that was last time... Mum suggested yesterday that I start to work out which clothes I should take. Perhaps a little early to actually start stacking them up (they'll just go back into the wardrobe as quickly as they come out), but it's certainly time to start wondering which clothes I should replace (jeans), which need cleaning (downie) and which are just perfect as they are (ummm?). Then in a couple of weeks I'll start actually doing something about it.

Still hasn't sunk in that I'm going. Haven't really done much preparation except get my tickets and travel insurance, and practise jumping up and down excitedly in my head.

Anyway, in outdated preparation for living in the United Kingdom, I watched through the 12 episodes of Fawlty Towers over the weekend. I'd forgotten quite a few bits, but one of the best is here at 1:12.

If you're reading this on facebook, check it out in infinitely cooler form at my blog.

Checkerboard Cake

On mentioning how much I wanted to have a go at making this cake, I was told to put photos of it up. So here they are :) And no, I do not ever want to be a food photographer, so don't expect beautiful shots of glossy food on pristine plates. :P

So it's not going to turn out like this, but it's looking quite cool. Was looking through my Green and Black's Chocolate Recipes book, and found this, read the instructions and realised that it isn't nearly as complicated as it looked.

Part one was making two batches of mixture - chocolate and vanilla, but I didn't take a photo of them. Then I had to pipe the mixture into pans and bake them. You must note that this was my first ever go at piping, so excuse the wobbliness :D

Then, when they had cooled, I spread apricot jam (homemade, yummm!) on each layer, and stuck them together.

Then came the icing, which also is not amazing, but should taste good. Was supposed to be ganache, which is always so much better, but I didn't have any chocolate to melt for it.

So now I must just wait for the icing to set so I can cut it, and see if it looks at all checkerboardish.

A short time later:

I'm pretty excited that this worked! Yes it's a bit wonky, but it still looks great I reckon.

It tastes pretty good too, although I think there is perhaps a little too much butter. I already reduced it a little, but I might do so again if I use this recipe again.

But there you go. It wasn't very complicated, although it took a while. And it was pretty satisfying to cut it and find that it worked.

Bliss

I suspect "study heaven" is a contradiction in terms, but if it were possible, this would be it. Perhaps minus the weird smell, which I can't post a photo of.

The only problem is that I have to fight the urge to pull out the gardening gloves and get weeding. That's for AFTER exams.

If you're reading this on facebook, see the original at my blog, which is so much cooler than facebook notes. For the first on my overseas adventures next year.

Procrastination stage 2

I was procrastinating so much I never documented stage 1 of this fabulous journey that ends in blissful holidays, but all you really need to know is that it involved much cleaning.

By this stage I am getting a little beyond house cleaning and cake baking, and have moved onto greener pastures. Literally.



So I took some pretty photos of the garden. Thought it was going to evaporate yesterday, so was much steam rising up, but didn't get photos of that. Got some of rain drops and other pretty things, and was happy.


But today things took a turn for the worse. I was forced to spend several hours creating pointless tableaux from lego and cars. Painful I know. Out in the sunshine and fresh air, all for this:






And thus I move closer to procrastination stage 3. Who knows what that will involve.

For all the photos, click here.

Right now, I'm eating scrambled eggs, with a comb, from a shoe.

Due to a number of complaints about the length of blogs on this website, management will allocate only a small space for future entries and will not tolerate the propagation of superfluous information.

Title: University of East Anglia
Departure: 28 December, 10:30am, Hobart Airport
University orientation: 6 January
University start: 11 January
Easter break: 20 March - 18 April
Assessment: 4 May - 11 June
Holidays: 12 June - 26 September
Autumn Semester: 27-17 December
Return: 27 December

First choice subjects
Spring Semester: Latin for Historians, Landscape II, British Intelligence in the 20th Century - Myth and Reality.
Autumn Semester: Translation Theory and Practice, Modern Germany 1866-1945, Medieval English

Holiday and Tourist ideas
Volunteer at Iona (application submitted)
Volunteer at Greenbelt
Visit Stu and Elly in Bulgaria
Visit friends in Austria
Go to Eurovision in Norway
Go to random places with super cheap flights
Anything else anyone suggests.

He's up there... mewing in the nerve centre of his evil empire.

Sometimes an organisation just blows me over with its independence. Over the past couple of days, I have developed a strong respect for the independence of a certain administrative cell group. This independence is of a special variety. The OED gives several definitions of 'independence', but this administrative cell group is so independent it does not even adhere to the common rules of the English language. In fact, they are so independent, the independence is passed on to each member of the staff, and each is willing and able to work quite independently from each other. Another thing I admire is their determination to keep this independence. Not for them is the curse of conformity of opinion or knowledge. Each holds their own knowledge, and it is their's alone, not for anyone else to know. Sometimes this fierce determination to maintain independence is taken to the point of hiding even the existence of the knowledge. The members of this administrative cell group work hard and receive little reward for their toil and trouble. They are the ultimate protectors of independence. So next time you're on the 5th floor of the humanities building, lift your hat and give a cheer. They (well, one member) may hear, and they certainly won't pass it on.

Turn left at the dead badger

Look. It's a rat. a great big rat. In the stove. It had a friend. I don't know where its friend went, but I hope it wasn't off to have ratty babies. Come to think of it, I don't know where this one went either. I wish them all the best, and hope they have a wonderful life together, far from here.

The Elephant and the Balloon

So I did that Facebook list thing - 15 books that have been the most influential in my life, without thinking too hard. It took far longer than it perhaps should have, as I went blank, then later remembered a whole heap of others. Here's my original list:

1. Cold Comfort Farm (Stella Gibbons)
2. Lord of the Rings (Tolkein)
3. Bible (God)
4. Secret Garden (Frances Hodgson Burnett)
5. Things Fall Apart (Chinua Achebe)
6. The Book Thief (Marcus Zusak)
7. The Poisonwood Bible (Barbara Kingsolver)
8. Northanger Abbey (Jane Austen)
9. Time Traveller's Wife (Audrey Niffenegger)
10. Famous Five (Enid Blyton)
11. Almost any Terry Pratchett
12. Dracula (Bram Stoker)
13. Catch-22 (Joseph Heller)
14. Brave New World (Aldous Huxley)
15. The Horse and his Boy (CS Lewis)

Followed by the extras I would have added if I could have had a few more spots (or even replaced some of the above with):

The Dark is Rising Sequence (Susan Cooper)
Two Caravans (Marina Lewyecka)
Dune (Frank Herbert)
Empyrion (Stephen Lawhead)
Obernewtyn (Isabelle Carmody)
Cloudstreet (Tim Winton)
In the Hall of the Dragon King (Stephen Lawhead)
Tom's Midnight Garden (Philippa Pearce)
The Elijah Bailey books (Isaac Asimov)
1984 (George Orwell)
Taming of the Shrew (Shakespeare)

What were my criteria? To tell the truth, there weren't really any specifics. Some people looked at books they reread a lot, others at books they felt they had to read, and I just looked at books I always remember. A lot of these books have just one or two scenes that have stuck with me, such as the final scenes of Brave New World, or when Shasta and Bree are travelling along the cliff edge at night, with Aslan protecting them from falling, in The Horse and His Boy.

Some of the others I re-read regularly for the story, like The Secret Garden, Empyrion and Terry Pratchetts. Empyrion (especially the first) plays like a movie in my head as I read it, and even now I recall large chunks of narrative in movie form, although I haven't read them for a few years. Some I listed for the way they made me think about the world, 1984 being the slightly stereo-typical one of them, but also Things Fall Apart and The Book Thief, which gave me new perspectives to mull over.

And then others I listed because they are books of my childhood, read over and over, and yet still loved (and still read). Famous Five (yes I still re-read these occasionally) Dark is Rising Sequence and In the Hall of the Dragon King are some of them.

Of course not all fit into one of these categories, some are books I studied at school or uni (Cloudstreet, Things Fall Apart, Northanger Abbey). To some studying a book ruins it, but I find that I often like the book far more after, because of the intimate knowledge I have of it. I can appreciated the humour more knowing who the author aimed it at, I can see the lessons being taught. Of course it doesn't always work. There are some books I plan on never ever ever picking up again, but that's more related to the fact I didn't like the book in the first place, and couldn't care less about learning anything about it.

Lastly, I would like to thank my parents for raising me with books. To my Dad for reading me Lord of the Rings every night when I was seven, to Mum for taking me to the library, or collecting me after school when I'd taken out too many books to carry. For Sunday afternoon trips to Book City (the smell of which still transports me back 15 years). For letting me read anything, with nothing more than a warning that 'this book might be a bit complicated, but give it a go'. For all the times I've stood in our lounge room staring at the bookshelves, being advised by Mum or Dad on what to read next. For letting me (or perhaps even expecting me) just sit quietly in the corner with a book at dinner parties, afternoon teas, lunches, before church, in the car, on the plane, in front of the fire, on buses, while for parental meetings to finish, at restaurants or almost anywhere else.* For teaching me the necessity of being able to just sit quietly and amuse oneself, and how easy that is with a book. That is one invaluable lesson I will be passing on to my children.**




*please note that this may make me sound like a very anti-social child. I wasn't really. The partner lesson to being able to read anywhere, is learning to tell the difference between when you should and when you shouldn't. I think sometimes my teachers wished I was a little more anti-social sometimes, if my reports are anything to go by.

** I think I'll try to accompany that with a love of reading non-fiction and textbooks though. Haven't quite grasped those yet. Usually I find just sitting and staring at the clouds preferable. That's a problem.

Where it's all at.

I got exciting news yesterday. My first pref uni wants me to apply for exchange with them. I'm in the process of filling out forms with details about me, my course, my major/minor (umm, two majors?), my passports (although my aussie one is about to expire, so will have to update those details sometime) and my subject choices. I have to get utas faculty approval for the subjects I would like to credit towards my majors, which means getting hold of lots more information about the 'modules' than is in the module guides. Which means waiting until lecturers and people come off summer holidays and check their emails.

It's all very exciting! Currently I'm still looking into options for filling my summer break, but there's one place that's really caught my eye. It's a place called Iona, mainly in the Inner Hebrides, and they take volunteers to do various stuff. History nerds may recognise the name of the island, as it's where Columcille (Saint Columba) settled, and perhaps where the Book of Kells was partially created. My brother volunteered there ten years ago, and has (I think, it was via email) enthusiastically endorsed my interest in going there.

2 posts in 1 year? Amazing!

I'm trying to work out the best look for the blog. Does anyone else have trouble reading the white on grey, or is it just that I don't have my glasses on? I like the appearance, but perhaps not for practicality?

Also, can someone please tell me how to make my heading picture fliexible in size? I'm on a widescreen computer, so it looks all good to me, but I suspect it will just make smaller screens scroll sideways, rather than fitting itself.

Anyway, read my slightly more intersting post below now! :)

It's time.

There seem to be blogs popping up everywhere at the moment, and they reminded me of all the midnight inspiration I never wrote down. Just for the record, you'll note I've had this blog for many years, since 2004 in fact, when blogs were a relatively new thing. So I'm not ACTUALLY following a trend, I've merely been remotivated to share the minutae of my life with the wider world, while trying to look intelligent (or at least interesting/funny).

So, next year I'm hoping to head off to England on exchange. Yep, another exchange (check my 2005 posts for previous exchange adventures). I had a great time in Austria, but this is going to be so much better. For one, I won't be blogging as much. I blogged a RIDICULOUS amount back then! But if you look down the list at number of posts per month, you can tell when I changed host families....

But I will blog a little, to keep you all up to date on what I'm seeing and doing, as well as to record my memories for posterity. And so I should get into practice. From this day forth I shall blog about the trivial and the vital. But for those of you who are new to my writing style, here are a few tips:

1. turn off your logic control when you read. I generally write as my brain goes, and while the connections may make sense to me, I can't guarantee they will to you. Just go with the flow.
   
2. ask questions (while I'm away, well no, anytime, but while I'm away I reckon you'll actually have questions). Give me direction for my posts. Trust me. It's worth it. I've just reread some of my old posts, and boy am I a good waffler.
3. be prepared for the absurd to be juxtapositioned with the average. I make strange connections and say things in weird ways. Imagine it in my voice and it might make sense. I write blogs like I'm having a conversation.
   
4. Ummm. Nup, that's it.

So anyway, since everyone keeps asking, I'll explain the whole exchange thing.

England. Well, I shall be looking out for rastafarians and moustached flat capped men. But I'll also be visiting my brother, sister-in-law and niece. And gawking at all the medieval history in the place.

I am studying Arts Law, and doing a double arts major in history and german. Because of the way I've organised all my subjects, at this point in time I've got 2 history units and 2 german units left before my majors are complete. So next year I'm going to take a year off law, and go to the University of East Anglia (hopefully, provided they like my application) for a year. Currently I have been approved by utas to go on exchange, and now just have to wait for uea to approve utas to nominate me... or something. May be a while before I know. I've put in an application to get a loan that will go onto my hecs debt (pah, what's another 10 grand when I'm going to be a rich lawyer. ha.), and am preparing to enter battle with centrelink to convince them I deserve youth allowance.

There's some confusion involved in the whole process, largely because utas is occasionally administratively challenged, so I've been told about 4 different things about applying for scholarships. I think I shall contact the scholarships office directly.

I plan to fly out just after Christmas. Flights seem to go up about $800 on the 1st of Jan, so it'll be before then. I'll stay over there for a year, and come back after Christmas 2010. This is all hypothetical and dependant on many many things, but we'll see what happens.

I'm currently working out what to do in the summer holidays. They seem to be about 17 weeks, and I'd like to work/volunteer somewhere for some of that time. I'm looking around to see what's on offer, somewhere that provide bed and board would be great. So if you have any ideas, let me know. I like to be part of a community, rather than outside it like a tourist. It's so much more interesting to be on the inside, working behind the scenes, and I know I have skills I can use to help somewhere.

So there you have it. My plan. Who knows how it will turn out. Maybe I'll be rejected and will finish law next year. Maybe I'll end up at my 3rd preference of Leipzig. But stay tuned here, and you'll be the first to know. After me of course.

Oh by the way. Did anyone see my photo on ABC weather on Friday? That makes it three submitted, and three used. I really am an old lady stuck in a young person's body.

Terribly sorry about the slightly boring return to the blogoquad, but I'm now off to reflect on God's intentions when he decided to give flies loud wings in quiet bedrooms. And how to kill said flies with the least effort.