Real Life Returns

I’m sure after all these posts of the travels I’m done, it’s beginning to look like all I do is play. Clearly I was able to travel a lot this summer. Italy for 9 days, Amsterdam for 4 and then Ireland for 6 days. I've also hit a few more local places: Brighton for a day to see the UK's version of Atlantic City, Bath (with the probability of a trip to the Cotswolds and the West cost of England), and Richmond for the day. Not bad given that a primary objective for this trip to London was travel. I've also booked trips to Budapest and Lake Como in October. HOWEVER.... as sexy and glamorous as I know this may sound, real life is creeping back up. I assure that’s not entirely the case. I’ve literally been knee deep in flat-hunting for MONTHS! I thought I found a place and just got a late email that the woman apparently gave the flat away without telling me! Ruthless around here! The standard of living here is SO different. I would argue way worse than NYC. I’ve been paying more than I paid for my 2 bedroom flat that I had alone in Chicago for a 4 bedroom shared house with ONE bathroom that’s tiny! Some of the flats I’ve looked at are just ridiculous. At this point, I’m honestly contemplating just stashing bags at friends’ houses and being homeless when I return from the States so I can save rent money for the month of September. Not exactly my preferred style of “feeling settled” …. But it might be what has to happen.

Also, it's worth noting that I actually AM doing schoolwork. To elaborate, I'm doing a RESEARCH project which I'm totally overwhelmed by. I hate research. Reading journal articles I don't mind so much. But designing scientifically valid research methodology for a primary research project including detail on how you're going to code and analyze data is a nightmare! As soon as I start reading about analysis systems my head starts to spin, my eyes glaze over and everything in my body goes numb…. Ok, maybe nothing goes numb. That’s an exaggeration…but it’s close. We don’t get any extra time to finish this thesis like most people get at the end of their program. It’s just do at the end of exams, so I’m feeling a bit nervous about getting it all done. If anyone is good at SPSS or statistical analysis, let me know! I may hire you!

And then there's considering what I want to do when I return to the United States. Given that I'm more than halfway through this exploratory adventure, I realize that "what's next" is something I'm going to have to start thinking about soon. I've certainly started to narrow down what I'm looking for. I've ruled a lot of things out, and been reminded of a lot of things I'd forgotten. Such as the fact that I really enjoy writing! I guess this may not be a shocker given that I've started a blog, hahaha. But for me it's been a nice reminder. And despite the fact that I'm here to get my Masters degree.... I'm not sure I want to work for the kind of company that will require that I have a Masters. I just don't know that the piece of paper is the most important thing in an employee.

Blah blah. I'm droning on. This is just to let you know that this trip has remained a personal exploration for me. It's not all crazy trips and nonstop playing. As much as one hopes that going away means you don't have to think about anything aside from what you're doing, it's not true. But I'm reassured that I've continued to learn more about myself, grow as a person, expand my network of friends and loved ones, and experience things I could only have dreamed I'd be doing a year ago.

So currently we are heading into the bank holiday weekend (our version of Labor Day) and this morning I took a train out of the city again down to the Isle of Wight where my friend Ashley’s boyfriend has a house. Admittedly, I’m feeling pretty lucky to have an opportunity to just go stay for free along the coast, go boating, lay at the pool…. J I’ve been missing those “typical summer” type of activities. As I was sitting on the train going through the British countryside, I was reminded again of just how pretty it is here. It’s sort of fun to sit and listen to the 20 year old boys that seem to be going on a party weekend speak with their British accents in the seats around me, talking about how “fit” a girl is. Ha! Out the train window, I pass by rolling hills, the lush green trees and the sporadic lakes that are sprinkled throughout the countryside. It’s nice to just soak in this experience. It’s really funny how despite how much I HATE the constant rain around here, it really does make the grass and trees SO much greener.

I also had my train ticket checked on board – standard procedure – and was told that my student ticket that I bought is only valid if I have a special student rail card (which I do not have). Today I’m thankful for being a cute girl when the ticket checkers are young guys so I can sweetly smile, feign innocence and get away with a warning instead of a fine for buying the wrong pass.  Eeek!

Hope everyone has an awesome weekend! Expect a post after the weekend with more fun photos from the Isle of Wight.