I've weighed my options

I have pros and cons lists for both. I just don't know what to do. Honestly.

Everyone says, "Oh- you've come this far. You should continue! You like it!" Yeah. I do. I also like to eat hostess cupcakes and ride my horse.

And let's not forget the over 100k in debt I'll be by the time I get out of here. And then I'll be searching for a job that doesn't pay that well and isn't steady.

I love it here. I do. I've met so many famous (albeit archaeologically) people that sometimes my brain ceases to work because I'm starstruck (this lasts until I see them standing in front of the elevator swearing at it because for some reason known only to the elevator, it has bypassed the ground floor. Again.). There are times though where I feel like I'm in this bubble and that the longer I stay here, the worse it's going to be when it bursts. And the worse it's going to be.

This isn't meant to be a downer post- I'm not up nights crying about how I have too many options. I just like having a plan even if it's sit on the couch and eat oreos until the milk is gone. That's a plan!

So... who wants to decide my next move because I'm doing a crap job of it.

paper finished, here's a post

Sometimes when I'm walking home, I'll catch myself being completely comfortable in my surroundings. And I don't want that! I don't want London to turn into this place that I live. I don't want to fall in a routine here and have it just kind of pass me by. I have to remind myself to not get used to things.

Then, there are other times where I do something stupid like get on the wrong train or say dollar instead of pound. I'll be sitting on the bus and go "Holy crap! I'm in London!" I told that to my friend Hannah and she looked at me like a crazy woman and said "Yes. Yes you are." Later she admitted she felt the same way sometimes (she's Welsh. Which means she's rabid about being Welsh.).

Anyway, the point to my story is that I miss horses and if someone would kindly ship me Kate I'd be grateful.

A little bit about london and the weather

Londoners (and I can only speak for them because my first trip out of the city proper is tomorrow) can't handle the weather. Any weather. Anything that happens here other than overcast sky is overwhelming.

When the clouds break and the sun comes out, people stop and stare at it. DO NOT STARE AT THE SUN PEOPLE! IT WILL BURN YOUR RETINAS!

I understand it doesn't come out often. Hell, when I was home I stood outside on main street for 15 minutes soaking it up because I get to see it so rarely here. But kids in elementary school in the US know not to stare directly at the sun. Perhaps it needs to be taught here to grade schoolers?

When it snows, people lose their minds. Now, as someone who would regularly drive 60 mph before, after, and during a snowstorm, I understand I'm a bit more used to transporting myself when it snows. However, an inch of snow is no reason for trains to cease working, for the underground to have severe delays, and to sand the sidewalks of central london. It will be gone in an hour anyway in most places, and it never sticks to the ground of central london anyway! How about working on leveling those sidewalks instead so I don't roll my ankle every 5 steps when I feel like wearing heels to go out!

And now, to rain. I know what you think. They can't possibly be afraid of rain here. It rains all the damn time! Except it doesn't. It mists or spits or THREATENS to rain. But it doesn't really rain. There are no gully inducing downpours here. Even the thunderstorms are anemic. Last night the big news was it was going to rain an entire month's worth in one night. One NIGHT! There were warnings that the trains and tube would have delays, getting anywhere was going to be a problem, don't plan on being on time (no one here ever thinks of getting up 10 mins earlier because there is going to be "bad weather." And for that I salute them. I wish it was like that at home where there was REAL bad weather).

Anyway, a month's worth of rain in one night. Wow.

Except...

A MONTH'S WORTH OF RAIN HERE IS ONE INCH! 2.5 GODDAMN CENTIMETERS! Seriously, it was like an on and off steady rain last night. Not hard, not driving... Just solid raindrops of discernible size. As opposed to the random drops that normally occur which may or may not be spittle from a close talker.

I never knew how rough I had it in NY weatherwise until I came here. These people simply would not survive. Meanwhile, I feel far superior. I feel like I should storytell in pubs about my childhood growing up and dealing with feet of snow, inches of rain, and the sun shining while gumball sized hail rained down on me as I was bringing in horses. All the while the Londoners would be rapt, admiring, saying "Ooo how did you ever survive! You must be a bionic woman!"

And I will say "yes," modestly. "Yes I am. Now buy me a beer and let me tell you about hurricanes and the time the monarch butterfly population exploded and clogged everyone's car engines."

I am a pervert

When I first saw this on the cover of the newspaper I said "Ooo hot guy with a horse." And then I threw up in my mouth because that's Harry Potter, the play is Equus, and he's 17. I am a pervert.

These things are all over the tube...

What it would be like if I ran things

Seriously, England is the most inefficient place. I've never been anyplace- and this includes Cyprus where people work about 2 actual hours and smoke, drink and nap for the remainder of their "work" day- where it's ok that important paperwork doesn't get filed or there is such a lack of communication between offices.

The first example would be my first day of registration. Seriously, who still uses paper registration at a university anymore. Suny Albany, with it's inability to replace the lightbulbs in the smart classrooms due to the budget not being balanced on time, has successfully been registering people online for years. The students at Appalachia Community College think my school needs to update it's technology.

Second example, my financial aid. It repeatedly comes in late, I still get notices saying I haven't paid my tuition eventhough the school takes their cut before I get my check, and no matter how many times I go in to tell them this and they tell me they'll take care of it, I still get emails saying I haven't paid.

Third example, our gas bill. Here you pay utilities every three months. I paid ours in January. Since then I've gotten a notice saying our gas was going to be shut off. I called, and on their automated answering service, an actual choice is "to tell us you've paid, press 2." Seriously. They don't know unless I call and tell them?

And finally, I have to go back to the city council tomorrow to take care of our council tax (like property tax except students are exempt). I went last month and gave them the paperwork to show that we were all students. They told me not to worry about going to the court date and all of the fees would be removed. I got a letter today saying we owe 1000 pounds and a fine for missing our court dates. I have documentation so I'm not worried.

But come on. I don't like to take care of my business as it is (for reference see "Casey's lack of valid drivers license from 2000-2005) and all they're doing is encouraging me to be worse. If it weren't for the fact that Jen and Lily seem to care about having a warrant out for their arrest in Crouch End, Harringey Council could go shit in their hats.

They'd never take me alive anyway.

Weird smells

I took the bus to the institute today. This is not where I smelled the weird smells.

Walking to the building, London smelled like apple juice. Then, when I went into the library, it smelled like apple juice again.

The only explanation is a truck full of apples crashed into the building, squishing them and making juice which then spilled everywhere. I guess a truck full of apple juice could have tipped over, too. Whichever.

Anyway. That's what happened and they managed to clean it up before I got there at noon.

Yeah.