Saturday, December 11, 2004
Getting out
Sometimes I have experiences that remind me that by deciding to come live here, I did not just sign on to improve my own life -- I have been given the opportunity to help other people as well. This has never been more evident than tonight, when I have just discovered The Phantom of the Opera doesn't open in America until the 22nd. You see, over here it opened yesterday. And it's no shocker that I've been looking forward to it, albeit with apprehension due to the fact that Joel Schumacher is very...no. Well, for all of you in America, let me tell you the film BLOWS. Also, it also blows for an hour too long. I can watch a bad movie if it's pretty. This one ranks very high on the pretty scale and I still wanted a chandelier to fall on my head after about half an hour. Shit.
I have really exciting plans for Christmas break! Louis is driving me down to England so I can stay at his house in Norfolk for a few days, then I'll go to Laura's house in Wetton for Christmas. Wetton is this tiny little village in the middle of rural England, so that should be an adventure. Even more of an adventure was trying to figure out how to get back up to Aberdeen in time to pick up Luke from the airport. He's flying in at 4 PM on the 27th. Ideally, I would take a train back to Aberdeen on the 26th and everything would be lovely, but due to something called Boxing Day there are no train services that day. I asked Rosie what people did on Boxing Day. "They sit around and eat lots of food and watch television," she told me. Yes, that sounds like a great reason not to let me go home in time to pick up my boyfriend from the airport.
After searching high and low for a train that would get me back to Aberdeen before 4 PM on the 27th, but I had to settle for getting there a few hours after Luke. Rosie will have to pick him up from the airport and hang out with him for a while, which is going to be such a weird situation for them that I kind of wish I was going to be there. You know, in addition to how badly I wish I was going to be there anyway, because I love him and all.
I'm so excited for my British road trip. I realize I actually haven't left Aberdeen since I got here, so I'll be glad to get out and see more of the country. All the other people I know studying abroad this year seem to have done some serious getting around, but I haven't really had the time or money to do that yet. In a way, this may have prevented it from really sinking in that I live in Europe, because I still feel so removed from the rest of it. Life is so contained in Aberdeen. Sometimes I imagine if I walked to the city limits, I would encounter an impenetrable wall of fog, perfectly matching the gray color scheme of the city, of course. I need to get out, yo!
I have really exciting plans for Christmas break! Louis is driving me down to England so I can stay at his house in Norfolk for a few days, then I'll go to Laura's house in Wetton for Christmas. Wetton is this tiny little village in the middle of rural England, so that should be an adventure. Even more of an adventure was trying to figure out how to get back up to Aberdeen in time to pick up Luke from the airport. He's flying in at 4 PM on the 27th. Ideally, I would take a train back to Aberdeen on the 26th and everything would be lovely, but due to something called Boxing Day there are no train services that day. I asked Rosie what people did on Boxing Day. "They sit around and eat lots of food and watch television," she told me. Yes, that sounds like a great reason not to let me go home in time to pick up my boyfriend from the airport.
After searching high and low for a train that would get me back to Aberdeen before 4 PM on the 27th, but I had to settle for getting there a few hours after Luke. Rosie will have to pick him up from the airport and hang out with him for a while, which is going to be such a weird situation for them that I kind of wish I was going to be there. You know, in addition to how badly I wish I was going to be there anyway, because I love him and all.
I'm so excited for my British road trip. I realize I actually haven't left Aberdeen since I got here, so I'll be glad to get out and see more of the country. All the other people I know studying abroad this year seem to have done some serious getting around, but I haven't really had the time or money to do that yet. In a way, this may have prevented it from really sinking in that I live in Europe, because I still feel so removed from the rest of it. Life is so contained in Aberdeen. Sometimes I imagine if I walked to the city limits, I would encounter an impenetrable wall of fog, perfectly matching the gray color scheme of the city, of course. I need to get out, yo!
