The United Stizzies

So I am on the train to NYC and am pretty excited about leaving the City of Brotherly Love behind. I had a great dinner last night with an alum but the city is just not my favorite. No offense to any die hard Philly fans out there! I've been trying to be cognizant of how much money I am spending hotels but it's landed me in Chinatown on many occasion during this trip. If Vermont had a Chinatown I probably would have stayed in it. :) Positive to that is they do a cheap pedicure but the negative to that is that sometimes it isn't the nicest part of town. For instance, there was a lovely gentlemen selling t-shirts on the street that said "Obama- Prizzy of the United Stizzy"  I'm fairly certain he did not approve that message! KT and Nichole are meeting me in NYC so I am so excited and then I get to stay with Brooke and Mike so am very excited about my NYC leg of the journey,. And just found out my brother is there until today so we are meeting for lunch!!

Big Willie Style

We had a nice event in Boston and one of the guys who was there has an email address of "circleofwillie@...."  Well, I told him I thought his email was funny. He said, oh do you get it? He says it's the blood vessels in your brain that are a circle and it's called the circle of willis. Right, that is why I thought it was funny... Sometimes it is better if I just keep quiet. :)

Moose on the loose

Or I wish it was...I am in Vermont for work and there are "moose crossing" signs all over the place. I have become obsessed with spotting a moose. Have never seen one before. I even dreamed about moose last night. Today, I was driving from Middlebury to the Bread Loaf School (near a Robert Frost trail) and the sign said "moose" and then below that was another sign that said "stay alert". I'm like sign, you don't have to tell me twice that I need to be alert. I'm always on the watch for moose! But the sign kind of has the opposite effect on me. Instead of watching the road in front I start to slow down and think I will see a moose just sipping water by the stream or hiding in the woods. I have seen no moose... I am fairly certain that Vermont is America's best kept secret. Or did everyone besides me know how gorgeous it is? I'm staying in \Burlington right on the lake and it is gorgeous. The leaves are starting to turn and the weather is beautiful. Loving rediscovering the motherland. :) I'm trying to fully take advantage of Vermont living. This morning I woke up early and went to a cafe to have blueberry pancakes and Vermont maple syrup, then I went for a very brief run by the lake and am planning on getting my Ben and Jerry's on for dinner tonight. Wish me luck on the moose hunt!

Kind of a big deal

I got "man of the match" yesterday for my soccer team. Basically everyone puts in 50 p (pence) after the game and votes on who they think played the best. We lost 10-1 and I got man of the match which I actually don't think is super flattering. Basically, everyone played really badly so I think I got it by being the least awful. But I'm taking the title and running with it. :) Of course it only lasts a week until a new "man of the match" is crowned. But I am tricking them and am going to be out for the next couple of weeks since I'm coming to the States for work. So they may crown another "man of the match" next Sunday but in my mind it will still be me. I can barely walk today though. I was taken out a couple of times and slide tackling is legal over here so I was slide tackling all over the place. I did have a talk with the team at half time and tell them that I was no used to such negative yelling and that they needed to make it a little more positive for me. HA!!! I mean one girl yelled at another girl and told her she was standing there like a statue and to move her ***. Can't play with people yelling at each other - no siree. :) I leave for Boston on Wednesday and am excited. I have not packed at all and am heading to London tonight for a work meeting. Oh and I went to the doctor today (which is 2 blocks away) to get prescriptions refilled and when I was at the pharmacy (one block away) I realized I had left my passport at the doctor's office. I sware... I'm having serious passport issues. It's crazy here though. Went to the doctor signed in, chatted for about 10 minutes, she gave me 6 months worth of prescription, I said thanks, didn't pay a thing and walked out. Go to the pharmacy, takes 5 minutes to give me 4 months of the prescription, I buy some kleenex and kind of keep the prescription out in case they need to charge me and all I'm charged is for the kleenex!!! I mean I'd heard you didn't have to pay but was still kind of in denial. Amazing!!!!

Hell of a day

I was supposed to meet a lovely couple that I met through Meredith in London today. I took the bus in and was already about 30 minutes late when I found out that the metro line that I needed was broken. Well I'm one to usually go into taxi/panic mode if my Normal route has been compromised (so dramatic). So I take a taxi to the Wimbledon station. Well it gets up to 45 pounds and I once again hit panic I have no more pounds/take to the streets mode so I have him pull over. Well I have been suspicious that the british are rubbish at giving directions but it was confirmed today. He said the stop is right at the end of the street. The end of the street in fact meant the street ended in two blocks and then I needed to take a right walk down a massive hill then go through another part of town and then would find the station on the left. So I finally get to the station and seeing as though I'm nearly 2 hours late, they are nowhere to be found. So I get the bus back into town and have to ask about ten people how to get the bus back to Oxford before someone actually gives me the right directions. It was like a bad game of hotter, hotter, colder, really cold. So basically I got home around 4pm and had left home at 9 am. Good times all around...

Can't teach an old dog new tricks...

So with my new life in England I thought I would have this fabulous fresh start and I would in fact be fabulous but it seems as though I am still quite myself. I play soccer with one new friend and I've probably hung out with him 10 times. I told him my passport story and he said "classic Jane". How does he already know that is classic Jane? How am I already a fool in two months? I can run from my old self but I cannot hide. Then this morning, I met a fellow who is one of the smartest people and I believe shook hands with the Queen earlier this year. I stand up to meet him and hit my legs on my desk and my computer screen falls towards him. I catch it because even though I am clumsy I am also quite quick :)  Then my boss says  something like "Jane forever graceful" CRAP!!! When else has she seen me be myself?!?! So here I am, in a new country, being my classic ungraceful self. :)

Adventures in clothes washing...

So I have a new temporary Italian roomate. She is moving back to italy in November but needed a place to stay for a bit. Tonight I was showing her how to use the washing machine and I am showing her where to put the washing detergent. She is like no Jane the softener goes here. That's right, I've been 'washing' my clothes for over a month with softener!!!! They are dirty as hell but couldn't be any softer! Glad someone who speaks Italian could help the poor English speaker out.

Just thought you would like to know

I have my tv paused because my washing machine sounds like it is going to blast off at any minute . I think it's because it has to spin the hell out of clothes since there aren't dryers in this country!!

That is all for now...

How the other side lives...

I had a meeting with my boss and two professors today and I got to eat in the "other room". It's where the faculty and head of the college eat. We staff eat in the dining hall (which in itself is pretty awesome) but they get a sign listing their lunch choices. Today I could pick from fish, lamb or pasta. Then we have cheese after our lunches. Then we go upstairs and have coffee or tea. In this room there are about 8 different newspapers of the day like in a nice hotel. In the staff section we eat quickly and then head back upstairs. No educational enrichment for us! So funny how we are kept separate.

Continuing on with my stupidity

It is a constant fight in the apartment to keep the musty smell away so the windows are always open or I'm always lighting candles. So this morning at about 8:30 I had the candle lit in the bathroom and was putting on lotion and turned around and the candle was up in flames. I guess a strong wind had come through the window and dropped some q tips into the candle because they were on fire. The fire alarm went off and now I've lost my nice bathroom candle. I left it at home filled with water in case it miraculously caught on fire again and burned the place down. Good times...

Travel restrictions

Just when you think you don't have any funny stories and you are settled into your new life you try to get on a train to Paris without your passport. Oh, what's that? I can't just hop on without my passport? Not so good! Crissy and I got all the way to London and I was sitting on the tube just going along when all of a sudden I thought "oh crikey :) I don't have my passport". I just got so used to traveling in England without it and I guess traveling by train didn't seem international enough for me. So, Kelly and her husband Ian were heros and got my spare set of keys from my office then went to my apartment and searched through my crap and then took the train to London. It was like my own little Olympic moment where they were passing me the baton. But I was more like one of those runners who gets disqualified because they step out of the line. I ran over two people with my suitcase and took off running the wrong way down the metro stop. I got on the final train to Paris and finally got there at midnight. Crissy had been there since 7. What a mess!!