MERRY CHRISTMAS!
I'm at Michael's parent's house for the holidays. It's my first time away from home for Christmas and it's kind of sad, but it's good that I'm getting to spend it with Michael and his family.
He got my beautiful blue and gold glass earrings and I got him old fashioned mustache wax and a beard comb (which unfortunately is still in transit). His parents got me a really warm bright colored scarf and matching magenta and purple and black suede gloves. They look so like high fashion! And got Michael a really nice robe, which was hilarious because he just recently bought himself a new robe. That's why he's impossible to shop for! He buys his own stuff when he wants it! His Nan got me reaaaaally beautiful acrylic yarn, that's all fluffy and stuff, I'm so excited to play with it (after my paper and dissertation proposal are in). Ash and Daniel got Michael a fancy metal ballscratcher, I jest not and a bottle of Belvedere vodka and me a beautiful silk scarf with an impressionistic iris print, it's sooo pretty! Oh and they got Michael's mom and dad this HUGE christmas cracker. Like the size of my head! And it was full of fancy chocolates and like really nice silver crowns and stuff. The coolest christmas cracker I've ever seen!
Oooh, and we're super looking forward to seeing Ash (Michael's brother's fiance) and her little girl, Eva's reaction to her present. We got Eva butterfly wings and a headband with antennae on it, because she's OBSESSED with things that fly, and for her belated birthday present I made her a little hat with a butterfly made of buttons on it. We haven't got to see her yet this trip, but Eva's the cutest little thing, I can't wait!

Besides the holidays, I've got quite a large amount of work to do. A paper that is 100% of my grade, which has basically gone wrong at every turn, I swear I'm cursed. And my dissertation proposal which isn't graded, but once submitted you're not allowed to stray far from that concept because you get assigned an adviser based on that idea, so I need that to be pretty well thought out.
I worked all day yesterday on going to yet another museum to try to find an exhibit I could do my paper on. I sort of found one, but I don't have enough time to find yet ANOTHER one, so I'm just going to do my best. And the rest of the night I wrote and found more info. Going to pretty much do the same as much as I can, without being totally antisocial during the holidays.

But, besides the work, everything is going well! It's VERY cold inside, but not snowing or anything outside. In fact, most of the time, it's colder in the house than outside, but usually it's raining outside, so opening all the windows isn't a good option. It's a bit strange, I guess I've gotten used to how christmas goes at home, but it's good here. I miss my family so much, but I'm hoping that the phones will be sorted out so that I can call everyone today. I'm so looking forward to talking to my family!

Anyway, I'd better get started on my stuffing for christmas lunch. Merry Christmas! Lots of love!
Audrey <3

Ok, so I really want to keep this thing up. I know I've dropped it for a while, but I think keeping a regular blog is something I should learn to do. I've got to do a daily log for my work-placement, and a lot of museums now do blogs/facebook/twitter etc. I'm going to try to keep a separate blog as well, just for museum visits and analysis and new skills I learn, like in practicals or during my placement. My tutor said that that's a skill I could put on my resume, if I can keep up a regular blog but I need to start asap, so that I have a good history of remembering to update. It seems strange to me that that would be a marketable skill, but I just did an assignment on social media for museums (I followed Fernbank on three different sites. Their facebook is really cute) and I kind of get it now. I was so frustrated that they didn't update their blog for months at a time, or their other accounts, like pinterest, youtube, etc. Social media really makes a difference in visibility to people, and it's free, so that should be used to its full potential. I think that'd be a pretty interesting thing to do. And it's a free way to attract more visitors, so if I can prove I'm good at it, or if my reference says I am, that might be a point in my favor looking for jobs.
Anyway, so yes, keeping this blog! Maybe not every day, but frequently. That's the goal. It's not new years yet, but it's close enough, so I guess that's one of my resolutions.
Y'all can remind me to post, if you have the inclination! Make me practice technology skills. Maybe I can even learn how to embed video and sound and that cool stuff when I'm not too busy.

Speaking of, I'm working on two big papers, they're both due Dec 12, but I've got writers block. Writing this should help me get through it. :) I'm pretty stressed. I feel like my brain's been trampled, and every time I think about my paper, I feel like it's still not up to a high enough standard. I really want to get a "distinction" like an A+, but those standard seem REALLY high on the rubric, but they're also all subjective terms like "excellent"- but excellent for who? What -is- excellent for a masters program in England? I have no idea.
Maybe I'm just getting really paranoid, but I'm so worried that my work won't be good enough, and since it's 100% of my grade for both of those classes, I wouldn't even know that my work was below standard until I've already gotten a poor mark on the course. I know I won't fail, barring some horrible catastrophe (*knock on wood*) but 100% of the grade, on one assignment after changing degrees, programs and countries; I'm really worried.
But, if I do get a lower grade, my tutor told me that they take "exit velocity" into account in grading, so if I can really dramatically improve with my next courses next semester, that could help me raise my grade a bit more.

Oh yeah! It snowed Sunday and again Wednesday! On Wednesday it snowed on and off all day and it was probably a couple inches deep in our back patio. I was so excited, but really freaked out. I took literally one step into the back, slipped immediately and was on my back before I could even shout. I missed the step by like 5 inches. But it was pretty funny, I wasn't hurt, but it was proof that I'm terrible at walking on ice, even in my snow boots. Can't do anything against smooth ice. And there's sheets of ice everywhere, especially around where we live, because the university and downtown have to salt the commonest walkways.
I'm actually humorously bad at walking on ice, to the great amusement of my colleagues.

Besides the cold and the school work not much is going on. I'm going to do some seriously intense housework after my papers are in, although I've still got another big paper and my dissertation proposal due after the christmas break. I still haven't finished decorating my room, or organizing it, or even completely unpacked. I'm still sort of semi-camping, and it's really terribly messy because there's not enough space or storage. But, I've been planning what I'm going to do with the room for ages now, and I think I know how to rearrange it and I'm getting more storage for christmas. It'll be really nice to have a fully functioning room, with all my pictures up and everything organized. It'll be relaxing to finally get to do all that organizing and cleaning and everything that I've had to put off for school stuff.


 So, that was long. Sorry! I'll be here more often, to at least say something. Next time it snows I'll take a picture, it can't be far off!

<3
Audrey

I am so homesick tonight. I like it here, but I miss my family and friends so very very much. I miss fall, with all the pretty colors, and fireflies, and crickets at night, and even the smell. It's already freezing some nights and we've had snow. Yesterday was so extremely cold and we had to spend most of it outside on museum visits. I'm still semi camping in my room, with anything not immediately necessary packed in suitcases still. I'm working on that though. But really England has been good. It's just not really home. I love you guys, and miss you all the time. <3

So, yes, I am scum for not updating. I'm so sorry. I've been swamped, between setting up home, classes, visa and other paperwork, and trying to be social. But it's all been going pretty well, which is amazing!
What's prompted this is that this weekend, it SNOWED! It was lovely, although horribly cold. It only stuck about half an inch, but it stuck all night.

Sorry there's been so long between updates, I've been swamped. Just trying to get access to my clothes for classes (I needed my heavier sweaters) was a whole day ordeal of reorganizing the room like a sliding puzzle to get to things. It's great to at least be like 1/3 of the way there with the room.
I've been in orientation with the other international students all day friday, then all this week, my department is doing an orientation/intro lectures for all the new students. It's been loooooong days, with lots of mostly boring lectures about the university, the structure of the program, rules about grading and assignments, etc etc. But the reception last night was at the Great North Museum, which was gorgeous! I loved the exhibits and it was small, but so well done, and we all had it to ourselves for the night.
I got home around 9, and was so completely exhausted, I pretty much just passed out. It was freezing and raining hard all day for monday and tuesday, but even the locals say this is freakishly wild weather for Newcastle this time of year, so at least it's not like this allll the time.
Today I actually managed to make the bedroom a bit more useable, but it's still like a minefield of junk, really.
And I made bentos for myself and for Michael, since I was making one for myself. I have a field trip tomorrow. Have to meet at the bus stop at the museum at 930, we drive, I think about an hour, to the Beamish Outdoor Museum in Durham, and then spend the whole day, outside there, and then back on a bus and back to campus for "5ish". I don't mind that, really, except that it's been SO rainy for so long, parts of the city are flooded and it's almost certain that the exhibit will be at best very muddy. I really reaaaallly wish I had packed my wellies, but they were too bulky. I might try to find some cheap ones, but of course by the time I get them the floods will probably have stopped. :P
Anyway, this museum trip should be pretty cool, I like the historically accurate recreations, but I'm trying to layer as many clothes on as possible, in defense for like 9 hours outside in the very very cold. xP
I've talked to a few of classmates some, and they seem really nice. I think there are 4 other Americans on the course. I think about half the class is international, though, from all over.
We've already got some work we have to take home, and we're expected to be doing reading for the course. I think I'm going to try to find a book or two that I think will be really useful for me from the reading list (they're like suggested reading lists, not required books like back home) and try to find them for the kindle. I looked before, spent hours looking while we were in Northern Ireland, but not a lot were on kindle, because they're mostly so obscure and niche specific. But I figure I can at least try to start reading on the kindle until I can use the library, otherwise this reading list would be exceedingly expensive.
Although it even seems difficult to find some of them in the library, but some of the classes have a hundred or more books listed for the recommended reading, and it's not in any order, so really I just want to look something that seems like it would fill some gap in my knowledge. Or at least be interesting. :) I want to start that reading asap.
Oh and I've unpacked 2 of the 4 suitcases! I actually feel accomplished, because we've basically got no more space left, and I still have 2 suitcases to unpack, although one is a lot of winter hats, scarves, gloves, coat liners, thermals, etc, so I don't know, maybe I can just keep that in that and live out of it for the coldest months.
I've been notified that my loan has gone through, by the way, and I'm trying to find a checkbook company to ship to the UK. The phone is working, by the way. It's 07717577262. Although, I haven't really mastered using the phone yet. And it's Michael's old phone because I couldn't get mine unlocked.
This week is absolutely packed, and with the terrible weather, and trying to make the room liveable and trying to sort of finances, and visa stuff, looking for jobs, academic advising, etc, etc, etc. It just never ends. Plus of course the required welcome/intro/rules/etc lectures every day, except tomorrow, with the field trip.
It seems like the classes are going to be pretty intense, too, but at least some look interesting and they all definitely seem useful. I like the professors so far, no one's too hard to understand. And the director of the program is American! Which is cool, she's been really helpful with academic advising about my degree and with general like questions about some differences between lecture set up here and back home. So, that's good.
:P And I'm super excited about getting my robe finally, because we're trying not to use the heat and it's SO cold. I'm wearing it over jeans, wool socks, 2 shirts and a sweater, and I'm finally feeling warm, except my face. My nose is approximately -2 degrees. xP
Sorry all that was jumbled, but I'm about to go to sleep. I've got to get up extremely early tomorrow. Lots of love! <3

So... more updates, sooner, I promise!

quickie FYI: I have a SIM card for my phone, but naturally, it now won't unlock. I've got the code and everything from the company, but it's not working. I've contacted the company and they've taken my issue to some specialist team or something, but goodness knows. It's driving me NUTS to not have a phone or any way to text/whatsapp/heywire/aaanything at all, but  hopefully it'll be sorted out soon. And if worst comes to worst, I can use Michael's old phone, which he already has unlocked. But it's back in Newcastle, so that would mean, still no phone until the 20th.
We're in Northern Ireland til the 20th, but I'll post properly before we get home again. Love to everyone! <3

So, we are not yet in Northern Ireland. Had a few delays. :( So I missed Ash's bridesmaids get together. We're booking our tickets ASAP, though. Parents: I'll let you know, of course. :) Also, I'm sorry I still don't have a phone, I'm working on it. <3

Not much exciting, really. Michael requested that I make southern barbeque, so I made pulled pork with home made sauce. He loved it, and it looks like now we might be hosting a southern-food style party sometime soon. At least it's good weather for barbequeing now- just warm enough and sunny enough to want to be outside, and cool enough to be comfortable around the grill. ... Except we'd need a grill. xP I made the pulled pork in the slow cooker.

We went to a lovely little show last night, at a cafe called "Butterfly Cabinet." Three live acts, but I thought the best by far was a group of 4 women called Bridie Jackson. I might have actually bought a CD if we'd had the money. But, it was really nice and very chill, so it was the perfect way to get acclimated to the social scene over here. I need to warm up before we try anything with loud music and heavy drinking, or, god forbid, dubstep. :P

I'd best get to sleep here, it's 1 am. Good night! <3 xoxo

Just a quick update, mostly on food, because I'm kind of proud of my little bentos.
Anyway, :) it's been gorgeous weather here, I think it's rained once. A bit chilly, but I'm adjusting. I'm still working from one end of the house to the other cleaning. I've done the bathroom and the kitchen, but of course they just get dirty again, so I'm resisting the urge to eat out just so my lovely shiny kitchen can last one more day. We're even starting to decorate. I've got the bathroom mostly decorated, but I've still got to do the wall vinyls over the patterned tiles. And we even hung a poster! :P And I've started on the back area, sweeping up trash long accumulated. It'll always be moss and old bricks, so we're working with what we've got. I do have a few projects for out there, but that's way less necessary. It was just so nice I couldn't resist finding a legitimate reason to wander outside. Oh, and the landlord thinks he can find some extra storage furniture for us, so that might actually allow me to unpack my suitcases. The really nice thing is, so far, it's actually been cheaper to fit out the house with the little things, and get cleaning supplies, cooking implements, etc, than I budgeted for. That's a nice trend to start *crossing my fingers*.
So that's the house stuff...
Not much else is going for us, besides coordinating our cleaning efforts in the house, shopping for necessities. Trying to get things at the best value is time consuming. When we have the time we'll be going to 4 different stores regularly, and one of those is the huge open market "Grainger Market." But it does seem to be worth it. Especially since we have the time right now.

The only remotely interest things I've done today have been with cooking. Michael suggested I try lamb's heart last time we were at the butcher. He convinced me to let him buy is and we cooked it up tonight. I'll just say I'm willing to give it another go, but only because it really is very cheap and very lean. Next time we slow cook it. This time it was like exceedingly MEATYmeat with the texture of worn out car tire. But, oh well, I feel brave for trying it. I couldn't watch Michael cutting it up, it was soooo bloody and ....heart-like.
But after dinner, which was more experimental than I could quite handle, I made us both healthy bento lunches for tomorrow!

Mine: 2 small tupperware

:P I made a shooting star out of light chili cheese and a cucumber

  Michael's: One large tupperware

Got heart and the tiny shaped silicon containers 4 and 6 for a pound at poundland. Brilliant store.


Anway, that' my big accomplishment of the last few days. None of the rooms are completely done, so I can't unveil them yet. :P


***so previous post didn't post yesterday, I fell asleep before I actually submitted it, whoops***

Only new thing today is that our crockpot works well, I'm making eggplant, mushroom and lean beef bolognese sauce in it, although, we REALLY have to leave it running ages, it doesn't seem very powerful.
Oh and to my great pleasure the bentos were lovely! Needed a bit more seasoning maybe, but that can wait til we have some watertight very small containers. They make little plastic bottles for bentos, I might order them. And Michael even liked the cucumbers with black pepper cheese! He's been refusing to eat cucumber unless it's buried in lots of other ingredients. Everything was fine overnight in the fridge, veggies were even crisp. :)

Oh and apparently I may have to out to a club soon. :P I'm bracing myself for the night club scene again. It's such a shock to the system. I mostly like my staying-at-home-knitting lifestyle. But, it'll be fun, the rifle club are going out somewhere as a pre-uni get together. It was always entertaining with them last year. Going to be interesting to get ready out of 4 different suitcases. xP

Anyway I should really be doing other work. The kitchen's a never ending mess as you keep having to do messy stuff in it. But, I cut my finger cooking (first time I've cut myself in ages! It would happen while I'm super busy) so getting soap or chemicals on my skin hurts. But I've really got more than enough jobs to do tomorrow, I can't use it as an excuse to get out of working more. :P

Good night y'all! xoxo

<3 xoxo 

New Doctor Who

Last night was the season premier of Doctor Who! It was great! A couple friends came over to chat and watch the show with us. Mostly I'm just still trying to sort out my bank account, cell phone, bills, and flat stuff right now. Spent most of yesterday shopping in town, and cleaning. But, I did get to make sushi again, and much better this time! The rice was tooooo sticky, I couldn't get it thin enough on the nori, so it's much too rice heavy, but it was cool to be able to eat my own sushi roll. :P

All the cleaning is paying off! The living room is mostly cleaned, the kitchen just needs to be swept, and then we can dive into the absolute clothes-ridden hell that is the bedroom. Living out of suitcases long term is soo messy. I've been hunting for warm sweaters and jackets and knee socks and leggings. It's actually lovely! But the house is even colder than the outside most of the day! But, we're not using the heating until we're really desperate, so I've got fuzzy socks and sweatshirts and sweaters in the house. 

I can't wait for my house stuff to come from amazon (and to get my bags at least partly unpacked). Then I can throw myself into decorating the flat. I'm really hoping I can get it totally cleaned and get all the really un-fun stuff totally done before classes start. Start at zero so we only have to upkeep on the cleaning.

Anyway, I should probably get back to that cleaning. Post soon,

xoxo <3

Writing a blog is weird, but it has actually been pretty interesting, at least for me! Well, at least food-wise.
We've been doing all the normal stuff, like, getting bank account, student stuff, mobile phone, paperwork, etc etc. But, we've also been checking out a few cool places in between our errands in town.
First Michael took me to this tea shop. I really should take pictures, and I'm sure I'll get the chance. It's above another shop, and it's called "Tea Sutra." They only do tea, pastries and vegetarian lunch things. They have 2-person pots of tea for cheaper than a medium starbucks coffee, and it's gorgeous on the inside. Very zen, with plants and lush decor. They even have a little japanese floor seating with big pillows and no shoes.
We wandered around Grainger market (the Newcastle open market- they sell absolutely everying, from like hairdryers to tomatos to specialty teas).
And then today! Michael showed me this asian market ("HiYou"- great name!) he'd been wanted to check out near the chinatown area. It's amazing! We got some unusual supplies, including a bamboo sushi rolling mat, nori (sushi seaweed wrap), and some ingredients for sushi rice. It was so inexpensive for great ingredients, and super fresh. They had gorgeous bowls and cookware and teapots, and all kinds of other toys and foods and imported niftiness.

Tonight I actually made a sushi roll! I'm SO proud! I mean, it's not good yet, but not a total failure! The sushi rice wasn't perfect, but we've not got all our kitchen gear sorted out yet, but I was so excited it didn't fall apart or anything! I used low sodium furikake (dried fish flakes with seaweed and spices, like wasabi) and steamed snap peas, just to test out my ability to roll them. I assumed I'd rip up the delicate nori and the rice would go everywhere, but the nori was was sturdied than I expected and the rolling mat was perfect.
I think I'll try it again, and try to be as neat as I can, make it all centered and nice and round.

The flat is really nice, but I do have a lot I want to fix up. It's got to be 1920s or 30s, with original coal burning fireplaces and the original bell, which is actually a bronze bell on a spiral strip of metal and it operated by a pull knob outside out door. It's really cool, they even cut out a hole in the wall, later I guess, and framed the gears that work the bell.
But, due to the age there are some mildew, mold and dust problems. Mostly it can be vacuumed, dusted and scrubbed away. I've been scrubbing in the bathroom and kitchen just yesterday and today, and I've already made a dent in those rooms.  I think I might take before and after photos as I work through the house redecorating. We're using little things, that we can get for as cheap as possible, to update the decor and make it a bit more comfortable.
Heh... but we desperately need more storage space. Michael had already unpacked into the storage space and discovered it was only barely enough for him. Ikea seems to be our friend there, just need to manage to find the space.

So, despite my cleaning rampage in the flat, which poor Michael is coping with very well, we're pumped about the new season of Doctor Who beginning tomorrow. Geeks, but happy. :P

Oh and I made bento boxes for us for lunch today, and I forgot to take a picture. But I might try to use this blog to document my experiments at bento lunches. They're so much fun to make and it's kind of more fun to eat lots of veggies and healthy when I made it all cute. Not at all important info, but I think it could be cool for me to be able to look back at how I learned to do them, because some bentos can be crazy complex! Mine are still extremely simple, but I'm learning. :)

I'll stop for tonight, I'm really just babbling. I'm excited about the possibilities for the flat and the new cooking techniques. Since school starts soon, I'll probably have to put the more complicated stuff on hold again, but til then, I love experimenting!

All my love to my family and friends, whoever's reading. <3 Leave me comments, if you want, to say hi. :)
xoxoxo

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