England

Hello!

Well, it was a long, harrowing, difficult task, but I finally managed to get myself over the Pond to the UK. For the record: I will never move again. Ever. Frankly, I’m not young enough to do it.

3am last Wednesday (wow, it seems longer than that) found me staring at a half-empty box muttering “There’s no more room, no more room, no more, no more, no more room, no more…” over and over, and shaking gently as only overdosed coffee addicts can. I was probably in that state two or three minutes before I realized that I was bordering on clinical, and decided that I’d go outside for some fresh air to clear my head. It did: it was 37 degrees out. It was the first time I’d seen my breath since March.

Note to self: sleep. It’s good for you. You’re not 22 anymore, you actually need to see the inside of your eyelids at least once a day. Your bizarre, barbecue-skewed dreams miss you. Did not sleep at all the night before I left. Slept about 4.5-5 hours the night before that. Apparently slept about an hour and a half on the first flight, from Minneapolis to Newark; all I know is I opened my eyes at one point and the guy next to me was eating lunch. Yep, totally missed that one. It was okay though, as I’d had a double cheeseburger for breakfast. And I’d much rather miss lunch than a flight.

I’ve decided that I don’t like Newark Airport. First off, they renamed it “Liberty International”. Nice to know I have the liberty to take off my shoes in public and get patted down by a strange man I’ve never seen before. Internationally. (Something something “those who want both freedom and safety deserve neither freedom nor safety” something Benjamin Franklin.) And “Liberty International” doesn’t have any benches in the terminals; you either sit at your gate or in a food court. Talk about captive market. All (and I mean ALL) the chairs are those annoying row-chairs with the arm-rests bolted in between. You cannot possibly lay down on one to sleep. I believe this is simply part of a deviously giant socio-psychological experiment to see how much it takes to make a sleep-deprived traveler buy $5 double cheeseburgers for breakfast.

Anyway, rant over.

In the UK. Finally arrived in London around 9:30am local time, or 37:45 body time, only to wait in line for an hour to get through Customs, which took approximately 90 seconds. Must be a new counter-terrorism technique: threaten suspects with the possibility of hours-long queues (lines) with no air conditioning BEFORE entering the country. It almost put me off, and I'm not a terrorist!

I am, however, very happy to be back in the same country as my girlfriend; who has very graciously put up with my American inability to understand most things English (such as roundabouts and English cuisine). We did get moved up to Leeds on Friday evening, and are still in the process of settling in. The house is about a 5-minute walk from a bus line, so I can get to the University pretty easily. I'm still working on getting all the necessities set up (not the toilet so much as a bank account); spent most of yesterday walking between the University campus and the City Centre trying to get the bank thing sorted. Apparently you need a letter from the University to get an account; even if the bank brochure clearly states that all you need is a passport. Good to know for next time. I have my first "informational meeting" later on today, which should be exciting. I met a couple Japanese guys who are also in the English postgrad course, so hopefully we'll be able to have some proper Japanese food soon.

Anyway, off to bed. Need to sleep again...and not at 6am like it is now...

Sonambually,
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