Life

Hey friends. I know it’s been a long while. This semester has been getting the best of me. So, I’ll try to catch you guys up on what’s been happening since I last blogged.

Basically, I didn’t get into the nursing program at MU… again. And basically it sucks. But things happen for a reason and now I’ve just reevaluating my life and my future. Upon advising, I found out that I have about 2 semesters left until I complete my undergraduate degree if I switch to health sciences, an idea that is VERY APPEALING. This week, which is spring break, I visited my cousin. I just kind of opened up to her and explained what was going on. Mainly I just feel stuck in this rut and I’m so completely burnt out on school. If we’re being accurate, I’ve been burnt out since I graduated from high school. She suggested that I finish my degree as soon as possible and get the hell out of the Midwest. She said that if I’m having a “mid-life crisis” already in my early twenties, I need a change in my life because well the 20’s are where you find out who you are. You’re supposed to be living life, learning from mistakes, and not continually stressed out about what your future is going to be, and obviously that is not me. And I really have to agree. Lately, I just have been feeling kind of stuck, with school, with life, etc. I truly believe that nursing is what I want to do, but just not right now. My cousin said that if I am really feeling this way, I should take a break, because if I force it, I’m going to start hating it.

If everything works out/goes according to plan, I’ll hope to finish my bachelor’s in a year (possibly 1.5 years) and I’ll probably be moving to Boston (somewhere I’ve always wanted to go and it’s a place totally different from the Midwest), find a job out there and stay out there for a year/2 years/ x years, and eventually, maybe, move back to KC, because honestly I really do love KC. And somewhere in there I’ll probably see if I can get into a nursing program. I just need a break from what I’ve known. Of course a lot can happen in that time, so I guess we’ll just have to see what happens.

That being said, I still applied to CMU’s nursing program. They had talked it up, saying that people like me often get into their program, and if I get in, I’m not entirely sure if I will take it. My parents are going to be disappointed probably, but I just don’t want to force anything, you know? GOD, WHY IS LIFE IS SO HARD?

Anyway, other than that, Hy-Vee is becoming my 2^nd home, reading the Divergent series is how I procrastinate my time, I’m currently obsessing over Theo James and Bastille, my grades are doing alright, and I am still loathing school. My spring break was cut short because I decided to work. And I spent one day working at the marina over break while I was home. I’m really excited to go back there actually, especially since most everyone I know will be there. That being said, summer will be here in a short 1.5 months, and I’m so EXCITED.

Thanks for reading/listening to me rant on about my life. Maybe you’ll hear from me again before the semester ends, but I can’t guarantee anything!

Peace out, girl scouts.

Megan

Hip Happenings.

On Saturday my dad and step-mom came to visit. We went to HV and they bought me groceries!! My cousin was working so we chatted with him for a bit and made plans to have dinner together later. We had a lot of free time after so my dad wanted to visit CMU just to see what the campus/school was like, in case I do end up going there. We got back into town at about 430 and went to Flat Branch to meet up with J and Gi. It was my second time going there but it was so delicious. I got the Flat Branch Burger which is topped with artichoke dip. My mouth is watering just thinking about it.

At the end of dinner, Gi handed me a CNY red envelope. It’s weird getting one from them because I always forget that they’re married now, and it’s customary once you’re married to give envelopes to those younger and aren’t married. I mean it’s nice to have a few extra bucks, but I feel bad taking it from them because well, it’s weird. No other way to explain it. Haha.

This week has been stressful. For the most part, days end with me coming home, getting some reading finished then falling asleep at like 10, then waking up at like midnight and realizing that I still have a butt ton of things to finish. As a result, I haven’t been able to watch much of the Olympics which make me sad. Take 17 credit hours, they said. It won’t be that bad, they said. I can already tell you I’m stressed out. And pathophysiology is not making it any better. But maybe I’m being melodramatic.

Checker training day 1 went well. It was mainly computer stuff that familiarized you with the system and different types of produce. And also the alcohol test, which I still haven’t passed yet because you have to get 100% and I kept getting 90s then the last time I took it I got a 70 and was about to break the computer screen. So I have to get that soon, or I won’t be able to check. Tomorrow I’m demo-ing and Sunday I think I actually get to check. Super nervous about that.

Next week is going to be hella busy again. And on Tuesday I’ll either want to cry in a hole or smile for the rest of the week, if you know what I mean. What’s meant to be is meant to be I guess.

Peace out, girl scouts.

Megan

PS. I’m going back to the marina this summer. Mixed feelings about this. 

Uneventful But Still Stressful

Sup friends. This week has been pretty uneventful for the most part. Here are a few highlights.

• Sunday was my half birthday. Now I have a little less than 6 months until I can legitimately sing Taylor Swift’s 22 and understand what it means. LOL
• Tuesday was Mizzou’s 175^th birthday. Happy Birthday, Mizzou! Thanks for the free cake and t-shirt!
• Also on Tuesday, I ran into my cousin in the bookstore and found out he has been a TA for the past year. NO ONE TELLS ME ANYTHING. Then I ran into Nick on the way to class after that.
• Tuesday, I watched Shaun White become Sad Shaun White. I was pretty upset all day to be honest, especially since I spoiled the results for myself by scrolling through Twitter. Watching him fall was heartbreaking.  I blame the Russians and the damn slushy half pipe.
• All week I’ve been running around like a crazy woman, trying to find someone to cover my demo shift on Saturday at HV since my dad and step-mom are coming into town.
•  Today I found out I’m getting checker trained next week and I’m so happy! It’s been a long time coming.
• I downloaded Flappy Bird before they took it off the app markets. I’m addicted. My high score right now is 47.
• I’ve been really into Bastille lately. This is one of my favorite songs from them right now, although I’m not sure about the music video. LOL. How surprised are you that I’m into a British band?

Anyway, like Cathy, this next week is getting pretty busy. Along with having 3 shifts this next week at HV, I have an art project to start preparing/working on, a speech to research and write, a paper to start writing and a test to start studying for. And my online pathophysiology class starts next week too. EEEEEK.

Happy early Single’s Awareness day! And Happy early President’s day!

Peace out, girl scouts.

Megan

A few complaints and an ode to free Mexican food

This is the fourth week of the semester.

The fifth week of the semester is when, to use a colloquial phrase, shit gets real.

Next week, I have four major assignments due, a paper, and test. The paper and test are both for Tuesday, for the same class. That’s not awesome.

Also, I need to figure out how I am supposed to complete 30 hours of service to the Hispanic community this semester when a) no one I contact ever gets back to me and b) I’m not convinced that Springfield even has a Hispanic community??

And, I basically got officially told that I can’t live in this apartment again next year. That blows. If 50% of the residents want to keep the same one, they can. I wanted to keep it but so do four other girls (two of my current roommates and the two girls Hanna and I replaced who are studying abroad now). The good news is that I can live with Caitlin again but we really want to live in this building and at this point we’ll have to sign up and just hope there will be enough spots. And find two more people.

Last night I ran into Carson and I talked to him for like 20 minutes right outside his apartment door. Not sure why we didn’t go inside because it was effing cold but we decided that this weekend we’re gonna go to Trops since his birthday is on Friday (SO EXCITED). I can’t wait to start making money again so I can start to justify some of my expenses. Haha.

And tonight I’m going to dinner with the Spanish club at a Mexican restaurant and it looks like, depending on the number of people who go, our food will be either substantially discounted or free because the club got money from the student government. Free Mexican food, seriously what could be better?

Oh yeah! If any of you want to check out my London website that I’m making for my Web Comm class, here’s the link! http://www.madaboutlondonguide.com It’s under construction so it’s not that cute yet but check for updates during the semester! My professor even said I should use a couple of guest bloggers, so I’m gonna ask Hanna to but if any of you guys have a topic you would want to make a short post about, let me know!

Miss you! Hope to see you in a few weeks #legalfun

Cathy

Interview Woes.

Sorry for the late update! But the end of this week was kind of a busy one, even with the 2 snow days we got!

Yes lots of snow. And I had a lot of homework that had to be done.

Wednesday night Tristian and Jordan picked us up and we went out to celebrate Kendyl’s birthday. After failed attempts to find a place that was open and would let T and Jordan in, we finally decided to go to El Rancho where Kendyl was able to purchase her first legal Margarita. After that we went to Taco Bell. Haha.

Thursday I worked. After getting off rather late, I had a million things to do, like do laundry, pack to go home, practice what I was going to say in my nursing interview the next day, and sleep.

Friday morning, I woke up kind of later than I wanted to even after I set an alarm. After getting ready, I left the apartment with about 30 minutes until my interview thinking that’s more than sufficient. Little did I know that the Hernes bus was going to be late. With 15 minutes left until my interview I knew I was going to have to run to get to the nursing building on time. Did I mention that it felt like -10 degrees plus it was a little bit windy? Anyway I got to the nursing building with 5 minutes until my time, my nose was running, my face was frozen, and I was wheezing like nobody’s business. And the interviews were running about 5 minutes behind. Lovely.

The interview itself was pretty good I think. The interviewers were super nice, again. And I hope I answered the questions appropriately. I always think it’s going to be a lot worse than it actually is. Anyway, I have to wait another 2ish weeks before I will know. I hope I get in. So badly.

Also, OLYMPICS. AND SHAUN WHITE. EEEK.

Okay well must get back to that homework now.

Peace out, girl scouts.

Megan

This weekend is gonna be awesome

Not much too exciting has been going on this week. I wish I had gotten two snow days like Mizzou and every other school in the state yesterday so I could have had schwartzed Monday and Tuesday. Anyway, I went to school in the middle of the blizzard and even skipped lunch so I could just stay in the Comm building during the 1-hour gap between my classes and not go outside.

I’ve been pretty preoccupied lately with trying to find an internship for the summer. Preferably paid. I want to work almost full time and make monies too. I have to interview and write a profile of a Comm Department grad that works at a company in KC as a social media analyst, which I think would be pretty cool to do. I think they have some internships too, so I’m going to stop there and do my interview in person before I come home on Friday afternoon! I got the LinkedIn app last night which I’m pretty sure makes me officially an old lame person but I just really really want some experience somewhere. Hanna and I unwisely stayed up entirely way too late the other night searching for internships.

The only other thing I’ve been doing is trying to keep up on homework. I have a lot of ideas flowing for my website for Web Comm and I spent about 6 hours this weekend in the Mac lab on photoshop, drawing a header image of Tower Bridge. My assignment for Friday is to write a sample post for my blog, so I did that! I bought the domain name and my blog is going to be changing a lot over the next few weeks as I learn how to design it how I want, but if you ever want to read it, here’s the link. http://www.madaboutlondonguide.com. Super basic right now! Also I need to do some reading for Spanish (when it’s an independent study, you can’t get away with not doing the reading). Usually it’s out of our textbook which is in Spanish so it takes about 30-45 minutes to read… he told me the one for tomorrow would be in English, so that made me excited, but I just pulled it up and it’s 36 pages. Yeah.

GETTING SO SO EXCITED FOR THIS WEEKEND. WOMBIES + DEREK TAKE KC AWW YEAH. 12 hour saga here we come. Gonna try to motivate myself to do some extra homework tonight so maybe I can go shopping tomorrow weeeeeeee

Cathy

Running on fumes

I’ve been back in Colorado for almost 5 weeks, and it feels like I never left. When all six of us roommates got back together that first Sunday night before school started and sat downstairs, we laughed for hours, and it felt like winter break was just one long weekend. Leaving home kind of sucked. I only got to see you guys once! I wish we were still able to go on night-time adventures together… but Kansas is kind of in my way…

The past few weeks of school have been killer. I am taking 17 hours too, Megan! It is a lot of work. I’m taking two lab classes (BIO and Oceanography), Teaching with Writing, History of Colorado (which blows because everything really important in American history happened or started in Independence or MO in general.. my MO pride really comes out a lil too much in this class), Geometry, and an online technology course worth one credit which requires the course work of a 3-credit class. Mondays and Wednesdays, my classes don’t start until noon and I’m done by 3:30 so that’s nice. Tuesday and Thursday I have class 8-12pm and on Tuesdays I have Bio lab from 1-3.. so that really sucks. Also on those days I volunteer at the Boys & Girl’s club until 7 and on Thursday I go straight back to campus for Navigators until 9. So my days are pretty packed. Fridays are like heaven. I have one class 2:30-3:20 and volunteering at club from 4 until dinner or close, depending on my plans. Oh don’t let me forget Women’s ministry at church on Monday nights, Bible Study on Tuesday nights, and babysitting on Wednesday nights. Saturdays are my only days off. I’m pretty optimistic about this semester so far; here’s to hoping that optimism stays for 13 more weeks.

Over break, which now seems like forever ago, I got exciting news! I was offered the job of On Location Camp Counselor at Eagle Lake camp in Colorado Springs!!! I am so so so very excited to spend my summer serving at a camp again, and even more excited that it’s in Colorado (and the surrounding area). My specific job will consist of traveling around Colorado or the northern Midwest area and doing camp at different churches each week. This is the stuff I want to be doing for the rest of my life, so being able to start that now is beyond a blessing. My whole summer is already planned out, and what a relief. I can’t imagine trying to deal with the stress of making summer plans while taking 17 credits. Good luck to you guys with finding internships and jobs!

Outdoor soccer starts the 18th of February and I cannot wait! I went to the gym Friday to play volleyball with my roommate and we ended up playing for almost 2 hours. Oh my gosh I am so sore. Muscles that I never thought I had are hurting me. I don’t like it. VB is hard and hurts your arms so much. My palms are bruised, and I don’t know how that happened. Bleh. I’m so ready to get back out on the soccer field.

Happy birthday week to you Kendyl!! All of the world will be celebrating with you!
-Morgan

Busy Semester

Hey, friends. I apologize for being absent from the blog. I’m just finally getting settled into my routine.

Break was too short, as it always seems to be. I spent most of it watching Netflix, lounging, eating, and hanging out with you lot, of course. And I also learned to SKI. THAT WAS SO MUCH FUN. I also got a Tumblr, which was a bad idea because I already spend too much of my time on other forms of social media. Now this just further takes up my time and also feeds my unhealthy obsessions with Benedict Cumberbatch and the like.

School has been going smoothly. I’m taking classes at MU and Central Methodist. It’s kind of a long story but I’m at CMU so I can apply to their nursing school at the end of the semester. I’m currently at 17 credit hours, which is the most I have ever taken. However, the best part is that my classes don’t start until 11 and I have Fridays off!

I’m mainly taking electives at Mizzou because I’m waiting to get into nursing school. However, most of them are quite challenging and time consuming. Anyway I’m enrolled in Public Speaking, Intro to Art and Biology Lab at MU. I’m enrolled in 3 classes at CMU. Religion, Pathophysiology, and Literature. The later two are online and all 3 are prerequisites to apply for nursing at CMU.

My favorite classes so far are Public Speaking and Intro to Art. Both of my instructors (actually all of them) at MU are all Grad Students and they’re all pretty chill. I had to give a 3 minute speech the other day in Public Speaking and I’m pretty sure that was the worst 3 minutes of my life. I always get shaky and my face gets really hot (which probably means that it’s also super red) when I have to do something in front of a crowd. But I think I’m going to like that class because I get to write about what I want to talk about, not some analysis of a book that I didn’t want to read. My art class is 3 hours long, but it is definitely a nice stress reliever.

I’ve decided to cut back on hours at the good ol’ HV since I’m taking so many credits. I figured 10 is about good, but now I’m kind of regretting it because I really need money to pay for school/school things. But school is taking up a lot of time. It’s really a never ending cycle.

In terms of nursing school, I turned in my application on Monday. Interviews are next Friday. And in the midst of all of that, I already have a huge pile of projects and assignments to complete. Plus we’ve got birthdays to celebrate next week!! EEKKK!! We’re all getting so old! 😉

Peace out, girl scouts.

Megan

PS. HAPPY EARLY CHINESE NEW YEAR!! Not home for it this year unfortunately. #sadpanda

News and Nerves

It looks like none of you decided to/had time to blog this week but I have a little down time today so I will anyway.

This week has been very interesting. Being a student again and all. I finally got to go to Andy’s frozen custard on Friday night, thankfully. I needed it after four whole days of school. And I also needed Hurts Donuts on Sunday. By the way, I just realized this is my first five-day school week since about the first week of May. Yikes.

The past few days have had me kind of on-edge about various things. First of all, I had been trying to go back to where I was working last spring, and the manager had seemed like I could come back, no problem. Then he kind of told me that he wasn’t sure I’d get many hours because he’s hiring new people soon to replace everyone who’s leaving in May and they will get priority, so do I still want to come back? That kind of sucked but I said yes. So I went yesterday to fill out the paperwork to start working again. I was kind of nervous about that because I didn’t know if he would be mean or anything (he wasn’t). And he even wrote “15hr/week” on my paper. I’m starting again in a week and a half.

Then I had to go take a drug test. That made me a little nervous because I’m always afraid that a) I’ll make a mistake/do something wrong so it will mess up the results, b) that I’ll have “shy bladder”, or c) that for some reason it will say I’m on drugs when there’s absolutely no way it could be possible. I think it went okay though.

And while I was waiting for that, I got a message from my friend Jacy that our paper about Sandy Hook got accepted for the conference in Minneapolis that we sent it to, and we get to go! The thing that made me nervous about that, though, was that we took Kevin’s name off it even when our professor told us we shouldn’t (she didn’t reply to our email in time). So today I was nervous because we decided to go talk to her and ask what we should do and if she was mad at us for taking it off.

She wasn’t mad and she laughed instead and said she had a feeling we’d done that. But then she told us we have to face The Wrath Of Kevin on our own, which basically meant me because I have two classes with him where I sit right next to him. Shit. And I know that our two professors will probably announce to the class about our paper. Plus there will probably be a press release, a Comm department facebook post, and a story in the campus newspaper which Kevin writes for. So I don’t know, would it be better if I tell him before class one day before he has to hear it for the first time? Now I’m nervous about that. He can get defensive sometimes.

Well, on the bright side, Minneapolis!?

Cathy

UPDATE 7:20pm: I talked to him in the Commons, and I told him that Jacy and I had continued working on the paper and we took his name off… he didn’t even seem upset! He even said “I knew I wouldn’t be able to put any more work into it” so it all worked out 🙂 I think I need a drink now though lols

Real Life Again

Well, here I am in my fourth day back on the Lane. It’s really hard to believe that break’s already over, and I’m in Springfield again. The past two years of college, I always spent around half of my break in Germany, so it never felt very long. This year, even though I went to Germany, I still had four weeks of break at home and I was expecting it to go pretty slow since I wasn’t working or anything. I guess I was having too much fun with you guys and my family for it to go by as quickly as it did.

I can’t say that I’m unhappy to be back in Springfield though. I packed all my stuff, most of which was never unpacked from London, and on Saturday my family and I drove down here in three separate cars. We arrived around 4pm and went to Lambert’s for dinner. That’s our tradition. Then we went back to the hotel. In the morning, we drove all three cars over to school and I moved into my new apartment in University Suites. And it’s pretty suite. Did I tell you I forgot my textbooks at home? Basic. We ate at Fazoli’s and made our annual Walmart run, then Becky left to go to Rolla and the rest of my family went back home. I hung out with Carson and we waited for Hanna to get here.

Sunday night I hung out with Hanna and another roommate, Morgan, and some of their sorority friends. Woke up Monday morning not feeling so hot, haha… took a shower which was the worst shower of my life because the water was coming out too hard and then Madi (who we went to London with) picked Hanna and me up for lunch. I felt better by then, and when we came home Hanna and I went to Carson’s for a little. I had Panera for dinner and Caitlin came over to watch the Bachelor. I spent the rest of the night taking buzzfeed quizzes and hanging up the rest of my wall decorations.

Yesterday I had two classes, Intro to Environmental Science which I’m guessing will be just like my Climate Change class I had with the same teacher in fall 2012, and Communication and Ethics, which is with the teacher I had for Presentational Speaking class freshman year. I am about 99% sure he teared up at one point. I think that class will be good though. I met with the Spanish professor who will be doing my independent study with me and we decided on meeting days/times. I also talked to my manager at the family center and I emailed him my hours of availability so hopefully the ball gets rolling on that pretty soon. I skyped Moritz and then went to dinner with Hanna and Morgan, and we came back and sat in the kitchen and talked for about five hours and ate some chocolate cake and then went to bed.

This morning I woke up early at about 7:15 and took a shower, which I have now (mostly) fixed… for the first time, I didn’t get water all over the floor! I picked up my textbooks I ordered from the bookstore and ate breakfast in the commons (it’s omelette day). Then I went to my first class, Strategic Writing for Advertising and Public Relations. It’s my first 400-level Communication class, and it’s with my adviser/the head of the communication department, so I think it will be really tough but the teacher is so nice and I know she is going to teach me a lot. It’s my smallest class too, and a lot of us already know each other. One interesting thing about it, though, is that we have to dress “professional” every Wednesday and that’s actually part of our grade.

Then I had Web Communication with my Media Writing teacher from last year and we’re going to make our own website, so I think that will be pretty fun. I think I might do mine about London. He says we are required to buy our own domain and web server (since he only made us get one textbook. ha)

After class, I drove to Clinton, MO, which is about halfway between Independence and Springfield, to meet my mom so she could give me the rest of my textbooks (oooops). We had lunch at Applebee’s and I told her about my classes so far and she gave me my books plus some more stuff I requested like nail polish and hot chocolate. So I just got back about an hour ago.

Well, school’s off to a good start but I can definitely tell it’s going to be a busy and challenging semester. I proved I could handle it last spring, but let’s just hope that London didn’t make me too lazy and forget my good habits.

Cathy

Bye London

It’s been a couple of weeks since I last blogged but I figured I would anyway even though it’s not my day. Sorry (Derek)?

Well of course I’m not in London anymore. But last week was pretty great because, since it was my last week, I had a lot of free time to do a few things I still wanted to do. Also, Thursday night was completely insane, because it was the last night everyone had together. We went to O’Neil’s, of course (which I hate and you guys know that) but it was okay because I was pretty uh intoxicated and so was everyone else. Like way over the top. I remember singing “Thrift Shop” at the top of my lungs with Carson as we walked to O’Neil’s from Piccadilly Circus. I’m actually kind of surprised we got in because apparently one of our other friends, they kept telling her to go to McDonald’s and then come back. Which she did, five times, and they still wouldn’t let her in. She later said “It was like everyone was drunk for the first time, that’s how bad it was” which I thought was a very good way to put it.

We all paid for it with killer hangovers at British High Tea the next day. Oops. That’s classic, huh? Memories. That’s how I see it 😉

Then of course Saturday was my 21st birthday! I can’t believe I’m 21, though of course it doesn’t feel too different yet but I’m super excited! I had a great birthday away from home, even though it involved a lot of crying. But it also involved wonderful friends, Big Ben, and chocolate cake. And one drink 🙂

It was super hard to leave London. I’m already missing all my friends soooo much. I can’t believe it’s over and things will never be how they were again. I’m torn between being happy for everyone that they’re back home, but mostly I’m wishing we were all still together in London and the fun could continue.

But on the bright side, I’m in Germany! Having a great time so far. (Do I really have to go home in a week??) Moritz and I went out for dinner last night, my birthday dinner he said, and I had my favorite German food- schnitzel at our favorite German restaurant in Heidelberg. Then I came back to his apartment and he wrapped his scarf around my head while he set up a surprise, which were sooooo many candles and a tiramisu cake and lots of hearts all over the place ❤ and then we watched the Chiefs beat the Raiders 56-31 and ate the tiramisu. Today we hung out in Heidelberg and then went to the grocery store, and then cooked dinner 🙂 And now he’s working on a project so that’s why I decided to blog.

This is probably my last blog from Europe, right 😦 Well anyway, I miss you guys!

Cathy

Finals Week

Hi friends!

My semester was officially over as of Tuesday. I had 4 finals within two days, 3 of them being on Tuesday. And my grades are looking to be pretty decent this semester. I know they probably could have been better if it weren’t for my extreme laziness. Seriously, this probably has been the hardest semester for me to get through, not because of course content, but lack of motivation. Anyway I’m in CoMo for a few more days because they require my courtseying at HV. Poo.

I don’t really have much to blog about since I’ve mainly just had a lot of free time and not very many responsibilities to fulfill. But here are some highlights of what my first free days of break:

• Tuesday I worked in the deli department! They had a huge catering order for the hospital. I basically made cocktail sandwiches for 6 hours. And I used the slicer to slice tomatoes. I love using the slicer. I also worked with the new manager. He told me if I ever need extra hours to let him know. Might have to take him up on that. I miss them in the deli.
• Today I caught up on the newest episodes of New Girl, and also watched Into The Wild, and Harry Potter 8.
• Today I also went shopping and spent too much money. But I got some good deals! That’s always important.
• My backpack still smells like coffee because some basics decided to spill their coffee on the floor during my Physiology final, and I didn’t notice it and set my backpack right in it, thus soaking the bottom of my backpack and the bottom of all the contents inside. I was peeved.
• I had TWO decent length conversations with our attractive neighbor this week in the hallway. I’m always good at being awkward and saying awkward things, which makes for awkward times. And of course, I was looking pretty nast nast both times. WAHHHH.
• I spent an extensive amount of time researching the Taylor Swift and Jake Gyllenhaal relationship. Mainly because RED is one of my favorite songs right now, and there were speculations that it’s about the T+J relationship. Did you know that the RED album is mostly about that relationship? Fun fact.
• Benedict Cumberbatch is out promoting the newest Hobbit installment. So I’ve also spent an extensive amount of time YouTubeing those videos. It’s the only logical thing to do. He’s so awesome.

That’s all for this week.

Peace out, girl scouts.
-Megan

European Adventures

So much has happened since I last blogged! I guess the main headliner would be that Kendyl, Derek, and I went to Europe. I cannot explain what an amazing trip it was. It’s going to be hard to condense everything we did/saw/ate in 10 days into one blog post. But I’ll attempt it.

Friday we left KC. Cathy picked us up at the airport the next day and we rode the TUBE back to Cathy’s school where we hung out for a little bit before we could check into our hostel. Later we dropped off our bags at the hostel and took a tiny tour of the city. We walked past Buckingham Palace, met Ben, saw the London Eye, and tried to meet up with Becky. That night we went out with Cathy and her friends. We danced, we laughed, and we had a good time. When the night was over, Kendyl, Derek and I walked back to the hostel because the tube was closed and the bus we needed to catch was not running. That whole process took probably an hour.

Combined with loss of sleep/clubbing/walking across town/jet lag, the next day (Sunday) I didn’t get out of bed until 1130. We met up with Becky and her friends and saw the Tower of London and walked across Tower Bridge. Then we had our first fish and chips meal in London at a pub near Tower Bridge. I ordered a Guinness because I wanted the full British experience. LOL. It was all very delicious. Later that evening, we got tickets for the London Eye, walked across Millennium Bridge and went out with Cathy and her friends to the Met. Cathy, Kendyl, and I all had strawberry Pimms. It was very delicious and it made me feel ever so British to be drinking Pimms.

Monday we had tickets booked for a morning trip to see Stonehenge! It’s about 2 hours outside of London so we got to sleep on the bus, which was nice. Even though it was a very cold, windy, and cloudy day, stones were very majestic! We got back into town later that afternoon and met up with Cathy and walked over to King’s Cross to take pictures at Platform 9 ¾. They have people who work the area, and I’d just like to say I would really like to have their jobs. Anyway, Cathy had plans with Becky for the night so Kendyl, Derek and I just walked around the area of our hostel and shopped for souvenirs/ourselves and had another meal of fish and chips at The Rocket. I LOVE FISH AND CHIPS.

My friend, Ben, and the Parliament Building

Stonehenge

fish and chips and Guinness

Tuesday morning we got up early and walked to the British Museum before we met up with Cathy for HOGWARTS (aka The Harry Potter Studio tour)! The museum is HUGE and I wish we could’ve had more time there because it had some really interesting artifacts. We only had enough time to see about one floor of the museum which was mainly things like Ancient Egypt and Roman Empire and Ancient Greek, etc.

The journey to Hogwarts was kind of long. We took the tube to Euston Station where we caught a train to Watford Junction. From the train, we had to ride a shuttle bus to the actual studio. We retrieved our pre-booked tickets and then we were able to enter Hogwarts. From the Great Hall, to riding broomsticks, to butter beer and the magical Hogwarts Castel and the wands at the end, it was kind of emotional kind of day. If I had to describe that day in one word, it would have to be MAGICAL (as cliché as that sounds)!! We ate dinner at Pizza Express and then we went out to The Met again. Strawberry Pimms were ordered again, of course.

TICKET TO HOGWARTS

Buckbeak and I

Diagon Alley

Hogwarts Castle

Wednesday morning we went back to the British Museum because we realized we didn’t see the Rosetta stone! Then we walked around town for some souvenir shopping, ate some of Ben’s Cookies then met up with Cathy since we had plans to take a picture at Abbey Road, LIKE THE BEATLES. They have photographers that take pictures for you once traffic slows. We let them use Kendyl’s camera, so we’ll have to wait until she uploads that to see how it turned out! After that we met up with Becky and her friends at Big Ben to get more pictures, and saw Westminster Abbey. Then we walked to Hyde Park where there’s a Christmas Market and where we had booked tickets to ice skate. I’ve only ice skated one other time like 3 years ago. I was super nervous, but after a while I think I started to get the hang of it, even though I fell multiple times. I’m still hurting from it actually. But it was so fun, and I’m definitely up to do it again! After that we went to see Harrod’s and felt like peasants just walking through the store. Then we took the bus to Chinatown and had some Chinese for our last night in London.

The next morning we rode the Chunnel to PARIS! We got there around 9, purchased Metro tickets and eventually found our hostel. We dropped off our luggage and headed for the Eiffel Tower, which we climbed up to the 2^nd floor, 600+ steps! It was a pretty view though. We also walked past Napoleon’s Tomb, but didn’t realize it until after we were there. After the Eiffel Tower we decided to head back since it was getting kind of late and we were hungry. My thanksgiving meal consisted of a Baggett and a coffee nut cake from a nearby bakery. It was delicious.

Friday we got our day started pretty early since we had so much to see. We first walked down the Latin Quarter, then walked past the Sorbonne. From there we walked to Notre Dame, then had Nutella Crepes from a café not too far away. They were SO GOOD. SO GOOOOOD. We stopped at ate them on a bench on a bridge over the Seine. The next stop was the Louvre. We saw Mona and Venus de Milo and a lot of other artworks. After that we walked down Champs Elysees where all the fancy shops are. On our way there, we walked through a Christmas Market and surprisingly ran into Becky and her friends! Anyway, Kendyl and I got Macaroons from Laduree. I got 4 small ones (salted carmel, coffee, lemon, and passion fruit)! They were suppes taste! We then walked down to see the Arc de Triomphe. It was pretty misty/rainy/cold at this point. But we continued on our journey and walked to the Eiffel Tower to get some more pictures of it all pretty and lit up. We turned in kind of early again since we had to leave early to catch the train to Brugge.

Eiffel Tower

Notre Dame Cathedral

Nutella Crepe

mmmm Macaroons!

Eiffel Tower all lit up

At the train station, Kendyl was the only one who was able to print her ticket off. Meanwhile, Derek and I apparently didn’t even have reservations for a train ticket and 103 euros later, we boarded a different train and met Kendyl at our hostel. There was a free walking tour so we jumped on that opportunity and saw the beauty that is Brugge. Christmas Markets seem to be the thing in Europe because there was on right in the center of town here too. After the tour, we ate some Belgian fries from a stand in the square, then we went to the brewery tour of the only brewery left in town. Of course we got free brews afterwards. We went back to the hostel, met our British roommates, and went back out to find some things to eat and just to explore the city.

The next day we rented bikes and biked the perimeter of the city. This included me running over a lady and her dog, well kind of. But mainly I was just happy I’ve improved at bike riding! At about 3.5 hours of bike riding, my body was not happy and I just kept falling of my bike, thankfully it was time to return the bikes. I wish my camera didn’t run out of batteries the night before because there were so many picture opportunities that I missed. After that, we saw the blood of Christ and we kind of just shopped for souvenirs for the rest of the day. Towards the end of the night we stopped at a waffle place where we all got ice cream and waffles. It was seriously the most delicious waffle I have ever tasted. We sat there for quite some time since we were all so tired from walking around. We turned in kind of early since we had to be up early again to catch a train to Brussels, then catch the EuroStar to London. No travel problems this time though.

Once in London, I got Silver Linings Playbook to read on the plane ride back, and we all got some last minute souvenirs, then sat in Russell Square Park and watched the pigeons before we were set to meet up with Cathy at 1230 at Baker Street Station so we could go to the airport together. Since we got to the station a bit early I bought us all Ham and Mature Cheddar croissants from Treats at the tube station since I was the only one who had pounds left. Also of note, I DID NOT see Benedict Cumberbatch or Eddie Redmayne at all while in Londey Lond. 😦

We got to the airport pretty early, checked in our bags, and said goodbye. Saying goodbye was hard. But wombs will be reunited soon enough! 😉 We boarded our flight and we took off probably about 15 minutes late, meaning we got to ORD 15 minutes late. We had to go through customs, grab our bags off the carousel, then recheck them in and go through security again. Since the security line was what seemed to be like a million people long, and only having one line open, it took us almost an hour to get through and long story short, we missed our flight to MCI. The next direct flight out would be at 720am but we’d have to be waitlisted. So we booked a flight out to ATL where we’d catch a different flight to KC. The latter is what we ended up having to do. So we spent the night on the very uncomfortable floor of O’Hare.

We landed back home at around 130 but didn’t leave until after 2 since Kendyl and I still had to find our bags. My stepmom picked us all up and dropped us all off and I could not have been more happy to finally be home after that travel nightmare. That night, I went with Gentry, Lea, and Kendyl to see Catching Fire and unwillingly fell asleep due to lack of sleep the night before. I knew if I couldn’t stay up for that, there was no way I was going to stay up for the 2 hour drive back to Columbia. So I decided to stay home and sleep and wake up early to drive back in time to go to my last 8 am lecture.

Yesterday I also worked at HV for 7 hours and it was probably a bad idea since I still hadn’t fully recovered from jet lag/exhaustion yet. After work I basically passed out until this morning. It was nice. Today I had my last class of the semester. How weird. Now I just have finals and work left. I’m still in shock at how fast this semester has gone by! And also, 20 days until Christmas. WHAT?!

Peace out, girl scouts!
-Megan

Wrapping up

Well it’s my last week of real classes.

I’ve been moderately busy. Last week Derek, Megan, and Kendyl were here and we had so much fun. http://cathyinlondon2013.wordpress.com/2013/11/29/friends-in-london-3/ if you want to read more about it. Even though they didn’t have the smoothest trip home ever, I’m glad they’re back safe and sound now!

Since then, I’ve caught up on some sleep and done some souvenir shopping and some organizing. I threw away all the trash and things I don’t need, but my things seem to have multiplied since I got here. I’ve also found the suitcase I’m going to buy because I’ll definitely need an extra one.

It’s weird to think that in a week and a half, I’ll be leaving here. Then I’ll have a week in Germany which will be like a weird transitional limbo (in the best way possible) before I’m back home. I can’t believe I haven’t been home since before I went to Germany last time, and Italy, which seem like a very long time ago. So the fact that I left on August 12 seems like a long time ago but it also feels like I haven’t been gone for too long. Most of all I can’t believe that this experience that I’ve looked forward to for so long is coming to an end. That’s disheartening.

For example, what will there possibly be that’s worthy of Instagram-ing once I get home? No more Big Ben. No more Kensington Gardens or Regent’s Park sunsets or the commodity-crazed Oxford Street with its admittedly dazzling Christmas lights.

It seems kind of silly to think about Instagram but I actually think it’s a decent metaphor. Life at home will seem pretty ordinary after this extravagant experience. But I also know that I will have a new perspective on life at home and appreciate the simple things more. I’m really excited to see my family and see you guys again.

But I doubt I’ll ever have mimosas in class at 10:30am again like I did today 😉

Well, time to write my paper for George’s class.

Cathy

T-minus 19 hours

Hello friends! Morgan is probably the only one who will read this because the rest of you are preparing to get on a plane, and Nick most likely doesn’t exist anymore.

I’ve been working hard this week so I can make sure I don’t have to worry about anything while Derek, Megan, and Kendyl are here! So by that, I mean that I spent 12 hours on this theatre project yesterday and I’ve only left campus once in the past 4 days (yikes). I hate doing that. One of the days, I didn’t feel so bad because it was pouring rain, but I hate to spend a whole day inside. Sometimes you just have so much stuff to do that it really can’t go any other way.

The project that’s been eating up so much of my time is a theatre project where I have to cast it, come up with a set, design scheme, costumes, lighting, sound, etc. It’s not a boring or uninteresting project, but it’s reeeeeally time consuming. My play has six characters. Here are the people I casted for it: Emma Stone, Michael Cera, Steve Carrell, Amy Poehler, the guy who plays the dad in Good Luck Charlie, and the guy who plays Schmidt in New Girl. Lawls.

So I’m writing this blog to just take a break from that for a while. I stayed up until almost 4:00am working on it. I got up at 9:30 to go eat breakfast with Hanna because we freaking love the granola in the cafeteria (S/O to American Pecan Crunch). Now I’m in the library again which temporarily becomes my home for a week at a time. It’s not very peaceful though because they are apparently doing some carpentry in the corner, because according to a large whiteboard, “THE NEW RED SEATS ARE NOT QUITE READY TO BE USED.”

I can’t wait until those of you that are coming here can see the types of people I have to go to class with every day, and by that I mean they are all extremely rich. I accidentally almost wore yoga pants to class yesterday and that would have been such a faux pas. Expect to see many large fur vests and Louis Vuitton bags in the hallways here.

I really better get back to my project now, and anyone who’s interested in hearing about my time in Prague last weekend can read my other blog! http://cathyinlondon2013.wordpress.com

I can’t believe it’s been three and a half months since I last saw all of you!

I CAN’T WAIT TO SEE YOU THREE TOMORRRRROOOOWW and I WISH YOU’D BE HERE TOO, MORGAN ❤

Cathy

P.S. Don’t forget, London is calling you. Specifically, Big Ben. I told him you’ll be here soon enough.

We’re waiting for you! ❤

TWO DAYS, PEOPLE. TWO DAYS.

TWO DAYS!! I’M SO EXCITED!! I’m excited to see double decker buses, hear actual British accents in their environment, eat fish&chips, go to Hogwarts, ride the tube, be reunited with Cathy, and for everything else!! If I see any famous British celebrities, I will probably die of happiness. But hopefully I get a picture with them first.

This past weekend was a hit and miss. I was very excited to hang out with my friends before we leave the states, and for the most part it was great and I had a great time! But every party has a pooper, and we didn’t realize it until after it was over. I have never been more grateful for my friends that are always there for me (even when some are not physically near me!). Special shout out to 2 specific bros. I’m so sorry for putting you guys in that situation. I cannot imagine how horrific those hours must have been.

I spent the next few days going through phases of frustration, disappointment, depression, denial, and rage. Sunday night, with some convincing from Emily, I spent 2 hours writing letter calling him out before bed. Monday I went through a spell of complete rage and had to get out of Columbia. I sped down to Jeff City with the windows down and Lorde’s album blaring through the stereo. It was a nice day so I decided to walk around the area for a bit. When I got back, I spent another 2ish hours revising the letter. Then I spent an hour trying to convince myself that the best thing to do was to push send. Eventually I did. It felt so good to tell someone how I really felt instead of bottling it up and letting it eventually eat me alive, which is what I normally do. Please just be honest and don’t be a total douche, that’s all I ask. I feel like I’m doing better now, but still a little hurt.

MO State capital.

Downtown. Jefferson City.

Sunday was the last time I got to work in the deli at HV. The reason I got to work there in the first place was because they were in the process of getting a new manager (who makes the schedule for the department) so the HR manager was in charge of scheduling. She also makes the cashier/courtesy schedules too, so she was able to get me in on a few shifts. But since they have a manager now, I probably won’t be scheduled anymore. Anyway, I used the slicer so many times, and all by myself! I’m pretty much a pro now. Also I got to work with Goron. His family is from Serbia (meaning he’s a fan of Djokovic, better than Nadal I say) but pretty sure he’s 100% American. He reminds me of Nathan from the marina. Their personalities are the same, meaning they both like beer, like to party, are semi-racist/sexist, and always make fun of me for being Asian/short/”sucking at my job”/etc., and he’s a pretty funny guy. I’m going to miss the deli.

Today I worked at HV again. The worst part of today was having to get carts… IN THE RAIN. Plus it was freezing and I could see my breath. It was not cool. Also the dining room was short of bussers, so I spent 2 hours bussing tables. That was interesting. And I ate lunch with my cousin, J, since we both happened to take our breaks at the same time. It was nice to catch up, even though it was a bit querd. LOL. I work again tomorrow, but I’m not sure if I would have time to blog since we’re going home after I get off work, thus me blogging today. Then Friday, we’ll be going to the airport… TO GO TO LONDON. WHAT!!?!! Can’t believe pretty much here! Dang… that means I have to pack.

Peace out, girl scouts.
-Megan

PS. Sorry for this extremely long post. I guess I had more to say than I thought! Props if you made it to the end! 🙂

Ready for London!

I am officially registered for classes next semester I am taking 15 credit hours and I am weirdly actually excited to go back to being a full-time student. I am only taking two classes this semester public speaking which I hate with a passion, and college mathematics which I actually somewhat enjoy. Mainly because my professor is awesome but I occasionally find the math I am being taught to be interesting instead of stupid and boring like normal.

I am starting to get stressed about what I want to major in even though I have another semester to decide. I pretty much think about what I want to major in and do with my life several times a day every day, and constantly change my mind  and consider different things as I get more stressed out in a never-ending cycle of me being undecided.

I am on my second week working in before and after school child care and its growing on me. Not sure how or why, considering I have never liked beings around kids even the slightest. But after a horrible first week things are starting to look up for my new job and I think I will be able to tolerate working it through the rest of the school year.

I spent last weekend visiting Meewan and Kendz at Mizzou, we had a small get together Friday night with some friends and one gigantic slore of a douche bag. Then Saturday morning Kendyl and I spent several hours sitting at McDonald’s to avoid some awkwardness back at the apartment. Then we spent the majority of the rest of the day recording our awesome debut album (torturing the neighbors with our singing). Lawlz. On Sunday we finished up planning for London, and went to the park on a 60 degree day (Its November wtf weather?) so Meewan could practice riding her bike.

And last WE LEAVE FOR LONDON FRIDAY.

I am literally excited for every part of this trip and I mean every part. From airport security to the flights there to seeing Cathy for the first time in months to the death stare Kendyl and I will give Megan when she tries to use her fake British accent and last to all  incredibly fun, weird and probs awkward times we are going to have in Europe. This trip will be LEGEND Wait for It DARY.

Peace, Love, and Happiness

Live A Little

–Derek

We’re Going to Hogwarts!!

EIGHT DAYS. Tomorrow will be SEVEN DAYS. AKA… ONE WEEK!!

Yesterday we bought our tickets to Hogwarts. Well not literally because the fact of the matter is Hogwarts is fictional, unfortunately. 😦 But we are officially going to the Harry Potter Studio Tour and I couldn’t be more excited!! Also we’ve been researching tours for Stonehenge, and looking up different attractions for our other destinations. I really cannot believe it’s pretty much one week away. WHAT!???

On Tuesday, I attend a 4-handed piano recital for my music appreciation class. It was based on new age composition pieces. It was weird and so abstract, I didn’t really realize music could be that way. But I guess it was “weird” from my perspective because it was first of all, a type of music I’m not familiar with, thus pushing me out of my comfort zone. It was a new experience though and I didn’t particularly hate it.

This past weekend I worked at the HV. Sunday was probably the worst of the days. We started to get a rush around 9am. Someone came through the line buying various groceries and 2 glass jars of concentrated juice. They said plastic was fine, so I proceeded to place the jars in plastic, tear the bags off the hook, lift up said bags to put in the basket, and BAM. The plastic bag rips open at the bottom, jars fall out, crash to the floor and juice and glass ends up everywhere. Long story short, it took me at least an hour to clean it all up. After sweeping up the glass, I had to re-mop the floors at least 3 times because there was always one spot that I seemed not to notice was still sticky. Then I had to re-dry the floor 3 times since it was in a heavily trafficked area. Thankfully they let me go on break after that. It was rather embarrassing.

Tomorrow/this weekend we’re having a sort of get-together before we leave for Londey Lond. Derek is coming down, T-monies is making an appearance. And John is coming too, which is going to be the QUERDEST OF THE QUERDS. I’m so suppes suppes nerve nerve. I mean this has been going on since like July, but I didn’t think meeting up was ever literally going to happen. But it is. LIKE WHAT?!!

Peace out, girl scouts.

-Megan

Feelin’ like a creep

Hi everyone, guess what? Only TEN DAYS until I see your beautiful faces! I’m so excited!

This weekend, I’m going to Prague (which is in the Czech Republic). There are 10 of us going. 9 of us are people that like each other and are good friends. 1 of us is someone that we’re not really sure why she’s going, and 2 of us have very strong feelings against this 1, so we will see how that goes. I don’t know a lot about Prague but I’ve heard it is really beautiful and I am excited to go to another new country!

Luckily, my hard week of papers (which was last week) is over so I’ve celebrated by not really doing anything, which is okay because I don’t really have to. Out of the past 7 nights, 3 have involved things for my theater class and 2 have involved large quantities of alcohol.

Speaking of theater, I fell in love with a play that I saw last night, the Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time, and I wrote more about it at my other blog if you want to check that out in a while!
http://cathyinlondon2013.wordpress.com

In other news, my International Relations class has turned into “Read Articles On Your Phone About The Kansas City Chiefs And Their Prospects Of Beating The Denver Broncos, But Don’t Let Your Teacher Notice You’re On Your Phone The Whole Time” class. Needless to say, that’s a lot more fun than trying to learn about something that your teacher doesn’t even know how to explain.

Today I went to Oxford Street to make some videos of social interactions between people. I had to do it for my Interpersonal Communication class, which I actually pay attention in because 1) it’s interesting; 2) it’s easy, and 3) my teacher is not a dimwit. I had to creepily try to film people while they talked or whatever, hoping they would do things such as gesture, scratch their nose, or show facial expressions, so I can make a presentation for my class and explain their illustrators, self-adaptors, and affect displays, respectively. It was super weird and it’s impossible to hold your phone in a way where it looks like you’re texting but you can still get a good video. I felt like everyone knew I was filming as I pointed my phone at them. Also, every store on Oxford Street is huge and has security and personnel around every corner, probably to look out for creepy people like me. Eventually I stood in a mall and filmed a mother and her adult daughter having some food and talking.

I can’t believe that when I get back from Prague, there will only be 5 days until you guys are here! I better start getting my projects done so they won’t be a problem once you get here!

I miss you all!

Cathy

Don’t Cry Over Spilt Tiramisu.

“Don’t cry over spilt milk” doesn’t make sense to me because I don’t drink milk, but “don’t cry over spilt tiramisu” does because I have cried over spilt tiramisu. I’m not necessarily proud of it, but I’m definitely not ashamed. I spent 3 hours beautifully crafty this tiramisu, I even made the pound cake form scratch, and when I was dusting the top with cocoa powder I spilt almost all of it in the sink. So yes I cried, but I think the real moral of this story is that its ok to cry over something that you spent a lot of time on/tried really hard on/cared a great deal about that didn’t go your way, however the key is to not keep on crying. So I guess what I’m really trying to say is don’t cry more than once over spilt tiramisu. I just think this is a good analogy for life.

I would like it to be known that this is the third week in a row I have blogged. SHOCKING, I KNOW.

This weekend we went up to the farm to visit my Grandma and Uncle. We got there Friday evening and had dinner. While eating I dropped food on myself (surprise surprise) and was subsequently asked if I was dating anyone… Clearly No. Lol.

Saturday I woke up pretty early (for a Saturday at least) and went outside and walked around. My mom was putting some rocks in a flowerbed so I helped a little with that, road the four-wheeler, harassed the cows, played with the BB kitties, and took some pictures. After lunch I took a substantial nap during the Mizzou game, which they won! When I woke up I went outside and did some more of the previous stated activities and after dinner we drove back home.

Sunday I slept in (hooray!) and went with Gentry to run a few errands. We ended up going to Target twice, the mall, and Taco Bell. I mainly got mini-shampoos and things for LONDON 2013 (#10days). We then went to my Grandma’s house for Sunday night dinner.

10 Library shifts, 5 tests, 5 quizzes, 2 Lab reports, and 1 paper until the end of the semester!

Keep it Classy.

-Kendyl

P.S. This post is extremely random… just like my thought process.

P.P.S. Here’s a thing I found on Buzzfeed that I liked… I’m getting good at the whole angst-y 20 year old thing.