3 in 5

It's only a quarter to midnight here in IL so technically its July 12th and technically I am not late. I hope this late night posting will not become my habit but I have a sneaking suspicion it might. I seem to be running that way at the moment.

I am almost ready to leave and feeling pretty good about it. I think I'll be nervous Wednesday, but for now, I have too much to think about to be very nervy. The heaviest thing way on my mind at the moment is an HTML class I am taking online. Now I knew when I signed up that it would be ending while I was abroad. I didn't think it was going to be too much of a problem; we're done with most of our coding at this point. However, my teacher posted the next three weeks of content online already: five labs, a project, three quizzes and a final. My goal is to get them all done before I leave on Wednesday since I don't have to work about; basically three weeks of information in five days. It's possible I have lost a few of my marbles but I figured why not give it a try.

I'm actually doing pretty well. I read an entire textbook last Thursday/Friday. I did all five labs on Friday night. I did a quiz yesterday, two today and I'll take the final tomorrow. The project is turning out to be a bit more time-consuming that I thought but if I get everything else done, I can work on that somewhat leisurely.

It's a bit of a stressful way to prepare to leave and its not obligatory but it actually makes me feel more prepared. It means I can now concentrate on London: having a great time, seeing some wonderful places, drinking awesome beer, posting on this blog on time (hopefully), etc. The bit of stress will pay off on Wed when I get on the plane.

Speaking of London, Ellie is extremely excited as well. The Door County travels last weekend seemed to put her right in the mood.
See how she dreams of beautiful places?

Here's Hoping

Packing for this trip was a bit complicated for me. This mostly had to do with the fact that I was trying to pack up my clothes that will be moved when I get back at and pack for London. When I return to Madison in August, I plan on living on my London clothes for the rest of that week so it became process of weeding. Can I use this shirt/pants/shoes now and in a month? Yes or no?

Once I got through deciding what I needed for London, then I slowly made my way through laundry (complete with a broken dryer, extra 1.25 which I didn't have, and spilling laundry detergent all over my apt floor) and packing up the rest of clothes. I did find out that socks and clean work out clothes make great packing padding. When I left this morning, my apartment had basically been decimated to about 8 to 10 boxes.

I'm pretty happy with my choices. I've probably brought too many clothes but everything fits into one small rolling suitcase, so I couldn't have gone too far overboard. I have to do a bit of rearranging before I leave, but the whole I feel like I'll be prepared. There's only one major problem with checking a bag and that's the possibility that the airline will lose it. I am flying from one major airport to another but this is US travel so some type of mix-up is almost certainly inevitable. So on top of deciding what goes in the check-in, I tried to chose of a couple of things to go in my carry-on. This consists of a couple of t-shirts and essentials and lots of hope that small rectangular black rolly bag will come around the conveyor belt in four days time.

Tomorrow (well at this point, today) I leave to go back to IL. It's been a busy week since I've been trying to finish up homework for another class, pack for London and pack up my apartment. I'm moving about a week after I get back from Madison so I'm trying to make sure I'm ready. Since I seem to leaving for England in sections, I consider section 1 completed!

I'm going back home to IL so I can spend some time with my family and then my mom is very kindly driving me up to Chicago to catch the plane. It'll be nice to have my mom see me off, though O'Hare's Terminal 5 is not exactly conducive to long goodbyes. It's a very bare terminal; dozens of check-in counters, a small food court and then security check point. They really don't like you lingering.

I'm looking forward to leaving Madison for a bit even though I like living here. There's something soothing about taking a break from your life, despite the chaos absence tends to cause. Work, school and other requirements are all thrown into disarray when you take a vacation from everyday life, but there wouldn't be any fun if you didn't.
I decided to take this class not only because I found the topic extremely interesting and exactly what I wanted to do, but the idea of going on abroad to "live" was very appealing. It's not exactly like taking a break from your "real" life, but its more like choosing cover for the story (not the greatest analogy, I know). Regardless about how much I'm going to miss Madison, my friends and my family; despite the insanity and stress preparing for this trip has caused me, I really can't wait.

So Bye-Bye Madison! Hello London!

Meeting the Mascot: Ellie

Meet my mascot, Ellie! She's an adorable little doll made out of recyclable material. She was a present from ny sister last Christmas. She doesn't really stand on her own but we're working it out.

And there she is! Looking very calm next to ranging Lake Michigan up in Door County, Wi. That's one of my favorite things about her; she is always calm. Not only is she cute, unique and easy to carry but I like the fact that her name is a derivative of mine. It's a coincidence, but its a nice identifiable one.
"Ellie" as a nickname was first given to me when I studied abroad in Mexico. It's the only nickname I have accepted because I generally hate nicknames. My name is so long that you can make lots of unflattering words out of it. However, in Mexico many of my good friends called me "Ellie" and my roommate from undergrad also picked up on it. I don't generally go by it, but it has a nice affectionate association for me.
I'm very excited to have her as my mascot and accompany my way through London; she'll be a very calming influence. It'll be great to think of her as just like this:

This is also in Door County, but in Sister Bay on the Green Bay side. Just chilling and feeling the vibes.

Everything a good friend and mascot should be.

London Last Time

I'm leaving for London a month from today so it seems like a good place to start the blog. I haven't really started packing; I'm still preparing for class via homework and school supplies. Oh, and my plants. I'm trying not to worry too much about the well-being of my tomato plant that will be living with my parents while I'm away.

But I can't talk about going to London for the second time without mentioning the first time. I'm looking forward this summer's trip immensely, partly because its longer. Three weeks definitely tops three days. Not to mention that the last time I was in London it was October or November and pretty chilly. Not freezing like it would've been here in the Midwest but definitely chilly. The last time I was London, I visited the city on one of my weekends while I was living in Spain, just outside of Madrid.