Top Ten

OK, so after two failed attempts to blog in the past two weeks, I'm going to do a quick one that will get the job done and cover everything that's happened:

1. I finished the first semester of my chem class! My final grade was a B+, which is good (I was afraid I'd get a C, and didn't think I'd done quite well enough to get an A). I'm onto semester two now, which isn't nearly as fun or exciting as the first. My lab partner isn't in class anymore, so it gets pretty boring. July 29th will be the best day of my summer!

2. My passport came!!! Did I tell you this? Possibly, but if not, it came. And then my old passport came a couple days later which was also a relief since I have some really cool stamps in it and didn't want to loose it! My new picture isn't as bad as the old one (maybe I'll post it sometime... it's bad) but still isn't great. I can never get them right!

3. I submitted absolutely everything to DIS and will hopefully get my pre-departure packet in the mail soon. That means it will only be four weeks late, not five. I know what you're thinking, that I should have done it immediately and gotten everything in on time, but I'm a busy girl! I work and go to class and bake cupcakes and... yeah ok I procrastinated big time. I just had to get the right picture!

4. I skated this week! For the first time since March I set foot on the ice. I'm always amazed at how easy it is to get back into when I go. The only problem is the constant flip flop weather in DC made my feet wider, so putting on skates creates an immense amount of pain in my feet and ankles. I'll have to work on that. Also, it may not seem like too long, going three months without skating when I'm in college, but before college I skated every day!

5. I can't think of a number five... I thought I'd have ten but I don't know if I will now!

6. I have savings now! I didn't take my paychecks from work for a few weeks and now have some nice savings for Denmark. Now to save double what I have and then some... :(

7. I wore my sorority letters the other day, and loved it. I accidentally wore them to class and I think people were confused (the college I'm going to this summer doesn't have greek life) but I was happy anyway. They are so easy, when I come back from abroad I'll have to buy new pretty ones!

8. I'm still running, and hopefully will all summer. It's been hard, especially this week, but I'm sticking to it. I have a personal rule that I'm not allowed to go more than a day without some sort of exercise. Sunday I ran, Tuesday I skated, Wednesday I walked with my mom, and today I will run! Then tomorrow I will hopefully run again because Saturday I can't do anything since I work all day. But it's getting easier!

9. Ok now for number nine... I can't think of one for this either... it's been nice weather! Does that count?

10. Ok for the last one I'm going to say that I will update you on everything coming up, hopefully I will keep with this until I go abroad (and then the real fun begins)!

dwh.

Less than TWO Months!!

*gah I did it again. I'm sorry. I stopped typing for two seconds to take my contacts out and am returning three days later. I'm sorry! But rather than add onto this one, I'm going to start a new post!*

This week had me remembering all those memories from the summer before college. Remember how right after you graduated high school all you could think about was your new school, new friends, new dorm room... yeah that was my life. I joined the American Class of 2013 Facebook page and stalked it like no other. I didn't post too much, but definitely knew what people were talking about. When I got to AU in August I knew much more than I would have if Facebook wasn't around, and had an idea of what I wanted to get involved in.

Well I guess it's my lucky day because DIS also has a Facebook page. Although groups have changed a lot since I was headed to college (no more discussion boards, just wall posts), the Fall 11 DIS group has really helped me figure out some of the parts of going abroad. But then part of me wants it to be a surprise! I remember going to college and saying, oh yeah, I heard about all this on Facebook! I want my abroad experience to be the best, and don't really want to go in knowing where everything is or what things mean. I want to figure it out! So I've been avoiding that group a little. But it's nice to know just how many people I am going to have the opportunity of meeting when I'm there! 

Pack, Pack, Pack it Up!

*I wrote this a week ago, but had no internet to post it! Enjoy!*

So I’ve been thinking about using this title for a while, but then remembered I am going to have to pack for Copenhagen and was sad to think I’ll have to make a new title when I do that. But I don’t leave for two months (exactly!) so I have some time to think it over. But anyway, the reason I titled this as I did is because I moved this week. My mom moved from her apartment to a new, bigger condo. I feel like it’s really homey and meant to be. Before, the apartment was nice but had no dishwasher. Well, it did, but its name was Devon. So it really didn’t have one. I’m all moved into the new house, making this my sixth move in two years. First I moved to college, then I switched dorms in January, then I moved home to the apartment (not where home was when I went to college), then I moved back to school, then I moved back to the apartment, and now we’re moving into the condo. I definitely am an efficient packer now and know how to organize things in boxes quite well. It’s nice to know I’ll be able to come back here to visit for a while.

But that’s not all the moving I did. Nope, I also moved at work. We did store renovations this year (well, not us, but the store was renovated). This meant that while each floor was being redone, we had to move all the merchandise onto one floor. They just finished the second floor, and this weekend all the employees had to clear out the entire store of clothes, take down all the shelves and fixtures and move in the new ones. This was a two day process (almost three) and finally the store is done. Unfortunately this happened right when my mom was moving, so I was living at work due to the move, and basically out of my car because I wasn’t home during that move to pack things up, so they had to stay in my car for the weekend. It was crazy!

Now everyone everywhere is moved in and happy. I am still unpacking at home, I need to store stuff for when I get back in December and move to DC for the semester and also remember to save things I will want in Denmark. Ugh I feel like it is so far away, but I still have to do so much. I need to save money really badly, I have to figure out luggage and what I need to bring, and I need to start running (I’m headed to the park to do that in a minute, I’m just waiting for my ipod to charge) so I can run in Copenhagen and stay in shape!

Oh and an update on things: my passport hasn’t arrived yet, I won’t find out about housing or anything for a while, and I am halfway done with chemistry!!! Well, hoping I pass my final this Wednesday… wish me luck!!! dwh.

And then she booked the tickets...

Yes, my mother has officially purchased her two weeks in Europe in mid-October. As I know she will someday read this blog, I will refrain from my more honest comments, however I will say this: my mom likes to travel. And although I have an entire semester in Denmark ahead of me where I can travel anywhere I want and make the city my own (one huge reason why I love being in DC, away from my family), she will pack what I can in a semester into those two weeks. Train rides to Paris, ferry excursions in Stockholm, bike rides through the countryside, a day trip to Estonia - you name it, my mom is doing it. And it's not that I'm mad or annoyed that she is planning a trip to Europe with my sister while I'm abroad, it's more that me being there is an excuse for her to take a vacation. Again. With my sister. Again. Umm Scotland March 2010? She went with Robin because Robin's best friend was in Edinburgh and therefor she had an excuse to go. So does that make me just an excuse?! I hope not...

Also, when my mom makes something official, she makes it Facebook official. Yep, just like those 15 year olds you stupidly friended so you could stalk your former high school she posts anything and everything. I might need to introduce her to Twitter, where you can say stuff like that and nobody really has to read it. So now it has become a status update, which means she's in research mode. In the past 12 hours I've gotten endless information about the city I will be spending four months in. But just like with DC, I want to figure it out on my own! I am really good with transportation and am outgoing enough to figure things out. I don't need to arrive in Denmark with books on the cities and facts all through my brain that I can whip out anytime I feel like being a total nerd. I just want to figure it out as I go! So I will leave my mother be and hope her planning goes well... she's already informed me that my sister and she will not be with me for the entire two weeks, they want to do other things. That's great, as long as I don't have to hear about it, I'll do it on my own.

PS - love you Mum!! I know you want to have a good trip, but let me enjoy mine too!!! (Hopefully you won't see this until I leave in August and tell people about this blog...) dwh.

Why All the Conversions?!!

Seriously, I have never thought about money as much in my life as I am right now. Well, that might not be true, I tend to think about it a lot as I have HORRIBLE spending habits (yes mum, I have admitted it) and tend to spend before thinking about whether or not I even have money in my bank account (only to be slammed later, yes this has happened too many times to count and yes I know I now have horrible credit or whatever). But some reading about Denmark has exposed me to how expensive it is! Not only do I have to convert my money to Euros, but also to the Danish kroner, which is even worse than the Euro! My friend Emily told me she spend just under $3,000 during her semester in London this past fall, and she traveled to four places (Prague, Edinburgh, Madrid and Rome). I was planning on traveling to Rome where many of my sorority sisters will be, I will go around Denmark with my classes, my study tour with my program is to Berlin and western Poland, I want to go to Cologne and visit my friend, I have never been to Paris, and I have two friends in Brussels I want to see. That's a lot of traveling. I know London is probably more expensive than Copenhagen, but I'm just nervous.

Also, these summer classes are killing me. I would totally have two jobs right now if I had the time. I work at a factory store part time and usually get about 30 hours a week. This week I got 10. So that's not really any savings once you factor in gas and food for the week. I drive about 400 miles each week going to classes, so gas really piles up. I'm just hoping I can save enough this summer to do what I want to do and not die while I'm there of starvation. I'll have to find some cheap food vendors. My friend Lily hunted down a 10 for one deal on oranges, apples and pears while in London. She had to cross the city to get there, but it was worth it. A week's worth of fruit (a staple in both of our diets) for two pounds. That's pretty good for twenty clementines!

I know I am worrying a lot, but you have to act ahead of time to enjoy things when they arrive!!! Ok, off to bed for me, work in the morning! dwh.