Double Stuf?

And so, my Thanksgiving break is over, and what a Thanksgiving it was.

Chrysann, my room mate, and her family kindly took me in for the holiday and i truely had a wonderful time. So day by day this is what i got up to in the past few days.

Wednesday - We left Keene quite late. It was eerie being one of the only people left on the entire camous, it completely freaked me out actually and was wicked excited to get out of there! Anyway so KK (Chrys' girlfriend) drove us to Amherst, the place of which they live. When we got there we dropped off our stuff at Chrys' house. I got a quick tour of their very cute home, and we were off out. We then went to KKs house, which was also a beautiful home, i met her mum, Elizabeth, who invited us all round for dinner for the Saturday. We then went out for Lunch at a random place. I had a stunning panini, hmmm. I soon came to realise that i really do stand out round here as a random guy said to me 'Excuse me... but you don't come round here do you?' and so began the whole story of why i'm here and how long i'm here for.... the first of the ten million times i had to say it this break!!

We then went for a walk around Milford. It was a quick walk as it was quite a small place, but i enjoyed it all the same. We stopped by a random place on the side of the road where there was a random cow...

Afterwards i went back, got my computer sorted for the wireless, and met the parents! Ron and Arlene are absolutely wonderful people, thye made me feel right at home. They made us dinner, and then i 'helped' Chrys make cookies ('helped' being, i got rid of the remaining dough!)

Thanks Giving This day was exactly how i imagined it would be. When i thought of 'Thanksgiving' i thought of three things - turkey, macys parade and 'the game'. And well, darn it, i experienced it all. It started with the parade which went on till noon, then the game kicked off at 12.30, then after the game the family started to arrive. The family/friends being, Caitlyn, Chrys elder sister and her boyfriend Eric, and Erics mum and stepdad, and family friends, Subash and Meera (father/daughter). We enjoyed a wonderful dinner of Turkey (cooked by Chrysann) and veg. It was WONDERFUL! My favourite part of the day, or at least the most amusing part was watching Grey's Anatomy on mute. Now this is something me and Emma (my sister) have been doing for a long time, but i like to mute tv shows and make up my own stories, and well i wanted to do the same again. So when everyone sodded off somewhere i watched the show and came up with my own oreo based story. Eric and Caitlyn and Meera soon joined in, and Greys Anatomy turned into one huge Double Stuf oreo fiasco!

Friday This day started off rather well, because as i was making my breakfast, Caitlyn and Eric arrived, and they said 'we've got you a present' i assumed they were talking to someone else, but no they were talking to me and they presented me with this....

Yup. FOUR boxes of Oreos. They didn't know which types of Oreos i liekd, so they got my one of all they could find!

After much amusement of recieving four boxes of oreos, we all put up the Christmas decorations. I particulary loved this, as it was an activity i love to partake in at home, so i'm glad that i didn't miss out!

After that, me, Chrys and KK went to see the Trans Siberian Orchestra at Manchester, and they were really, really good. They are kinda a rock orchestra, and play predomintly Crimbo tunes, it was good fun!

Saturday We went shopping, then we had dinner at KKs house. KKs mum, Elizabeth made us a wonderful dinner, and i got to EAT squash, and i liked it a lot. We then went on to play a game of Scattergories, where being British became a good excuse for making up stuff and getting away with it!

Sunday It was a very lazy day. We went to see 'Happy Feet' which wasn't that good. Then we picked up our stuff, i said my goodbyes to Ron, Arlene, Caitlyn and Eric, then we left and we went to KKs for a bite to eat, i said goodbye and thanks to her mum and we were on the road back to Keene.

I know this is a wicked long post. But i feel like i've kept it short, theres so much to say about how wonderful this break was and i don't have enough space... or time to write about it all. Many many thanks to Chrysann, Ron and Arlene for their amazing hospitality, and also many thanks thanks to KK and Elizabeth for the two meals.

I'll never forget it.

Our Fellow Internationals....

There are more beyond myself, Smellen and Emma, and i've never even introduced you... bout time don'cha think, say hello to our fellow tourists!

Lets start with our fellow Wolvo peeps,

L'Amy (Amy) Well, this standing next to me is Amy. I love the hat that she's wearing in this picture. I plan to steal it someday. She's crazy cool and wicked fun. Can't believe we never spoke to each other untill we came here. She always has something stupid to say, that's why i like her!

Special Sarah Another Wolvo girl. She came to Keene with L'Amy. She reminds me of Emma. They are both lovely. She is wicked funny, especially when drunk. She made Halloween night with her crazy drunken antics!

Richard Thanks to Richard i now have a reputation for being "evil". It all started from one bad picture. He reminds me of my Dad and my Grandad on my dads side, for he's forever moaning and whinging about something, but does it in good humour. He will make an amazing grumpy old man.

The York Girls

Cat This is crazy Cat, from the York clan. I'll never forget the day i first met Cat. It was the first day of orientation and she wasn't there so Tim walked me to Nest 4 (as Cat lives in the same nest as me) to let him into the building. And we found Cat with crazy hair looking wicked tired. Poor girl only got in at 2am and we were banging on her door at 9.30am. She is wicked loads of fun. She deffinately has her own group of friends, but we love having her with us when she's around.

Mighty Max Ah Mighty Max, wonderfully random and crazy. She is Smellens room mate, and what a room mate to have. She's our crazy cool Spongebob Squarepants fanatic and we all love her... even though she has other friends *gasp*!!!

The York Guys

Jonathan One of my very good friends that i've made whilst over here. And when he wants to be he can be a wicked cool friend too. He's a fun guy, and he's ridiculously funny. He thinks of things in a way that i've never thought of before. I wish he'd hang out with us more because he's fun to have around. I really hope he keeps in touch when we get back to England.

James Ok so i don't know him that well. But i know that he was nice enough to let me go round to his room every wednesday night for six weeks straight to watch 'Lost'. I don't know him well, but when ever i have spoken to him (the few times) he seems a decent chap, a nice sorta guy. Bit forgetful mind....

Tom Ok so now we're deffinately venturing into the land of the unknown. Tom is more Emma's fortay because they go to the same class. He's a nice guy, he seems settled and, like Jonathan, seems to be enjoying the female attention (yeah the British boys are getting A LOT of female attention here!) But Tom seems nice, he turned up for Helen's birthday dinner back then, so he gets points for that!

Lucas Once again, i don't really know Lucas that well. Whenever i have spoken to him he's been lovely. I got to chat to him for a while when i went with him, Jonathan and James to see the screening of Jay Cravens film (a director that came to town). It was a funny night, at least in my mind, because we were the youngest people in the room. And also me and Lucas got in for free because neither of us carried even $2 on us!

... and Lee - Yeah i don't even have a picture of him, thats how much i've gotten to know him. Absolutely sod all. All i can tell you about him is that he has hair like Owen Wilson.

Non English Folk...

Aya The wonderful Aya. She is from Japan and she is staying here at KSC for the full four years. She just recently turned 18 and is an absolute delight. Isn't she cute? We always see her on her phone around campus, the busy bee she is.

Pauline and Cindy I love these two crazy girls. They are from France and will be staying here for a year. Me and Helen routinly see them at 7.30am for breakfast on Tuesday and Thursdays, and of course we are always happy at that hour! Cindy is actually in a relationship with Lucas, and they are the most adorable couple... ever?!

Priscilla The wonderful, gorgeous and super cool Texan. This is Priscilla and as you all know, Priscilla has been wonderful to us. She drove me and emma to Portsmouth, and this picture is from that day. I absolutely love this girl. She is amazing and she actually gets our humour, we can 'take the mick' (she loves the phrase) out of her and she doesn't take too much offence! I will miss her.

So there you go. That is everyone. Those are the people that me, Smell, and Emma, have all shared this experience with. We won't forget them, even those we didn't talk to that much. Some of them i hope to be friends with when i get to England (asides from the Wolvo crew of course). We've all certainly had different experiences over here. It's been fun. I will miss seeing these people every day.

Another version of events.

Yes, i know you haven't heard this before... the other two are a bit slow. BUT. It was Max's Birthday on Sunday (i see you all falling back in shock!) Me and Smell worked hard on arranging something wicked cool for the day. We arranged for us to first do a photo scavenger hunt in costume, and then for there to be an indoor olympics in the lounge of Nest 7.

Now it all sounded very good.

Untill it rained...

Firstly my Team (consisting of Priscilla, Lindsay, Rich and Cat) did partake in this exercise. We did 4/10 of the destinations, Smells team did 6/10 and they did not actually go into the places that was on their list, where as my team did. Seriously, we even got behind the counter of the bean and bagel! So we did try. I will have none of this lark of saying we were wusses because we didn't do THAT badly!

It then continued to rain, and then thunder and lighten(ing), nay bother, we headed to the DC and enjoyed a not so special birthday dinner. We all got out those strange tablet things which expand into magical creatures in hot water and enjoyed a good half hour of staring into mugs. And yeah i got the Dragon! Wicked Cool.

Onto the Olympics. Okay so i got Scotland. No i not stop moaning about it. I wanted England darn it! I was at an obvious disadvantage at being Scotland so it came as now surprise that i did not win any medals :( Though me and Amy (Germany) did win a joint gold at sliding down the stairs on our bums, but that was rudely taken away from us (if this hadn't have been taken away i would have gotten the Silver for sure!)

Anyway enjoey these pictures! (More of the same i know!)

The Birthday Girl. And Amy, who was also unimpressed at the country she picked out the hat.

To Mum, Dad and Emma

It really was amazing to speak to you guys on the phone. Didn't realise that i missed you guys that much untill i actually spoke to you. It was wierd hearing Emma talk about my room, it sounds like its just how i left it. Did i leave the Bryan Ferry 'Live In Paris' DVD in my room or have you all really left it untouched?!

Dad, yeah, i'm not shocked about England losing yet again. It was actually shocking that we beat the West Indies (!!). I have finally found British papers, Borders supply the Mail on Sunday so at least i'm getting some information through. So what are you thinking for the Ashes? You say Warnes gonna be back on the team.... i think we're in trouble, huge trouble. 5-0 to the Aussies i say.

Mum, it's much easier talking to you than chatting to you via the means of MSN! It really was great to talk to you. Good luck for Tuesday, your school is amazing in every way.

I love and miss you all. Not long till i see you all again.

Sarah xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Who needs enemies?

When you've got friends like these? Seriously my so called 'friends' here are absolutely crazy. We have Helen throwing insults (in good nature) every two seconds, and making me out to be evil in stories. Then theres Richard who just needs to look at me to laugh and find something amusing, and then he enjoys taking AWFUL pictures. AND THEN just recently i got pelted by a friggin ice cube by Jonathan (with support from Richard, Amy and Sarah!!!). Goodness grief!!!

No the bullying was not why i came online to do some blogging, i actually came online to write about BONFIRE NIGHT! And what a huge success it was. A LOT of people came, seriously loads of people came, a few people even drove in to see it. In fairness we had advertised it well. Posters were everywhere and we put the Guy Fawkes in the DC saying 'Watch me burn' so of course people were intrigued! I really thought there was going to be just the eight of us huddled around this bonfire saying 'oh well we tried' But all the Brits (except for Max) turned up and many many many more people. Seriously, Steve got 100 baked potatos by the end of the evening there was 2. Yes a success it was. Here are just a few pictures from the evening.



It was a random moment which i'm still quite confused about!

The Latest.

Last night the Brits (the wolvo peeps anyways) gathered themselves in the lounge of Owls Nest 7 to make two Guy Fawkes for Bonfire Fire on (what else) November 5th. It was a fun night and we all had a lot of fun making the Guy, and then taking up any oppurtunity to pose with the Guys afterwards! Afterwards we played Pictionary and i am very proud to say i only cheated once, that's restraint for you, it's a very easy game to cheat at after all!












Before this of course we had Halloween, Jonathan (aka Jesus) led us to the most wierd party ever. It was only slightly dodgy! We only stayed an hour, and that was our Halloween... at least we got to dress up.


Also, i've now seen Clints latest film, 'Flags of our Fathers' and it is amazing, so make sure you go and see it if you get the chance.

Generally though i am having a wonderful time here. Of course there have been some highs and some lows. But the fun hasn't stopped, every week there has been something going on. I really am going to miss this place, and i fear i may cry on the last day. It's a sad feeling knowing we only have a month left here, everything is going far too quickly. This is the best experience ever. I've never experienced independence like this before. Living in halls is the best thing ever as everyone is just a minute away. When i get home i can't call people and say 'yeah meet you outside in a sec' it's going to be harder to even find a day to be able to meet up. It will be done, but it just won't be as easy.

I'm looking forward to home. I miss everyone of course. But KSC and the lifestyle i have here will be sad to leave behind.