Holy Exhaustion!

Wow, I underestimated how tired I would be after starting that third shift last night and then first shift this morning. Yikes! Thankfully I'll be talking to my boss about it later this afternoon. Hopefully I get out at a decent time today...it is supposed to be sunny and 74 degrees!

Tuesday

Once you start blogging about your life, you truly realize how boring it is.

Ah, such is life. Hopefully once I move, I will have much more interesting tidbits to post about so people will actually want to read my blog. There really isn't much point to this whole thing right NOW, but I did decide I want to document the whole journey, so here we are. Until September, ya'll will just have to deal with my mundane life.

Same old, same old today...decent day at work. I had to start a second shifter, so I got out about an hour and a half early! That was nice. It was pretty nice out today - 60s and sunny. Not that I took advantage of that or anything. I was too tired, I slept badly last night, so I kind of just caught up on some sleep. The dogs were definitely happy to have me home early so they could lounge outside on the deck in the sun. Tomorrow (and the following three days or so) are supposed to be in the 70s! I can't wait.

I have to go start some third shifters tonight, and I also have to start a couple first shifters tomorrow. Luckily, that will make for a shorter day tomorrow too.

In other news, I've been good on my diet and I also went to the gym again today too. :) I'm being disciplined and it feels good!

Monday, Monday, Monday

Today has been pretty uneventful. Had an early work morning, then left work early today too because I had to go back and start a second shifter. It was a nice sunny day, so I was glad to get out early.

I'm off to the gym now. I'm not really in my best 'go to the gym' mood, but it is what it is. Gotta do what ya gotta do!

Wings and Spartans FTW

Great sports weekend for MSU and Wings fans! The Wings won both their weekend games - huuuge points! They are now in 6th place in the conference. I'm so pumped for the playoffs. And today, the Spartans won to advance to the Final Four!! Being a Spartan is so rewarding at this time of year...not so much during football season, but basketball season is when we shine!

I'm trying to get back on track with my dieting and working out...today has been good. I got to the gym for the first time in a couple days. I'm going to try and go in before work at least a couple days this week. Hopefully I won't have many third shift starts this week. I do need to talk to my bosses about that though. When I started doing this a couple of weeks ago, we didn't know how many orders this particular customer was going to make so we've just been playing it by ear as far as compensating me for that time goes. But, it looks like it is going to be a pretty regular thing, at least for now...so we'll need to figure something out. For right now, I usually just come in late the next morning, but I would like to work something else out. That's fine, but I feel like an hour of my time at 11 p.m. is worth more than an hour of my time during regular business hours. There is a reason no one else wants to do this. I know they know this too - when we first discussed this a couple months ago, their exact words were: "we will find a way to make this worth your while." So yeah, need to get that figured out.

Tomorrow I have a first shifter starting at  7 a.m., so I'll get out a little early. I like days like that.

Nothing to report London-wise. I wish there was! I am getting so, so anxious about all of this. Reminder to self: call FAFSA office again to figure out where the heck my SAR report is! It was only supposed to take 7-10 business days...it has been much longer than that.

Saturday!

Well, I've knocked a few things off of my to-do list. I mailed my letter to accept the offer at UCL, I will be putting my accommodation application in the mail later tonight, and now I need to tackle one of the biggest things: cleaning the house. Ughhh. Have I mentioned that I HATE cleaning? I really hate it. I don't like to live in a pig sty, but I'm comfortable in a bit of a mess. I'm just not a super clean person by nature. And boy, does my sister know it. I think she hates living with me. I try, but I just don't succeed most of the time. Sorry Kel. The good news is, you only have to deal with me for five more months.

I also need to get to D&W today to get some dirt to fill up the six or so holes that our precious little mutts have dug out in the back yard. A few of them are DEEP. They are such punks.

In other news, Michigan State is in the Elite 8! No Kalin Lucas, unfortunately...he ruptured his Achilles. The Red Wings are still absolutely killing it - they now have a six point cushion for the eighth playoff spot, though I'm certain they'll climb up a bit. They are 9-1-1 in their last eleven...remarkable. Thank goodness the team is back and healthy for the most part...this is the healthiest we've been all season. We play tonight against Nashville...BIG game, considering Nashville is one of the teams we're fighting for positioning with. GO WINGS.

So I'm off to work on the house for a bit. May get to the gym, may not. We'll see. I think I might grocery shop at midnight tonight though. I don't feel like getting up early to go tomorrow morning, but it is wayyy too busy right now. Hmm..

Weekend At Last

Well, almost. I have to start a couple third shifters tonight, but after that I'll be able to relax for a while. Tonight will be a good night too - the Wings play at 7:30 (they are on FIRE) and the Spartans play at 9:30! I should be GOING to the Wings game, but with work and Kellen leaving town, that didn't work out. Oh well, playoffs will be starting soon and I'll go to those games. :)

Wednesday

I knocked a couple of things off of my to-do list today. I got to the post office and mailed off my letter to accept my offer at UCL, plus I downloaded and printed the accommodation application and started working on it. I'll finish it tomorrow and mail that as well. Next I need to follow up with the FAFSA office, because I haven't received my hard copy SAR in the mail like I was supposed to. I really need to get all this financial aid garbage figured out so I can ease my mind a little bit about it.

Lately, the exchange rate for the pound has been lower than I've ever seen it in the past year or so. Today it got down to $1.47=£1. I am getting about $900 in taxes back, so I think I'm going to start exchanging some money soon. When I was in London last summer, the exchange rate was about $1.58=£1.

Today was a messy day at work...hopefully the next couple days will be better and we can just get on with the weekend. I might go home this weekend...I need a little change of scenery I think. Plus I miss my parents and Casey. :)

Tuesday

I had to put off mailing my letter until tomorrow, unfortunately. I got the call that my bridesmaid's dress came in, so I had to spend my lunch going to get that today. I'll go to the post office tomorrow.

Today was so boring at work today. Tuesdays and Fridays are the worst - there just isn't much to do. It honestly feels like it is harder to try and look busy than it is to actually be busy.

I went to the gym again this morning - hopefully my efforts will start paying off soon!

Just Another Manic Monday

...except mine wasn't really manic. It was pretty uneventful, actually. Same old, same old at work. Everyone was in fun, joking moods today so that always helps Mondays feel less...Monday-ish. I had to leave at about 3:30 to start a second shifter at a company that we are starting to do a lot more work with. Part of this new gig is having me also start third shifters at 10:45, which I have to do tonight as well. I don't love doing it, but it's not really like I'd be doing anything else besides sleeping, and I get to go in an hour later the next morning so its not like I miss out on a ton anyways.

Oh, and I am proud to say that I officially won the battle with my alarm clock this morning and went to the gym! I'm actually going to go for Round 2 right now, since I have some free time and I kind of feel like flirting with cute trainer guy. Then I'll have to come home and shower to get ready to go to the factory tonight.

Red Wings are playing the Penguins right now! 1-0, first intermission. Let's GO boys...these are big, big points.

In London related news, I will be taking my confirmation letter to the post office tomorrow at lunch to mail. Tomorrow night I will start filling out my accommodation application so I can get that mailed soon as well. :)

Korie Lucious...what??

Just gotta love endings like that! GO STATE!

However, there is horrible news as well. It sounds like Kalin Lucas has a torn Achilles. He's the leader for the Spartans...not good. He's set to get x-rays tomorrow, but it isn't looking good.

Next on the Agenda

Now that all my options are open, I have quite a few things to get in order.

1. Send back my form to UCL stating that I accept their offer.
2. Figure out what's going on with my financial aid right now - I need to send the paper copy of my SAR to UCL first and foremost. 
3. Print out an application for UCL accommodation and get that turned in asap.
4. Start looking at what I need to do for my visa application.

So that's my to-do list for now. I don't even want to think about how much it will grow in the coming weeks!

Lesson Learned: Don't Open Mouth So Fast!

Just as my day was taking a turn for the not-so-best, I got home and my letter from UCL was waiting for me. The package, if you could call it that, was so inconspicuous - not like the big envelope I got from King's. But alas, inside was my "unconditional offer" for full-time study on the International Public Policy program. Great! No more worrying and stressing out over this...now I know I'm in and I can finally start focusing on the later stages of the process of moving to London!

I'm just happy to have one less hurdle out of the way.

No Word

Just updating in case anyone cares even a little bit. :p

I haven't been home to get the mail today, but with the way this has been going the past couple weeks, I'm not going to hold my breath. I'd be surprised if it was actually here. *sigh*

The Wait Continues...

...much to my annoyance. Oh well, at least I know (or do I? - see, this is what kills me) an offer is coming. I just want it IN HAND by the time the King's deadline has come and passed!

Anyways...I guess I will take some time to give an important tip to any other students who might happen to stumble upon my blog who are either applying to or thinking of applying to school overseas. When (and if) you are filling out your FAFSA forms (financial aid), your report will tell you that your Student Aid Report, or SAR, will be sent electronically to your schools. THIS IS A LIE. International schools do NOT accept the SARs electronically. You HAVE to call the FAFSA office and request a copy of your SAR to be mailed to you. You then fill out what you need to and send it personally to the international school(s). I learned this from another girl who studied overseas, and wanted to pass it along to hopefully save someone else some major trouble!

No Saturday Mail

The wait continues. ::irritated::

Still waiting...

on my packet from UCL, grr. It has been about two and a half weeks since I heard from the department director; and about ten days since I heard from the admissions department saying an offer was going to be made and was being processed. I tried to call the admissions office earlier this week, but lo and behold, I don't have international dialing on my cell phone. I'm not going to call from the work phones, obviously. And by the time I'm on lunch at work, the office in London in closed (remember - plus five hours!), so even if I went to a payphone for lunch, I wouldn't be able to catch them. Talk about frustrating. So, hopefully the packet comes in the next week or I will have to figure something out.

At least it is the weekend, though it will be uneventful. I'm going to use it to rest up. I may take myself out to dinner and a movie tomorrow night if I'm feeling up to it...

TGI(A)F

Thank god it's (almost) Friday! I am so ready for the weekend. This week at work hasn't been as rough as I was anticipating after missing three days. My bosses weren't mad, I got the paid time off, and everyone has been in a pretty good and fun mood! That always makes things better in the office.

I am definitely feeling better. I'm still getting tired easily, and a little dizzy once in a while...but aside from that I've been alright.

Kellen left to go home tonight...and she took both dogs with her. :( It will be so weird being here ALL alone - normally I at least have the dogs with me when she's gone! Brett is already home for spring break, so I'll be the only one over here. They all want me to come home, but I just don't know if I'm up for the drive (2.5 hours) after working a full day tomorrow. Obviously I would love to see my parents and my brother (and Casey!) but I'm just so tired and the drive really takes a lot out of me even on a good day. We'll see though.

I'm really trying to gather up the motivation to get my ass to the gym tonight! Off to go work on that...

Oh No, Relapse!

Last night was the strangest thing. I went to bed, feeling pretty decent. I woke up about three hours later, completely dizzy and nauseas. The weirdest part was that I was dreaming that I was walking around Rome, and I felt myself get dizzy IN the dream. I remember thinking in my dream, "well this sucks...I'm in Rome and I am sick and dizzy!" So I wake up, and I was up all night...it was miserable. So, today was my third day off from work. If my coworkers didn't hate me before, they surely do now.

Anyways, I went to the doctor this afternoon. The official diagnosis is labyrinthitis - a viral infection that causes vertigo, which in turn was causing my nausea, dizziness, and imbalance. The doctor did prescribe me some anti-nausea medication which should help, but also said it has to run its own course and can last up to two weeks.

I did get a doctor's note for work...hopefully I still have my job when I get there tomorrow. Three days off, not good. But, on the other hand, there is no way I could have gone in feeling like I did. I'm just hoping they understand. I've never been sick like that before in that way.

I am looking forward to getting out of this house though, that's for sure. Work will still suck, I'm sure...but sitting in this death house feeling like I'm going to throw up 24/7 is worse!

Sunday Funday

Well, I'm finally feeling a lot better, so that's good news! I actually started moving around and getting some things done today. As usual, I did my Sunday morning grocery shopping...this town is extremely conservative and religious, so 99% of the population is at church, leaving Meijer almost empty. I love it! In and out in less than half an hour. I came back and hung out with the dogs for a while. They've had a blast this weekend. Due to the beautiful weather, they have been spending a lot of time outside. I also got a chance to get outside too! I went for a run outside for the first time this year, and it was great. The best part is that this weather is supposed to hold for most of the next ten days - generally in the high 40s/low 50s and sunny. I love it!

Back to work tomorrow morning though. It might actually be nice...I was bored to tears all day on Friday when I was sick. I'm just hoping my bosses aren't too upset with me about missing two days in a row.

Oh well. Onward and upward. Bring it on, Monday.

WANT

I soo badly want this tapestry.

 

Sick Days!

Bleh. Being home sick from work when you're actually SICK is no fun! I got to work this morning, and within two hours, had to leave. Thursdays are the worst possible day for me to be gone...Thursday is check day, and I do payroll for 500+ people weekly. Oy. Hopefully my coworkers don't hate me too much. I'm still not feeling super great...

I have a feeling I might be staying home tomorrow. Thankfully (? that seems weird to say..) the girls in my office are germophobes and don't like sick people to be around! Also, Fridays aren't too busy for me, but at the same time, I don't want everyone to be mad at me. Oh well, I guess I just need to do what I need to do to get healthy.

So today consisted of a lot of reading and 90210. I'm still on my quest to read all of the "classics" that I can. Right now I'm working on "Bleak House" by Charles Dickens - I can't believe I haven't read it yet! Although, when you're in school full time it is hard to read for pleasure so this type of reading took a major back seat for the three years I was at MSU...as I'm sure it will again once I start my master's program. I'm also reading a book about the history of London, which goes back two thousand years. It is so interesting...it basically covers its whole history, with firsthand written accounts from people who were present. For example, there is an entry about the beheading of Sir Thomas More in 1835, written by his son-in-law.

Update on UCL

Well, I got another email...this time from the admissions office saying they had received my application back from the department and they want to make me an offer. Now it is just being processed and I'll get an official offer in the mail.

YAY!

6 more months until I'm back in the city I love!!