I'M HOME!!!!

It was a long, long journey...but I'm here.

My plane was delayed for five hours yesterday. Yes, you read that correctly. F-I-V-E hours - due to the fact that it had snowed a centimeter five hours earlier. It wasn't snowing or raining or icy out at all...the delay was because we were waiting for the plane to get de-iced. And it took five hours. There is some rule that you can't sit at the departure gate for more than five hours past original departure time, so we were literally five minutes from having the flight cancelled, after being trapped on the plane for five and a half hours. Oh yeah, did I mention that part? We were ON the plane. No walking around the airport eating and shopping - we were stuck on that awful plane with crying children, coughing people, and just a general sense of gloominess. It was pretty miserable.

So, I was supposed to be getting into Chicago at 7:00 p.m., but I ended up landing at about midnight. My poor mom and her friend had to wait for me - thank goodness I have them! It was so nice to see my mommy after being gone for over three months. After that, we decided to just truck it all the way home, so I arrived at our front door at 7:30 a.m. Ouch.

It was amazing though. First, it was great to see my Dad. :) I don't get to talk to him much on Skype since our dog broke my parents' laptop a couple of months ago. So I don't get to see his face and hear his voice too much - I just talk to him mainly through our Blackberrys and email.

Then I got to see my DOGS!! I was so, so excited to see them. They were all very crazy and happy...but especially my little sweetheart. She just couldn't wag her little tail fast enough. It was a great reunion.

So...I'm home, I'm happy, I'm healthy. I'm very blessed and am looking forward to spending the holidays with my family and friends. I'm not sure how much I'll be updating over the break, so if I'm not around I'd just like to say Happy Holidays to my readers and followers and have a wonderful holiday season!

A quick drive-by!

Nothing too exciting has been going on here lately. Did I just ruin in for you? Did you think I haven't been able to post for a week because I've been too busy off doing fabulous things all day and night?

Well, I'm sorry to disappoint. Really, I've just been very busy with schoolwork, and a little under the weather. I turned in the essay I'd been working on on Monday, so now I'm just playing catch up and getting ready to come home for the holidays! I still can't wait...eight days.

I do have some plans with my friends this weekend, and we have our holiday party for IPAS next Tuesday. That should be amazing! So, lots to look forward to in the next week until I go home. I'll keep ya updated...I swear.

Love from London!

Just a couple of links

...to keep you entertained, if need be.

First, the students who are occupying the Jeremy Bentham room at UCL (part of the main Wilkins building) have been keeping a blog here. There's quite a bit of interesting stuff there, including an article from an Economist journalist who visited the occupation. It's intriguing to be able to put yourself in the students' positions. They are also keeping a twitter account, @ucloccupation, if you're up to speed on your social networking!

Second, UCL has taken court action to try to evict the students from the campus room. Details are here.

Third, London has basically been completely taken aback by the minuscule amount of snow that has fallen.  As a native Mid-Westerner, I find this to be pretty silly...though, I know it is all relative. Details here.

Finally, I have started a Tumblr account - a very casual "blog", if you could even call it that, of things that just happen to pop out at me. This could include fashion, news articles (not unlike the ones above), recipes, and the like. It's mainly a blog of few words - I intend to let the photos/recipes/links do most of the talking. It's fun, and it helps me organize things that I want to come back to in the future. In the chaotic-ness that is life in London, sometimes I see things, mean to come back, and just never end up remembering. I hope this will help me combat that! Check me out at londonhay.tumblr.com.

Toodles!